For the last year or two I've been running a Windows 10 VM with dedicated nvme, gpu, and nic. If the need or want arose I could simply reboot into that nvme and run Windows directly - even the DHCP address was preserved. I didn't have to do anything that _wasn't_ supported by PVE or Win10, and it was a long-time dream come true for the all-in-one desktop/lab pc. But if it seems to good to be true it probably is, and I know I'm far outside the realm of target personas and supported use cases.
But maybe I'm not alone? Has anyone had any luck in running a single Windows 11 install both natively and as a VM without _too many_ hacks? Any advice on where to look?
For anyone looking to do it with Windows 10 all I can say is: IOMMU groups. Everything else you'll need to do is well documented, but your computer won't get smarter. Don't buy anything until you're sure the motherboard and processor are compatible with your use case. You have to make sure you can get all the PCI devices your VM needs into IOMMU groups that the VM can have complete control of, without those groups including (too many) devices it shouldn't have control of. This is a matter of hardware, and even what slots you plug components into. And maybe wait until you've seen someone do it with Win11...
But maybe I'm not alone? Has anyone had any luck in running a single Windows 11 install both natively and as a VM without _too many_ hacks? Any advice on where to look?
For anyone looking to do it with Windows 10 all I can say is: IOMMU groups. Everything else you'll need to do is well documented, but your computer won't get smarter. Don't buy anything until you're sure the motherboard and processor are compatible with your use case. You have to make sure you can get all the PCI devices your VM needs into IOMMU groups that the VM can have complete control of, without those groups including (too many) devices it shouldn't have control of. This is a matter of hardware, and even what slots you plug components into. And maybe wait until you've seen someone do it with Win11...