I have been setting up gpu passthough to a windows vm. I have the hardware passthough working, but I am having stability issues with windows. Every game I have tried will ether freeze, crash or cause a BSOD.
My system specs are:
Host OS:Arch Linux, Kernel 5.2.2
CPU: Intel Xeon E5 2640
RAM: 32 GB
Mobo: ASUS x79 ws
Host GPU: RX 580
passthough GPU: r9 280x
VM XML config:
<domain type='kvm' xmlns:qemu='http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0'>
<name>win10</name>
<uuid>696ec8b4-ade1-487b-a3ed-c6cea9793a64</uuid>
<metadata>
<libosinfo:libosinfo xmlns:libosinfo="http://libosinfo.org/xmlns/libvirt/domain/1.0">
<libosinfo:os id="http://microsoft.com/win/10"/>
</libosinfo:libosinfo>
</metadata>
<memory unit='KiB'>8388608</memory>
<currentMemory unit='KiB'>8388608</currentMemory>
<vcpu placement='static'>8</vcpu>
<os>
<type arch='x86_64' machine='pc-q35-4.0'>hvm</type>
<loader readonly='yes' type='pflash'>/usr/share/ovmf/x64/OVMF_CODE.fd</loader>
<nvram>/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/win10_VARS.fd</nvram>
<boot dev='cdrom'/>
</os>
<features>
<acpi/>
<apic/>
<hyperv>
<relaxed state='on'/>
<vapic state='on'/>
<spinlocks state='on' retries='8191'/>
</hyperv>
<vmport state='off'/>
<ioapic driver='kvm'/>
</features>
<cpu mode='host-passthrough' check='partial'>
<topology sockets='1' cores='4' threads='2'/>
</cpu>
<clock offset='localtime'>
<timer name='rtc' tickpolicy='catchup'/>
<timer name='pit' tickpolicy='delay'/>
<timer name='hpet' present='no'/>
<timer name='hypervclock' present='yes'/>
</clock>
<on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
<on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
<on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
<pm>
<suspend-to-mem enabled='no'/>
<suspend-to-disk enabled='no'/>
</pm>
<devices>
<emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
<disk type='block' device='disk'>
<driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
<source dev='/dev/sda'/>
<target dev='sdb' bus='sata'/>
<address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='1'/>
</disk>
<disk type='block' device='disk'>
<driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
<source dev='/dev/sdb'/>
<target dev='sdc' bus='sata'/>
<address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='2'/>
</disk>
<controller type='usb' index='0' model='qemu-xhci' ports='15'>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</controller>
<controller type='sata' index='0'>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1f' function='0x2'/>
</controller>
<controller type='pci' index='0' model='pcie-root'/>
<controller type='pci' index='1' model='pcie-root-port'>
<model name='pcie-root-port'/>
<target chassis='1' port='0x10'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x0' multifunction='on'/>
</controller>
<controller type='pci' index='2' model='pcie-root-port'>
<model name='pcie-root-port'/>
<target chassis='2' port='0x11'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x1'/>
</controller>
<controller type='pci' index='3' model='pcie-root-port'>
<model name='pcie-root-port'/>
<target chassis='3' port='0x12'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x2'/>
</controller>
<controller type='pci' index='4' model='pcie-root-port'>
<model name='pcie-root-port'/>
<target chassis='4' port='0x13'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x3'/>
</controller>
<controller type='pci' index='5' model='pcie-root-port'>
<model name='pcie-root-port'/>
<target chassis='5' port='0x14'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x4'/>
</controller>
<controller type='pci' index='6' model='pcie-root-port'>
<model name='pcie-root-port'/>
<target chassis='6' port='0x15'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x02' function='0x5'/>
</controller>
<controller type='virtio-serial' index='0'>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x03' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</controller>
<interface type='network'>
<mac address='52:54:00:51:31:ad'/>
<source network='default'/>
<model type='e1000e'/>
<link state='up'/>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</interface>
<serial type='pty'>
<target type='isa-serial' port='0'>
<model name='isa-serial'/>
</target>
</serial>
<console type='pty'>
<target type='serial' port='0'/>
</console>
<input type='mouse' bus='ps2'/>
<input type='keyboard' bus='ps2'/>
<sound model='ich9'>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x1b' function='0x0'/>
</sound>
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='yes'>
<source>
<vendor id='0x19ff'/>
<product id='0x0238'/>
</source>
<address type='usb' bus='0' port='4'/>
</hostdev>
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='usb' managed='yes'>
<source>
<vendor id='0x040b'/>
<product id='0x2000'/>
</source>
<address type='usb' bus='0' port='5'/>
</hostdev>
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
<source>
<address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</source>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x05' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</hostdev>
<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'>
<source>
<address domain='0x0000' bus='0x02' slot='0x00' function='0x1'/>
</source>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x06' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</hostdev>
<redirdev bus='usb' type='spicevmc'>
<address type='usb' bus='0' port='2'/>
</redirdev>
<redirdev bus='usb' type='spicevmc'>
<address type='usb' bus='0' port='3'/>
</redirdev>
<memballoon model='virtio'>
<address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x04' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/>
</memballoon>
</devices>
<qemu:commandline>
<qemu:env name='QEMU_AUDIO_DRV' value='pa'/>
<qemu:env name='QEMU_PA_SERVER' value='/run/user/1000/pulse/native'/>
</qemu:commandline>
</domain>
I have added a modprobe file (/etc/modprobe.d/kvm.conf) with
options kvm ignore_msrs=1
but this did not solve my game crashing issues.
I actually couldn’t find much information about it specifically but I didn’t look too hard. I just saw mention about it on a Phoronix article comment page. Mostly had issues inside the VM but I did have a display driver crash while compiling something so back to 5.1 for now.