I am running Linux Mint 22.3 VMs on Proxmox 9.1. I am using SR-IOV to partition a Intel Arc B50 card as a GPU. All the configurations work correctly for a Windows 11 VM. However, when I try to boot a Linux Mint VM it will hang if the Display is set to “None”. If I set the Display setting to “Default, or Standard VGA, or Virtual-GPU” the VM will boot however, Mint will use the display adapter for the GPU instead to the Intel B50 card.
In short, if the Display is set to “None”, it will not boot.
If the Display is not “None”, it will boot but Mint assigns the display adapter as the Default GPU.
I need to find a way to change to Default GPU to the Intel GPU or a way to boot the VM properly without a display adapter set.
Note: I am using Ruskdesk as the Remote Access software. I have also tried plugging a dummy hdmi adapter into the Intel GPU.
First, I would make sure that SR-IOV is configured properly in Proxmox. If SR-IOV is not set up correctly at the Proxmox level, any configuration inside Linux Mint will fail.
Second, Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu 22.04, so I would recommend following the instructions for Ubuntu 22.04. I’ve linked the official Intel documentation below:
Just some friendly advice: I’d suggest using VNC instead of RustDesk to view and interact with your Linux Mint 22.04 VM while troubleshooting. It tends to be more reliable for early-stage configuration.
If the steps above don’t resolve the issue, I’d recommend using Google’s AI tools to search specifically for information on configuring Intel B50 SR-IOV in Linux VMs.
Also, keep in mind that Linux Mint being based on Ubuntu 22.04 really does matter—using the correct Ubuntu version for documentation and drivers can make a big difference when working with newer hardware. I forgot to mention if you use Google AI tools, please verify all information that AI tools give.
Excuse my ignorance but a cursory google suggests your vm would be running linux 5.15 lts which is quite old now. There is a good reason to suspect it’s not being recognized because the virtual system predates the release of this card by a wide margin.
I suggest setting up a quick vm with the latest ubuntu or mint (i.e., NOT LTS) and seeing if you have the same issues before touching BIOS options.
I have spent most of the day trying different configurations of both Linux Mint 22.3 and Ubuntu 25.10. In short, nothing changed the base problem of it not recognizing the card as a valid GPU.
Both Linux Mint 22.3 and Ubuntu 25.10 are using Kernel 6.17.0-14 generic.
I have tried updating the Intel drivers, the Mesa drivers, etc… However nothing seems to work. Both linux versions refuse or fail to recognize the Arc Pro B50 as a valid GPU.
All this being say, if I give the exact same VM setting (everything the same) to the Windows 11 VM, it just works. Windows 11 reports everything about the card correctly. It plays Heaven and Superposition without a problem.
All this leads me to the question, when setting up a VM for SR-IOV, is there something different for Linux than for Windows? Windows just works. Could it be that linux is simply not ready for this card?
This looks like a typical headless GPU passthrough issue rather than a Proxmox misconfiguration. When the display is set to None, the VM becomes fully headless and Linux Mint may stall during graphical initialization because no framebuffer or console device is present, even though Windows can tolerate that state. That’s why enabling any virtual display allows the system to boot.
A practical workaround is to keep a lightweight virtual GPU (virtio-gpu or standard VGA) enabled purely for boot/console while forcing the Intel Arc VF to be used for rendering. Inside Mint, verify the Arc device with lspci -k, ensure the correct Intel driver is loaded, and if needed create an Xorg or compositor configuration that prioritizes the Intel GPU over the virtual adapter. Another option is enabling a serial console so the system can boot headless without waiting for a graphical console.
Since RustDesk depends on an active display server, removing all display devices can also prevent remote sessions from starting even if the VM boots. In practice, most setups keep a minimal virtual adapter for initialization while offloading compute and rendering to the passed-through GPU.
Also, make sure you’re running a recent kernel and firmware stack because Intel Arc SR-IOV support is still evolving and behavior can differ between guest OS versions. Combining stable virtualization setups with reliable hardware sourcing from providers like Circular Computing can further help maintain consistent performance in lab and production environments.
Unfortunately, for every success story I’ve read about SR-IOV and Linux VMs, there seems to be an equal number of failure reports.
Have you tried using Google’s AI tools to look for a possible fix, as I suggested earlier? If you’re good at writing prompts, the results can be fairly useful—but you still need to verify any information it provides. AI can be a helpful starting point for research and troubleshooting, but it shouldn’t be treated as a definitive source.
Since I have access to the most up-to-date version of ChatGPT and I’m interested in this subject, I plan to do some deeper research when I have time. That said, it may take me a few days, as I’m currently in the middle of preparing my own and my family’s taxes.
Once I’ve had a chance to dig into it more, I’ll share anything useful that I find.