Fixing the achy-breaky studdery pointer in Server 2008 R2 Under VMWare ESXi 4

OK. I'll admit it: I'm impatient. I hate waiting for Christmas, my birthday,
downloads, stuff I ordered from eBay to show up, and the next Star Trek film to show up (!geek!). But what really grinds my gears is waiting for my slow friggen' pointer to catch up to my mouse movements when I am trying to get some work done for goodness sake!

Well Server2008 r2 under VMWare was seriously grinding my gears (and loosening some screws). Whenever I connected to an R2 server through the VSphere client console I got a studdery mouse like I was connecting through VNC through a dial up connection... On a Commodore 64. Yes, of course I installed VM Tools. Yes acceleration was set to high (You can't set it in this case anyway). No, I was not connecting through a dial up. No I was NOT using a C64 at work. What is it about r2 that does this? I don't know. Why don't I just connect through RDP? because I manage Linux servers too. Why Don't I just get to how I fixed it and shut up already?? OK. *sigh*. Fine.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

I have used this method on several production servers with no Ill effects. Your mileage may vary. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE snapshot your VM before following these instructions. No really. Im not kidding. You have been warned!

Pre-Flight Checklist:
A) Ensure that VMWare Tools have been installed in the guest.
B) Ensure you have allocated enough video RAM to the server.
C) All steps are performed from the guest server.

0) Snapshot your VM.
1) Left Click on the start menu. Right click on Computer and select Manage. The server manager window will appear.
2) On the left pane click on the + next to Diagnostics and click on the Device Manager. The center pane will display the Device Manager.
3) In most cases a list of devices is listed with a + next to them. If just your server name is displayed click the + next to your server name to display the list of devices. Click the + next to Display Adapters to show the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter.
4) Right Click on the Standard VGA Graphics Adapter and select Update Driver Software.
5) Select --> Browse my computer for driver software.
6) Click the Browse button next to the box under the title "Search for driver in this location".
7) Browse to Computer --> Local Disk (C:) --> Program Files --> Common Files --> Drivers --> VMWare --> Video.
8) Click OK. You will be returned to the Update Driver Software screen.
9) Click Next. A message will inform you that Windows has Successfully Updated Your Driver Software.
10) Click close. You will be asked to restart your computer.
11) Click yes and wait impatiently while the server reboots.
12) Once the server reboots, right click on an empty section of the desktop and select Screen Resolution
13) Click on Advanced Settings (it's on the center right of the window).
14) Click on the Troubleshoot tab
15) Click Change Settings and the Display Adapter Troubleshooter window will appear.
16) Drag the hardware acceleration slider to Full.
17) Click OK.
18) Put your Prozac back in the medicine cabinet.

-- Posted from my big ass iPod

Location:In my secret data center bat cave