Re: [Xen-devel] Secondary VGA Passthrough, nvidia, win7: success report.

[Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@xxxxxx>]

On Fri, Jan 06, 2012 at 05:48:06PM +0100, -+= Lta =+- wrote:
>    Hello xen-devel,

Hello,

>    This is my first post on this list and as such i might be breaking some
>    explicit/implicit rules and i apologize if it's the case. Maybe this list
>    isn't the exact right kind of place where to post this kind of stuff, but
>    i know lots of us are browsing this list as the primary source of
>    documentation for xen.
>    I've read many times windows 7 isn't the right os to run on top of xen.
>    Most of the guy's who are running vga passthru are recommanding to use
>    windows xp, and i've never seen any success report of vga passthru on
>    windows 7 so i thought it was important to post mine.

Thanks for the post! I'm sure it helps many people trying out this stuff.


>    The kernel boot options are 'nomodeset xen-pciback.passthrough=1
>    xen-pciback.hide=(01:00.0)(01:00.1)'
>    - Here's my win7 domU config file :
>    kernel = "/usr/lib/xen-4.1/boot/hvmloader"
>    builder='hvm'
>    memory = 3072
>    name = "w7"
>    vif = [ 'type=netfront,bridge=xenbr0, mac=00:16:3e:35:49:62']
>    disk = [ 'phy:/dev/w7-xen/system,hda,w', 'phy:/dev/w7-xen/appz,hdb,w']
>    device_model = '/usr/lib/xen-4.1/bin/qemu-dm'
>    boot="dc"
>    pci=['01:00.0','01:00.1']
>    gfx_passthru=1


Just a note that "gfx_passthru=1" makes the passthru physical graphics adapter
become *primary* in the guest VM.. the subject of the email says "secondary", 
so I wanted to clarify that :)


>    pci_msitranslate=0
>    pci_power_mgmt=0

So these are the required 'magic' options.. 

>    acpi_s3 = 1
>    acpi_s4 = 1
>    on_poweroff = 'destroy'
>    on_reboot   = 'restart'
>    on_crash    = 'restart'
>    xen_platform_pci=1
>    hpet = 1
>    viridian=1
>    monitor=1
>    xen_extended_power_mgmt=2

I wonder if this is important aswell.. 


>    hpet=1

It seems you have hpet two times :) 


>    What's important here for the Nvidia drivers to work and not give a nice
>    nvlddmkm.sys BSOD is:
>    pci_msitranslate=0
>    pci_power_mgmt=0
>    - Windows 7 32bits
>    - Nvidia drivers 275.33
>    - You have to manually run aero speed test or force aero to start by using
>    registry entries for the desktop not to be laggy
>    The windows 7 domU is running fine with no performance decrease
>    noticeable, although i've not yet played intensive gpu video game, i'm
>    still pretty confident they'll run fine.

>    Anyway. i've still some problems i shall report in separate posts :
>    - The PCI bus topology isn't preserved, and the gfx card, which is plugged
>    on 01:00 becomes 05:00 on domU.


Hmm.. I wonder why "xen-pciback.passthrough=1" doesn't work.. 


>    - I'm passing through an RME Hdsp / hammerfall pci sound card to the domU
>    and while it is working fine on his own, there's a strange interaction
>    between it and the GPLPV network driver. When i start playing sound, the
>    network instantly cease working. It starts back as soon as i stop playing
>    audio.
>    That's all folks,
>    Cheers,
>    Lta
> 

Thanks! 

-- Pasi


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