ESXi 6.7U2, OSX Mojave, GPU Passthrough

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Swiz

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Apr 5, 2017
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This is my first virtual Mac, so I'm learning as I go. Yes, I know none of this is officially supported. I followed these instructions: https://ghost.brentondurkee.com/esxi-6-0-hackintosh/ with great success. Everything worked on the first try, including unlocker v3, iMessage, iCloud, etc.

However, the Radeon Pro WX4100 that I passed through doesn't seem to be working as expected. When I install macOS with the passthrough activated, it seems to only use the VMWare display adapter. I tested the passthrough in a Windows VM and it works perfectly fine, so I know the hypervisor is doing its job. The issue only seems to be with macOS. I even have a display emulator plugged into the back, but nothing changes when I access the VM remotely. Both remote access and the VMware console seems to want to use the VMware tools SVGA adapter. Under displays, there is no second screen or option to change it. I purchased this card, because it's listed as compatible with Mojave. Unfortunately, it looks like something is preventing me from using it with a virtualized macOS. If anyone has ran into this issue before, please let me know.
 

pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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I have never tried doing this, so have no idea what might be causing it not to be recognised, assuming the drivers are installed and available for it etc. Have you tried changing things up in the Mac VM BIOS?
 

Swiz

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Apr 5, 2017
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There's not much to change in the BIOS, but I have tried setting several different flags in the VMX file. Nothing has worked so far. This card is natively supported by macOS. The drivers install automatically, which is why they're not listed on the AMD website. The exception would be if you were using an Nvidia card. In that case you would need to load the drivers yourself.
 

levifig

Member
Nov 27, 2017
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You're probably going to need to use Lilu.kext and WhateverGreen.kext to get that card going. For macOS outside of Apple hardware, even if virtualized, I highly recommend you run Clover as bootloader.

Basically, you're looking at running a "Hackintosh on ESXi", not "macOS on ESXi", so all the Hackintosh requirements apply… :)
 

Swiz

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Apr 5, 2017
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Clover isn't supported for ESXi anymore. Several people have told me to stay away from it if I'm trying to use a virtual machine. It's unstable on VMware (kernel panics/host instability) and the devs have no plans to fix the problems from what I've read. They seem only focus on traditional hackintosh machines now. I was trying to use those kexts without Clover yesterday, but it doesn't look like I can install them due to some Rt variables that have to be adjusted through Clover first?
 

RyC

Active Member
Oct 17, 2013
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This has been an issue for a while: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...with-gpu-passthrough.12680/page-2#post-145054

Basically, as of Sierra (10.12), AMD cards will not initialize correctly when using passthrough in ESXi. I tried all sorts of different ways (including Lilu + WhateverGreen) to try to get an AMD card to come up in Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave, but I was unable to make anything work.

Nvidia cards do passthrough correctly, but Web Drivers only go up to High Sierra (10.13). Mojave only supports (IIRC) Kepler Nvidia cards natively, which are quite old at this point.
 

Swiz

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Apr 5, 2017
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RyC, you just saved me a ton of time, thanks. So my choices are to stick with Mojave and accept no hardware acceleration or go back to El Capitan? They obviously aren't updating it anymore, so it probably won't be long before Safari breaks. I guess I could install FireFox in the meantime?
 

Swiz

New Member
Apr 5, 2017
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This has been an issue for a while: https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...with-gpu-passthrough.12680/page-2#post-145054

Basically, as of Sierra (10.12), AMD cards will not initialize correctly when using passthrough in ESXi. I tried all sorts of different ways (including Lilu + WhateverGreen) to try to get an AMD card to come up in Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave, but I was unable to make anything work.

Nvidia cards do passthrough correctly, but Web Drivers only go up to High Sierra (10.13). Mojave only supports (IIRC) Kepler Nvidia cards natively, which are quite old at this point.
I can't get it to work under El Capitan either. It looks the exact same as my original screenshot. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that I'm using ESXi 6.7 U2?
 

iwantmymac

New Member
Jul 28, 2019
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I can't get it to work under El Capitan either. It looks the exact same as my original screenshot. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that I'm using ESXi 6.7 U2?
Hi,

Having same issue but with RX560 which should be supported OOB. Was reading posts for HSierra gpu pass through working under 6.5u1 and just for that downgraded my ESXi 6.7u2 to 6.5u1 - still no joy: GPU is listed but doesn't show display connected. Thinking about trying Display Port rather then HDMI.
 

WANg

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2018
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RyC, you just saved me a ton of time, thanks. So my choices are to stick with Mojave and accept no hardware acceleration or go back to El Capitan? They obviously aren't updating it anymore, so it probably won't be long before Safari breaks. I guess I could install FireFox in the meantime?
Basically yes. I don't see an advantage to running anything newer than High Sierra at this point. Mojave haven't actually add anything much of value to Hackintosh owners, and Catalina will blow away 32 bit binary support, so a ton of legacy software will simply stop working.
 

iwantmymac

New Member
Jul 28, 2019
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haven't tried clover (and don't want - my idea to run it without extra kext injections) but seen posts that under Mojave Nvidia Kepler GPU are working OK with pass though, but they are old.
 

cdoublejj

New Member
Jan 5, 2018
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i was curious if a GRID would work, it's an older GK107 based like kepler or maxwell or something like that but, i'd think you'd have to add the device to the plist? except i saw ZERO device ids in the GK100 plist. i think i'll dig around to see if i can find a el capitan or sierra installer flash drive.
 

WANg

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2018
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It’s these headaches that keep me paying the Apple tax and getting hardware from them.
I am not a fan of their newer stuff (their mobile line is meh, their MacMini has embedded storage, and I only like the iMac 27"), there's some value in buying used hardware. The 2013-2017 MBAs (with 8GB RAM) the 2013-2016 Retina MBPs (16 GB RAM), the 2012 MacMini Server, or the Broadwell 27" iMac are all decent value props.

I gave up on Hackintoshes (physical and actually) as an everyday driver back in 2017 when I realized how much work I have to put in to make them function well. (every minor update can crap the bed, every major OS release means a new VM needs to be built). I had one as an XCode build server (back when I kept my Gigabyte NUC running 24/7 on ESXi), but every time Apple does something I have to keep my fingers crossed and hope nothing breaks. Even on my 2014 Mac Mini I had to endure the Apple/nVidia back-and-forth so CUDA isn't working in Mojave. I just ordered an extra used MacBook Air so I can have one on Mojave (32 bit support for the older apps), and one on Catalina.

"It's free...assuming time has no value".