I've been trying with little avail to get a Windows 10 VM running on Windows 10 which isn't graphically jittery. I plan to use this VM to download random games without having to worry about potential malware. I've tried VBox, and native Hyper-V Manager, with the latter being slightly better, but still far from native performance. I expect some performance degradation, but I don't have a good grasp on what should be attainable. I have a Ryzen 5800X3D, and a decently powerful GPU, but it runs like the hardware is 15 years old. Looking for advice on what I can do here; I've tried following pretty much every guide on the first page of Google, which all recommend the same things: enable virtualization, increase #virtual cpus, decrease #virtual cpus, increase memory, change memory to fixed instead of dynamic, get rid of bloatware, defragment, etc.
Ask HN: Is it possible to get a graphically smooth Windows VM?
1–6 of 6 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to get a graphically smooth Windows VM?
#2Depending on your VM you'll need to enable GPU passthrough (sometimes erroniously labeled "3D acceleration" or something), and then install the corresponding GPU drivers in the guest VM.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to get a graphically smooth Windows VM?
#3Depending on your VM you'll need to enable GPU passthrough (sometimes erroniously labeled "3D acceleration" or something), and then install the corresponding GPU drivers in the guest VM.
I believe this opens up the host device to vulnerabilities if the VM gets infected: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/162122/gpu-pass...
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to get a graphically smooth Windows VM?
#4I use a Windows VM to play VR games in, and with GPU passthrough it's pretty much native performance and buttery smooth.
I originally followed this guide [1] but have accumulated a bunch of little modifications since then. It's a good place to start if you're willing to really dig in.
[1] https://www.heiko-sieger.info/running-windows-10-on-linux-us...
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to get a graphically smooth Windows VM?
#5Depending on your VM you'll need to enable GPU passthrough (sometimes erroniously labeled "3D acceleration" or something), and then install the corresponding GPU drivers in the guest VM.
I believe this opens up the host device to vulnerabilities if the VM gets infected: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/162122/gpu-pass...
Yeah, probably. DMA is always an issue when you're using PCI for graphics, so caveat emptor.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to get a graphically smooth Windows VM?
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe this opens up the host device to vulnerabilities if the VM gets infected: https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/162122/gpu-pass...
Yeah, probably. DMA is always an issue when you're using PCI for graphics, so caveat emptor.
Hmm, in theory what if I used a dedicated GPU just for the VM that was disabled on the host. I don't know the space of these exploits well enough to know if there's an obvious attack that still leaves the host open to.