Troubleshooting GPU passthrough ESXi 6.5

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marcoi

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Apr 6, 2013
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for #2 - maybe adding a usb card in pass-through with a real mouse and keyboard will help with this.
for #3 - use either remote desktop or VNC when the VM is booted. Prior to booting into windows i would think the vm console still works?
 

Eds89

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Feb 21, 2016
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Thanks marcoi.

Is your thinking for the real keyboard and mouse to just sit connected but unused? My intention is to stream everything from the VM, rather than having any direct interaction with it. I may try removing the VMware mouse and keyboard driver to start with though.

Remote desktop works fine, assuming the VM maintains network connectivity. Console is fine until Windows boots yes. Ultimately if something does go belly up, it's easy enough to remove the dummy plug temporarily while I fix the issue from the console, then reconnect and continue.
 

marcoi

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Thanks marcoi.

Is your thinking for the real keyboard and mouse to just sit connected but unused? My intention is to stream everything from the VM, rather than having any direct interaction with it. I may try removing the VMware mouse and keyboard driver to start with though.

Remote desktop works fine, assuming the VM maintains network connectivity. Console is fine until Windows boots yes. Ultimately if something does go belly up, it's easy enough to remove the dummy plug temporarily while I fix the issue from the console, then reconnect and continue.
i was thinking for keyboard/mouse to help trouble shoot further.I was curious if it would make a difference in testing. You could also test by trying a game on the system with the card plugged into a screen and keyboard/mouse via usb pass though to see if the same issues happened
 

Eds89

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Ok so I added a USB controller with a mouse attached, and streaming still behaves the same.
If I used the mouse connected to the VMware host that is passed through to the VM, it works fine :S

Seems to be something related to streaming specifically, so think I will try some other games and see if it's just Astroneer that is affected.

EDIT: Think it is this specific game, as the same thing happens when streaming from my other physical PC. Will report to Astroneer devs
 
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waith

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Aug 3, 2015
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Anyone had success with passing through two video cards to different VMs? I have two RX 470s that I'm sending through to Win10 guests on ESXI 6.5. Host is a Precision T5610 with latest bios.

GPU1 -> VM1 (Seems to work, but BSOD when updating drivers)
GPU2 -> VM2 (Crashes the second anything uses the videocard outside displaying the desktop)
 

TLN

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Anyone had success with passing through two video cards to different VMs? I have two RX 470s that I'm sending through to Win10 guests on ESXI 6.5. Host is a Precision T5610 with latest bios.

GPU1 -> VM1 (Seems to work, but BSOD when updating drivers)
GPU2 -> VM2 (Crashes the second anything uses the videocard outside displaying the desktop)
Yes.
One card => VM1, running Win7
Another card => VM2, running Mac OS X
Both cards are Radeons
 

waith

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Aug 3, 2015
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Yes.
One card => VM1, running Win7
Another card => VM2, running Mac OS X
Both cards are Radeons
What modifications to the VM configs did you make?

I've tried pciPassthru.use64bitMMIO="TRUE" and manually defining pciHole.start = "1200" and pciHole.end = "4040" on both VMs.

Also the stuff in the attached screenshot.
 

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TLN

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Also the stuff in the attached screenshot.
Here you go. Pretty generous in memory lol ;)

pciHole.Start=1200
pciHole.End=2200

I dooon't think I've changed anything else, but I can forward .vmx files for two VM's. Need to test if I can run em simultaneously, but I was in the past.
 

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RyC

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Here you go. Pretty generous in memory lol ;)

pciHole.Start=1200
pciHole.End=2200

I dooon't think I've changed anything else, but I can forward .vmx files for two VM's. Need to test if I can run em simultaneously, but I was in the past.
Which version of Mac OS X are you running in a VM?
 

Vi1i

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Mar 28, 2018
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First, everyone, thank you for this post.
Now I was able to follow the directions posted here to get ESXi working with my GTX1080.
hypervisor.cpuid.v0 with value of FALSE
I then diabled the vmware SVGA driver and set the diplay to 2, which was my monitor.

The above while worked, left my computer is a continuous cylce of BSOD whenever I connected to it with either vnc or rdp.

Eventually I added the option pciPassthru0.msiEnabled = "FALSE" and this stopped my BSODs. So thanks @soild79.

Now, I followed through to get a USB controller pcie passthrough and I got the card mentioned by @marcoi:
StarTech.com 2 Port PCI Express PCIe SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Controller Card with SATA Power - Dual Port PCI Express USB 3 Adapter PEXUSB3S23

I set the device to passthrough just fine, and then added the slot onto my vm, so my vm's passthrough are now:
pcie-slots.PNG
And windows recognizes it:
usb-device.PNG
But no device are seen when I connect them... Any help would be appreciated.
 

IVUSOSK

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Mar 31, 2018
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Hello, I try to run passthru over esxi 6.5 but everytime when i start clear VM the whole machine is going to reeboot.
Before that I had installed NVIDIA-kepler-VMware_ESXi_6.5_Host_Driver and for while I was happy.
But afterwhile the ESXI server go to PURPLE screen of death.
Please any advice?
I try to use ESXI for few linux machines at home and one want to be for Home PC with HDMI output...
Many thanks for help
 

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marcoi

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Apr 6, 2013
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First, everyone, thank you for this post.
Now I was able to follow the directions posted here to get ESXi working with my GTX1080.
hypervisor.cpuid.v0 with value of FALSE
I then diabled the vmware SVGA driver and set the diplay to 2, which was my monitor.

The above while worked, left my computer is a continuous cylce of BSOD whenever I connected to it with either vnc or rdp.

Eventually I added the option pciPassthru0.msiEnabled = "FALSE" and this stopped my BSODs. So thanks @soild79.

Now, I followed through to get a USB controller pcie passthrough and I got the card mentioned by @marcoi:
StarTech.com 2 Port PCI Express PCIe SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Controller Card with SATA Power - Dual Port PCI Express USB 3 Adapter PEXUSB3S23

I set the device to passthrough just fine, and then added the slot onto my vm, so my vm's passthrough are now:
View attachment 8197
And windows recognizes it:
View attachment 8198
But no device are seen when I connect them... Any help would be appreciated.
Did you get the card with eltron chipset? The other chipset seems to have issues?

Also try testing it in esxi first to make sure it's actually working without pass through. If good, then out it back to pass through and test with a new VM without the card. These tests will help with troubleshooting.
 

Vi1i

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Mar 28, 2018
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Did you get the card with eltron chipset? The other chipset seems to have issues?

Also try testing it in esxi first to make sure it's actually working without pass through. If good, then out it back to pass through and test with a new VM without the card. These tests will help with troubleshooting.
Hmm I got the one linked by you, the PEXUSB3S23 one. Was this the wrong one?
 

marcoi

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2013
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When you say other tests, what ones are you talking about?
Also try testing it in esxi first to make sure it's actually working without pass through. If good, then set it back to pass through and test with a new VM without the vid card. These tests will help with troubleshooting.