Running Windows as a VM with an external GPU is such a mess...
Today I tried installing windows on Proxmox with a GPU passthrough so I can dual-boot to windows on my computer to play multiplayer games with my friends.
Corresponding WIKI gives a more step by step guide.
This was genuinely so painful that it reminded me why I am stopped using windows. The process of installing Ubuntu was so easy from the get go it is so crazy that windows is what I had this much issues with. To install Ubuntu I had to find the ISO file, add it to the VM, add my GPU as a PCIe device and dual displays started working from the get go from the setup. I did have to run like one command on my host computer so the VMs can use the GPU without the host stealing it. But everything else was so smooth I do not even think about how my main computer is a VM. I edit videos and do everything I need.
Windows on the other hand......
To get this working I had to
- Disable the GPU and install windows with the Proxmox GPU
- Install the Nvidia Driver application
- Install the Nvidia Driver Application TWICE since the drivers kept failing to install, and when it did, device controller kept saying the device is broken
- When I did a restart, only one of the displays would show up and it was not the display I wanted to use.
- Would not load the drivers for the display (blank screen) till I went on the proxmox dashboard and connect through VNC and sign in first then disable the VNC display.
I had to
- Reinstall the drivers and restart the computer but still have the vnc
- Then go to settings to see what displays show up and DISABLE the VNC display while keeping it ON in proxmox for it to load up with dual displays automatically on the first go.
- Re test to see if this works consistently as the behavior keeps changing each time.
Now is this a big deal, not really considering running a VM always going to have its issues but the fact the Linux Os was plug an play from the get go even with Nvidia but Windows was not is just telling how much Microsoft has dropped the ball. Trillion dollar company vs open source foundation 💀 Only reason I am doing this is to play multiplayer games but this experience has been making me rethink even this is worth seeing windows update EVERY single boot.