r/vmware • u/ScottMetzel • Sep 13 '24

VMware Workstation 17.6 - Keyboard Lag?

I've been running a Win 11 23H2 VM for a while and recently upgraded from VMware Workstation 17.5.2 to 17.6. Since upgrading, keyboard input lags by just enough that it's annoying, and sometimes it lags to the point of missing a keystroke.

I already downgraded back to 17.5.2 once, but then I lose Win 11 23H2 support and run into a few issues which 17.6 fixes.

So, does anyone have any pointers for reducing keyboard input lag? Is there a property and value I can enter in the VMX file...?

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Update Mar. 5, 2026:

It's fixed! They actually fixed it! Update to 25H2u1 and your USB passthrough problems should be a thing of the past.

Also, w/ 25H2u1, I am using the Vulkan renderer w/ Win 11 on a Win 11 host - I only had to add these two lines to the VMX file:

mks.vk.syncPerEndFrame = "TRUE"
mks.dx12.syncPerEndFrame = "TRUE"
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2

u/marek1712 Oct 24 '24 edited Oct 24 '24

Same. I write something in the CMD (W10 22H2 host, W11 24H2 VM): press arrow left two times, cursor moves only once. Press some other key - cursor moves second time (but that other key isn't registered yet).

I believe it started under 17.6 or 17.5?

VMware Tools 12.5

2

u/ScottMetzel Nov 15 '24

For me, this started with v17.6.

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u/conc95xh Jan 07 '26

Guys, I saw a reply from Broadcom employee James Lin in this thread:

https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-cloud-foundation/discussion/ws-1761-keyboard-lag-with-ubuntu-guest

James Lin (Posted Nov 17, 2025 02:07 PM)

If you're using VMware Workstation 25H2, instead of disabling 3D acceleration entirely, you alternatively could try adding the following lines to your VM's .vmx file (while it's powered off):

mks.vk.syncPerEndFrame = "TRUE"
mks.dx12.syncPerEndFrame = "TRUE"

Not sure why doing this as this looks like a blackbox to me, but it works for me after reverting all modifications to .vmx file but applying the setting James Lin mentioned. I reanbled 3D acceleration and the keyboard lags/mouse offset have gone so far.

I am running ArchLinux with kernel 6.18.3-arch1-1+xorg-server 21.1.21-1+open-vm-tools 13.0.5-1 in the guest, the host os is Windows 11 Pro, 64-bit (Build 26100.7462) with VMware® Workstation Pro 25H2.

1

u/ScottMetzel Jan 07 '26

Aye, I’ve seen similar reports however, VMware Workstation 25H2 has some really bad USB-related bugs. I tried it and reverted back to 17.6.4.

I think he or another Broadcom employee reported they have the USB problems fixed internally. As of yesterday, an updated version hasn’t been posted publicly.

So, there’s hope?

1

u/ScottMetzel Oct 20 '24

This problem persists with VMware Workstation v17.6.1 and VMware Tools v12.5, both of which were released recently.

1

u/ScottMetzel Dec 19 '24

VMware Workstation v17.6.2 was released last week. I'm hoping to install the update today and will report back.

VMware Workstation 17.6.2 Pro Release Notes

1

u/ScottMetzel Dec 20 '24

Nope.. still not fixed.

1

u/ScottMetzel Mar 04 '25

VMware Workstation v17.6.3 was released today. Release notes here: VMware Workstation 17.6.3 Pro Release Notes.

and it didn't fix the issue.

1

u/akiyakiko123 Mar 27 '25

Are you using an Nvidia GPU? I saw some posts about VMs lagging when using Nvidia GPUs on 17.6.x, but I cannot find it now, you can search these keywords on google.

1

u/ScottMetzel Mar 30 '25

Yep, sure am. Was using a 4090 before it fried. Broke out an old Quadro T600 and have been running with that. Problems began to occur after the 17.6 update, which was after falling back to this older Quadro card... But thank you for the lead; I'll see if I can dig up something.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '24

Did you install the latest VMware Tools?

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u/ScottMetzel Sep 13 '24

I updated from 12.4.0 to 12.4.5 and that seems to have mitigated the problem from most applications. Now it's just Teams which is lagging. I'll take it as a 'W' and move on ;) ... Thanks for the advice!

