Performance Issues and Audio/Video Lag in Kali Linux on VirtualBox (Windows 11 Host)

What have you tried:

  • Allocated 6GB RAM, 2GB VRAM, and 80GB SSD storage to the VM.
  • Installed VirtualBox Guest Additions for better performance.
  • Enabled 3D Acceleration in VirtualBox settings.
  • Adjusted CPU and performance settings within the VM.

What is the error:

  • The VM is laggy, even during normal use.
  • YouTube videos on Firefox/Chrome have choppy audio and stuttering video.

What device is this on:

  • Host OS: Windows 11 Pro
  • Virtualization Software: VirtualBox (latest version)
  • VM Specs:
  • RAM: 6GB
  • VRAM: 2GB
  • Storage: 80GB SSD
  • Guest Additions: Installed

the issue with yt videos lagging is known for a while and no solutions have been found so far. why would you need to watch yt videos in a vm when you have the main os anyway?

You’ve allocated 6 Gb RAM to the guest OS how much RAM did this leave for Windows?
if you have 16 GB shouldn’t be the problem, if you only have 8 Gb will definitely be the main issue!

a VM should only use a max of 50% of your actual hardware, i.e 50% RAM and only half the number of CPU cores you physically have for example, if your Host OS hasn’t enough resources left, the VM will lag badly.