GPU passthrough issues

Hmm...I've tried all sorts of configurations today and I can't get it working

Vmware 6.5, 6.0U2, 6.0U1
Windows 10/8/7 hosts in both 64 and 32 bit variants
Vsphere client vs web client - there is a bug in the 6.0 web interface that does not handle PCI devices well

I think I might have to try a different brand card and see if that helps.
Or it might be the motherboard...which would be unfortunate

 

Do you have another machine you can throw the card into and try ESX on? That would at least narrow it down to the current hardware being a problem.

 

Just to add a data point -

It's been a few years, but the notes above about AMD cards (vs nvidia) for passthrough and the pcihole settings are the same as my experience. Last run was actually when 7970's were new, and I was able to pass-through everything including HDMI audio, multiple display outputs, and a usb controller to sim a full desktop experience, and actually had more than 1 VM with respective dedicated GPUs in the same physical box. IIRC, this would've been ~5.0U2, and had it in use upgrade to 5.5, so how 6.0 plays I can't speak to.

However, any and all attempts with nvidia were highly unsuccessful for me (and any others I was aware of at the time) across multiple generations of cards; I haven't heard of them getting much friendlier since, but have not followed with the same interest either lately.

 

As a quick add-on: no idea where the thread linked below progressed to (it says last reply 2016, but was originally circa 2011), but was a decent reference back then. Good chance it's useless now, but who knows...

VMDirectPath and ATI Radeon | VMware Communities