I had been installing plenty of Windows Server 2008/R2 servers on the VMWare infrastructure as of late. The only issue I could find was after installation – the console connection would drag. It seemed like the server was very slow at responding. RDP into the server and blamo, everything slow about the console went away. I didn’t really think much of it until a fellow IT worker (Bib) brought it up after his first time using ESXi. Apparently it all comes down to a driver that doesn’t get installed by default.

ESXi 4.1 patched through April 2011 (two outstanding updates slated for install next month)
Windows Server 2008 R2 as a test
VM Tools fully up to date
Windows Updates fully patched

Here’s the fix:
Open Device Manager
Expand Display adapters – you should see Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Right-click on this and choose Update Driver
Select Browse my computer for driver software
Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\wddm_video
Finish the wizard, then reboot the guest

Next time you’re in the console you should see VMware SVGA 3D driver listed for the display adapter. And you’ll notice the system seems a lot more peppy.