[SOLVED] Windows 10 NVIDIA GPU Passthrough Issues

[Christopher Traxler]

Hello everyone! I have proxmox 5.3 running on a dell r710 with a NVIDIA gtx 970 being passed through to a windows 10 (1803) vm. I followed the guide posted by sshaikh and was able to get the gpu recognized and drivers installed in windows. The main issue is that when I try to run an application or game that uses the gpu it crashes or returns errors about not being able to use directx or any 3D acceleration at all.

Another issue is not being able to enable game streaming within the GeForce experience software. The only thing I see is when I go to the shield page to customize gamestreaming is “information not available”

Below is the output from the vm conf file.
(File: /etc/pve/qemu-server/102.conf)

bios: ovmf
machine: q35
hostpci0: 07:00.0,x-vga=on,pcie=1
agent: 1
bootdisk: virtio0
cores: 2
cpu: host
ide0: local:iso/virtio-win-0.1.141.iso,media=cdrom,size=309208K
ide2: local:iso/Win10-1308-virtio.iso,media=cdrom
memory: 16383
name: steam
net0: virtio=AE:92:9E:A2:BB:77,bridge=vmbr0
numa: 1
ostype: win10
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=f02c269a-b818-4baa-9b8f-51af380b7311
sockets: 2
virtio0: vm_storage:vm-102-disk-0,cache=writeback,size=100G
vmgenid: f72f1271-030e-4e04-95f3-5434815e2d11

 

[AlexLup]

I have a GTX 750 TI installed and its working just fine, with a ROM file that you need to download from your own GFX card.

Please try that.

 

[Christopher Traxler]

So, I dumped the rom from the gpu and placed it in /usr/share/kvm/nvbios.bin, then added the romfile=nvbios.bin to the pci device options. Booted up the vm and tried to install the nvidia driver and now I am running into the dreaded code 43 error. To me, it seems as if I am making progress, because before the driver would install fine but I could not use the capabilities of the gpu.

 

[AlexLup]

One more thing, try adding a GFX to the server and make sure BIOS uses that as the primary device.

Also check this thread for exakt configuration I use:

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/gpu-passthrough.46231/

 

[Christopher Traxler]

You're saying to add another separate gfx card to the system? I'll give that a shot tonight when I get home from work. I have edited my .conf to follow what you have:

args: -cpu 'host,+kvm_pv_unhalt,+kvm_pv_eoi,hv_vendor_id=Nvidia43FIX,kvm=off'
balloon: 3500
bios: ovmf
boot: dc
bootdisk: scsi0
cores: 4
cpu: host,hidden=1
efidisk0: vm_storage:vm-102-disk-1,size=1M
hostpci0: 07:00,x-vga=1,romfile=nvbios.bin
ide2: local:iso/virtio-win-0.1.141.iso,media=cdrom,size=309208K
machine: q35
memory: 16383
name: steam
net0: virtio=72:4A:EA:03:0C:8F,bridge=vmbr0
numa: 1
ostype: win10
scsi0: vm_storage:vm-102-disk-0,cache=writeback,size=100G
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=ea3f8381-46e1-4e14-a8d9-52bb6dec1aca
sockets: 2
vmgenid: 268d3f92-5344-4169-abba-3d00c9a92574

 

[AlexLup]

Hi,
I didnt think it was possible to dump the GFX ROM without another GFX card acting as primary actually

 

[tim]

Which Nvidia driver was installed?
Version 417.35 from December worked for me (gtx980), but while testing I experienced some issues with the latest 417.71 from January.
If you used the newest one, maybe try out the one from December, might work.

 

[Mikus]

Hello everyone! I have proxmox 5.3 running on a dell r710 with a NVIDIA gtx 970 being passed through to a windows 10 (1803) vm. I followed the guide posted by sshaikh and was able to get the gpu recognized and drivers installed in windows. The main issue is that when I try to run an application or game that uses the gpu it crashes or returns errors about not being able to use directx or any 3D acceleration at all.

Version 417.35 from December worked for me (gtx980), but while testing I experienced some issues with the latest 417.71 from January.

Secondary NVIDIA GeForce 1080 GPU passthrough works just fine for me on Proxmox 5.3-6 host in Windows 10 1803/1809 VM, with NVIDIA drivers version 398.11 and 417.35, without any ROM extracts. Will try tomorrow the newest 417.71 drivers version.

 

[Christopher Traxler]

Update!

I was able to install the latest nvidia drivers (417.71) and the gpu is working normally. Lessons learned below:

1. Started from scratch by creating a new vm with windows 10 1803 iso, virtio driver disk, ovmf bios, and efi disk. Booted from windows install disk and completed setup. Once I got to the desktop, I enabled rdp.
2. When passing the romfile, I was using a file that had erroneous data included because I used gpu-z to dump. Uploaded to replaced previous bios file. Passed the gpu and audio. Here is the .conf I ended up with:

agent: 1
args: -device ivshmem-plain,memdev=ivshmem,bus=pcie.0 -object memory-backend-file,id=ivshmem,share=on,mem-path=/dev/shm/looking-glass,size=32M
balloon: 0
bios: ovmf
boot: dc
bootdisk: scsi0
cores: 2
cpu: host,hidden=1
cpuunits: 256
efidisk0: vm_storage:vm-102-disk-1,size=128K
hostpci0: 07:00,pcie=1,x-vga=1,romfile=msi970.bin
ide0: local:iso/virtio-win-0.1.141.iso,media=cdrom,size=309208K
ide2: local:iso/Win10_1803_English_x64.iso,media=cdrom
machine: q35
memory: 16383
name: steam
net0: virtio=9A:A4:0F:1E:B9:1F,bridge=vmbr0
numa: 1
ostype: win10
parent: Work
scsi0: vm_storage:vm-102-disk-0,size=150G
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=19b1bafd-9f3d-407a-b07f-c670acab5a59
sockets: 2
usb0: host=3-1
usb1: host=5-1
vmgenid: 967260c8-fea3-416f-8909-2e6e66b077be

3. My big failure was not realized that the gpu is NOT passed through in a rdp session. Which messed me up because I saw the driver installed, yet when I try to run a game or furmark, nothing would launch. Switched to chrome remote desktop and I was able to test and see that the gpu is in fact working correctly.

4. Installed steam, downloaded some games ,and setup some in home streaming. Glad to finally have this working! Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[AlexLup]

I had crackling sound with Steam and bad FPS so I tried parsecgaming client instead, with the host audio card passed through which made it a whole lot easier!