Windows 10 VM can't boot on Pop os

[Boofenshmirtz]

Yesterday I decided that I would go for it and switch to linux. The plan is to run whatever games I can natively and games that can’t be run natively will be run in a virtual machine (I’m prepared to use multiple gpus). I wasn’t sure what VM software to use since when I tried to install virtual box the link for Linux downloads failed. So I downloaded GNOME boxes from the pop shop and loaded a Windows 10 iso but now Everytime I try to boot it up the VM blue screens saying “system thread exception not handled” not sure where to go from here. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[tkoham]

this can happen if your cpu model isn’t set to c2d during updates and install on intel, or if you don’t have ignore_msrs=1 set on ryzen in some cases. (usually if you aren’t running a current version of libvirt)

in order to run games, you’re going to need hardware (and a hypervisor) that supports pci passthrough to get 3d acceleration. (the ones that don’t cost money are kvm/qemu and xen)

GNOME Boxes is a frontend for kvm/qemu so you’re good there, but the BSOD could be caused by any number of things.

PCI passthrough is going to be somewhat more involved, so you probably want to read up before going in blind. If you post your hardware I can tell you with some confidence whether it’s going to be possible or not on it.

You can get live support from a knowledgeable community at this discord:

Join the The Passthrough POST Discord Server!

We Have guides on the underlying software here:

The VFIO and Passthrough One Stop Shop

Seems like we get a new thread almost every day with people having the same problems setting up a passthrough VM. The Purpose of this Wiki is to be a resource and reference for people who want to set up a VFIO system, or have one already and need advice or Tutorials for the various facets of that system. I will be adding categories like ‘input’ ‘screens’ etc – these can be expanded as necessary. Basic Setup Guides on setting up a passthrough VM The archwiki guide: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF This is the gold standard in passthrough setup tutorials. It is by and large the most complete, best maintained, and most accurate reference available. The vast majority of the information is completely distro agnostic, with the single caveat being mkinipcio being distro specific (dracut on fedora etc) This should always be your first reference. Explainers/Benchmarks Information on various ill documented or not-oft-explained aspects of VFIO. Benchmarks should also be put here as the effectiveness of many commonly suggested tweaks are not very well characterized. Hardware buying and quirk guide: https://passthroughpo.st/vfio-increments/ Input resources for people looking for keyboard/mouse input sharing solutions or other input-related topics. Storage Information on best practices for images, VirtIO, etc. Display/GPU VFIO Topics pertaining to your VM’s display, native or otherwise. Audio VM audio resources. Distro Specific Apparmor, distro specific software, issues, and workarounds. Tools and Projects Software that enhances the VFIO experience, or VFIO use cases outside of GPU passthrough https://looking-glass.hostfission.com/ This is a tool that allows users to take advantage of KVMFR, using 3d accelerated VMs without needing a native display

[Boofenshmirtz]

My hardware is: 1700x, gigabyte k7 mobo,16gb ram, asus 980ti
Thanks for your help!

[tkoham]

my guess would be MSRS needing to be set in kvm.conf due to a less recent version of libvirt but it could also be related to quirks with gnome boxes, I’m not overly familiar with that VM frontend

My recommendation would be to:

a) check that virtualization is enabled in your uefi settings
b) modify your kvm.conf and/or change processor type to core2duo temporarily to see if that lets you boot
c) use virt-manager instead of gnome boxes if none of that works

also congrats, your hardware should be baseline compatible with passthrough if you get a secondary gpu. I recommend a GT 710