Using vm's on the same host machine

thereisnone

New Member
Aug 18, 2024
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Hey everyone, Is someone running the vm's graphically on the same host machine as proxmox?

I'm planning to test running it as the core os but i didn't figure out a way to make the computer usable last time without installing a desktop manager onto it, and nested virtualization felt stupid for what i needed.

Scenario: I need my wife to be able to connect and work on a windows vm on the same machine.
Right now i'm hosting it with hyper-v on a windows host itself but it feels a bit stupid to have an entire win installation sitting just for using the hyper-v services I've looked at this https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Developer_Workstations_with_Proxmox_VE_and_X11

But the hardly upgradable system notice threw me off a bit, i'm not sure how likely it is going to be causing issues for me?

Alternatively I saw a post mentioning spice, is this something you can run to view and use a virtual machine without the desktop environment installed?
 
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But the hardly upgradable system notice threw me off a bit, i'm not sure how likely it is going to be causing issues for me?

Well.., PVE is Debian plus the Proxmox software. Of course modifying this base installation massively (by adding a Desktop) will result in an untested construct and may be more difficult to manage than a vanilla installation. But that is where the fun begins! :cool:

I have set up a kind of that "Developer Workstation" on a not-so-new NUC on Wayland with Sway with a 4K Display. Using Spice I can run several different Distros (only Linux) on separate Full-Screen Desktops with the native 4K Resolution and I can switch between them with a simple Hotkey. "Super-3" is Mint, "Super-4" is Ubuntu" and so on. I did not try Windows (who needs that?) but I am fairly sure it will work identically. Note that "3D-Acceleration" or graphic performance is not relevant to me.

This construct works well for my use case, but this system is not my daily driver. I use it just occasionally - for testing purposes. Your mileage may (and will) vary!

A lot of experiments are successful with this great software. But please... use non-production-critical hardware for entering this experimental stage and/or have reliable backups. ;-)

Alternatively I saw a post mentioning spice, is this something you can run to view and use a virtual machine without the desktop environment installed?
No. As mentioned I use Spice to have different OS's on the same physical screen. The basis for the visible Spice-Display is a graphical OS. In my case it is Debian + Wayland. You may use Windows (on another machine or on a Laptop or ...) for this.

Spice is "just" a better "Remote Desktop Protocol"-alternative, requiring a Spice-client to display a remote desktop on a local physical screen :-)
 
Well.., PVE is Debian plus the Proxmox software. Of course modifying this base installation massively (by adding a Desktop) will result in an untested construct and may be more difficult to manage than a vanilla installation. But that is where the fun begins! :cool:

I have set up a kind of that "Developer Workstation" on a not-so-new NUC on Wayland with Sway with a 4K Display. Using Spice I can run several different Distros (only Linux) on separate Full-Screen Desktops with the native 4K Resolution and I can switch between them with a simple Hotkey. "Super-3" is Mint, "Super-4" is Ubuntu" and so on. I did not try Windows (who needs that?) but I am fairly sure it will work identically. Note that "3D-Acceleration" or graphic performance is not relevant to me.

This construct works well for my use case, but this system is not my daily driver. I use it just occasionally - for testing purposes. Your mileage may (and will) vary!

A lot of experiments are successful with this great software. But please... use non-production-critical hardware for entering this experimental stage and/or have reliable backups. ;-)


No. As mentioned I use Spice to have different OS's on the same physical screen. The basis for the visible Spice-Display is a graphical OS. In my case it is Debian + Wayland. You may use Windows (on another machine or on a Laptop or ...) for this.

Spice is "just" a better "Remote Desktop Protocol"-alternative, requiring a Spice-client to display a remote desktop on a local physical screen :)
Thanks a lot for sharing this with me, i think i will for the simplicity's sake (because i have access to multiple gpu's) just create a passtrough for the wife's windows machine and route it directly via hdmi to the monitor, this should give her the most native and performant experience I believe.

As for the rest of the virtual machines, i can access or manage from my own main machine.

I got this idea from purveying some posts on here and i believe it will be the optimal solution for this use case! :)