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Screen Flickers: Win Ultimate 7(using VMware)

J

johnjey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 17, 2013
245
2
Northern CA
Guys,

I installed Win 7 using VMWare and it has eaten up 10GB in my downloads folder (i am ok with that). What i have been hearing is that VMware makes the windows 7 experience more like plug and play and i don;t have to worry about any drivers etc.

Currently Win 7 is downloading a free 12 month McAfee Anti-virus subscription and i am easily able to toggle between MaC OSX 10.8.4 and win 7 ultimate full-screen by pressing cmd+control+return button but the PROBLEM is that my screen is flickering pretty badly on win7 ==> is it normal ?

Do screens flicker on win7 using VMWARE ?

My only reason of installing and using win 7 using VMWare is:

1. For MS Visio
2. PDF editor software

Also, i was not able to install win 7 using bootcamp as i was getting the 64 bit error, however i think my 3.5 GB ISO setup file of win 7 is 32/64 bit version....

Also my i5 is getting warm from bottom :( while i am using this Vmware and also the battery estimates are showing lower numbers :( 4 hours remaining at 77% ==> so is VMWARE also a BATTERY KILLER?

Please advise:(:(
 
Last edited:
P

Phan0121

macrumors member
Mar 26, 2013
30
0
Minnesota
It was flickering for me when I had a 2013 MBA while using fusion for win7. I returned it and decide to wait it out because I wasn't really in need of another computer.
 
ylrd

ylrd

macrumors member
May 25, 2013
96
0
Europe
I think you should call Apple and ask for a replacement.

Also my i5 is getting warm from bottom :( while i am using this Vmware and also the battery estimates are showing lower numbers :( 4 hours remaining at 77% ==> so is VMWARE also a BATTERY KILLER?
Click to expand...

So you're virtually running an ENTIRE operating system inside another and wonder why the laptop gets warm and the battery doesn't last as long?
 
P

pred

macrumors newbie
Jul 11, 2013
1
0
Hi, I had the same problem and found a fix which worked here:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/448885?start=15&tstart=0

1. Shut down the virtual machine
2. Find the Windows 7 virtual machine file (probably in /Documents/Virtual machines)
3. Right-click the file and choose 'Show package contents'
4. Find the one file in the list that has a .vmx file extension and open it in Textedit
5. Add the following line to the file:

mks.vsync= "1"

6. Save the file
7. Load up the Win7 VM and hopefully the flickering will have gone...
 
J

johnjey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 17, 2013
245
2
Northern CA
pred said:
Hi, I had the same problem and found a fix which worked here:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/448885?start=15&tstart=0

1. Shut down the virtual machine
2. Find the Windows 7 virtual machine file (probably in /Documents/Virtual machines)
3. Right-click the file and choose 'Show package contents'
4. Find the one file in the list that has a .vmx file extension and open it in Textedit
5. Add the following line to the file:

mks.vsync= "1"

6. Save the file
7. Load up the Win7 VM and hopefully the flickering will have gone...
Click to expand...

Hi Pred, this is some good information, my question is:

1. I did these steps as written above and now whenever i am changing from window 7 (small screen within a window) to full screen by using control+command+return = the screen flickers, however the screen does NOT flicker when i am working within the windows 7 (full-screen mode) as well as when i am working on a windowed smaller screen space. IS thIS NORMAL ?

2. windows 7 virtual machine file size now says 14.5 GB: is that normal ? yesterday i saw it as around 10GB and after that i think i installed MS Project/Visio and PDF tool in windows 7. Is that normal ?

Thanks a ton !
 
Last edited:
FreakinEurekan

FreakinEurekan

macrumors 603
Sep 8, 2011
5,550
2,609
johnjey said:
Hi Pred, this is some good information, my question is:

1. I did these steps as written above and now whenever i am changing from window 7 (small screen within a window) to full screen by using control+command+return = the screen flickers, however the screen does NOT flicker when i am working within the windows 7 (full-screen mode) as well as when i am working on a windowed smaller screen space. IS thIS NORMAL ?

2. windows 7 virtual machine file size now says 14.5 GB: is that normal ? yesterday i saw it as around 10GB and after that i think i installed MS Project/Visio and PDF tool in windows 7. Is that normal ?

Thanks a ton !
Click to expand...

1. Yes, for now. VMWare is obviously having some issues with the new GPU in the Haswell processor. I'm sure they will get the wrinkles ironed out. The flickering during normal Windows use is gone for me with mks.vsync fix so Windows is usable now, fortunately.

2. Yes, it's normal for your VM to grow as you use Windows, especially as you install software in it. You can cap the total size in the VMWare UI, check the help files.
 
R

RayK

macrumors 6502
Oct 13, 2005
345
15
I'm using 4.1.4 and not experiencing this issue with 10.8.4 and windows 7
 
L

larry918

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2013
128
0
I installed Windows 8 using VMWare a few days ago, and also had a huge flickering issue. I remember being directed to a website where it said to do the same thing as @pred as said above. Works like a charm now :)
 
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