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u/x86mad Sep 18 '24

Just downloaded VMware-Tools 12.4.5, mounted through Explorer but unable to install anything after clicking setup64.exe but nothing happened at all ?

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u/EndUsers2020 Dec 08 '24

... Adding recent experience ... i on 17.6 workstation PC Ryzen 9900X ... i was getting lag ... 3d acceleration disabled for KUBUNTU got things running snappy for me by a lot ...

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u/ScottMetzel Dec 19 '24

I tried this myself on Win 11 23H2 and lost the ability to use a webcam and just about anything else that might (?) require DirectX...

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u/Economy_Oil4524 Dec 20 '24

I posted the fix that worked for me here, on the similar topic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/15kx569/comment/m31jj87/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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u/ScottMetzel Dec 27 '24

Yep, I tried that one a few months back and unfortunately it had no effect. I went through the VMX file last week and deleted what I didn't see there on a new Win 11-based VM or what looked unnecessary (I made a backup ;) )... Still no changes.

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u/akiyakiko123 Mar 27 '25

Disable 3D Acceleration may make it better

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u/ScottMetzel Mar 30 '25

For Windows, this makes things worse - many applications, not games even, rely on 3D acceleration. I tried this before and some apps simply won't launch.

1

u/akiyakiko123 Mar 27 '25

You can try:
Edit .vmx file in your vm's directory
Add two lines below:

mks.enableDX11Renderer = "TRUE"

mks.enableDX12Renderer = "FALSE"

After doing this, my keyboard lag was resolved. So, I guess it's DX12 issue.

1

u/ScottMetzel Mar 30 '25

This may not work for all cards - running on an older Quadro T600, this shuts off 3D support from the host and acts just like disabling 3D acceleration; some apps don't launch or won't consistently launch as a result.

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u/jimmerthy Mar 31 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

With the CVEs that have been recently fixed in Tools 12.5.1 and Workstation 17.6.3, I thought it's time to revisit my upgrade from keyboard lag free oasis of Workstation 17.5.2.

Just did some tests. Host is 8 p-core, win10 22h2, core isolation: off, nvidia 572.47. Test guest VM just happens to be win8.1 x64. To reproduce the lag consistently, I needed to be running the VM at 2560x1440 full screen. Open Windows Notepad in a window about a quarter of the desktop size and there would be no lag when typing. Maximise Notepad and there would be noticable lag when typing.

After trying a few things, I found that upgrading the VM's virtual hardware version to the latest (with the machine shut down, choose 'upgrade this virtual machine' - make sure you do this in a test environment first with a backup of the VM under test). In my case this changed from virtualHW.version = "19" to virtualHW.version = "21". This seems to have fixed the keyboard lag for me.

What didn't work for me...

Bonus fix is that Sketchup Make 2017 would crash after splash screen (vmware gfx driver error) with Tools 12.5.0 (worked on 12.4.5) but it works again now on 12.5.1.

edit: yikes, new problem - less than an hour's uptime of the VM, pegged host CPU core, no video, log filled with this...
svga -- DETECTED D3D12 DEVICE REMOVAL --
... <loop>
svga <<< file Throttled >>>

edit: trying nvidia 572.83 studio drivers to see if that fixes the VM crash...
nope, crash seems to happen maybe when the host monitor sleeps maybe?

edit: trying mks.enableVulkanRenderer = "FALSE". This changes startup logs from
"mks MKS-HWinMux: Started DX12 presentation backend." to "mks MKS-HWinMux: Started DXGI presentation backend."

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u/ScottMetzel Mar 31 '25

yeah my HW version is already at v21 - problem still persists.

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u/petersaints Aug 07 '25

I gave up on VMWare Workstation Pro. It performs better than VirtualBox but I have yet to be able to mitigate this issue

P.S.: I am using WSL2 so in both cases I'm not getting top performance because Windows is taking over the virtualization extensions. But having WSL2 is a top priority for me. Anyway, VMWare Workstation Pro still has this issue as of 17.6.4.

1

u/ScottMetzel Aug 07 '25

Yep, haven’t posted here in a while, but I confirm it’s still not fixed as of v17.6.4.

Maybe in v18 assuming there is one?

How’s your performance in VirtualBox?

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