February 21, 201610 yr Greetings. I have configured unraid with 2 virtual machines, 1 with windows 10 and the other with ubuntu. Both have been assigned to the same gpu, same screen and the same usb peripherals. What I want to achieve now is the ability to *istantly* toggle between one vm to the other from the vm themselves. So, ideally, for example: I am using the computer from the Windows 10 vm. Then, I press a specific shortcut (ex. WIN + F10) and unraid sends me to the Linux VM, which will use the same devices (screen, gpu, usb connectors/peripherals). A further WIN+F10 press will bring me back to Windows 10 vm. Ideally this toggling process should work without the need to stop the vm which is currently being used. It should only need to be paused, but at the same time it should release its lock on passthrough devices..
February 21, 201610 yr Not possible.... That's like having Windows and Linux installed on one computer and expecting them to switch between each other at the press of a button...
February 21, 201610 yr Not possible.... That's like having Windows and Linux installed on one computer and expecting them to switch between each other at the press of a button... I'm sure unRaid 6.2 soon™ edition will make it possible.
February 21, 201610 yr Author Ok, then the second best thing would be the following: 1 discrete GPU is reserved for UNRAID. This discrete GPU is attached to it's own screen. From this screen, where I see the UNRAID gui, I'd like to be able to toggle the active vm on the first screen/gpu/usb peripherals. Is this at least possible?
February 21, 201610 yr Ok, then the second best thing would be the following: 1 discrete GPU is reserved for UNRAID. This discrete GPU is attached to it's own screen. From this screen, where I see the UNRAID gui, I'd like to be able to toggle the active vm on the first screen/gpu/usb peripherals. Is this at least possible? Not at the moment, it's possible that an Unraid console will come with V6.2 through which you will be able to start and stop VMs but I am certain you will still need to turn one VM off to release the hardware to boot the other.
February 22, 201610 yr Author Ok, then the second best thing would be the following: 1 discrete GPU is reserved for UNRAID. This discrete GPU is attached to it's own screen. From this screen, where I see the UNRAID gui, I'd like to be able to toggle the active vm on the first screen/gpu/usb peripherals. Is this at least possible? Not at the moment, it's possible that an Unraid console will come with V6.2 through which you will be able to start and stop VMs but I am certain you will still need to turn one VM off to release the hardware to boot the other. Ok then. Just to better understand the constraints, the need to stop a VM (instead of pausing it, which takes no time) in order to release the hardware is caused by specific unraid implementation or it would have been the same if I had used XEN / KVM / something like that? I'm trying to understand if there's a way to achieve my goal...
February 22, 201610 yr Community Expert Ok, then the second best thing would be the following: 1 discrete GPU is reserved for UNRAID. This discrete GPU is attached to it's own screen. From this screen, where I see the UNRAID gui, I'd like to be able to toggle the active vm on the first screen/gpu/usb peripherals. Is this at least possible? Not at the moment, it's possible that an Unraid console will come with V6.2 through which you will be able to start and stop VMs but I am certain you will still need to turn one VM off to release the hardware to boot the other. Ok then. Just to better understand the constraints, the need to stop a VM (instead of pausing it, which takes no time) in order to release the hardware is caused by specific unraid implementation or it would have been the same if I had used XEN / KVM / something like that? I'm trying to understand if there's a way to achieve my goal... In my experience this is a generic issue with hypervisors when you use hardware pass through. Note that the GPU hardware also has to support the ability to be cleanly reset or even stopping the VM may not make it available to another VM. This can particularly be an issue with older GPU's.
February 22, 201610 yr Could you not run a script from the "live VM" that is basically "virsh destroy Win10 && virsh start Linux" ??
June 15, 201610 yr just a thought, not sure if it's feasible, but is it possible to push one VM to the GPU and then VNC into the other? not ideal but would give you access to both VMs simultaneously.
June 15, 201610 yr Note that the GPU hardware also has to support the ability to be cleanly reset or even stopping the VM may not make it available to another VM. This can particularly be an issue with older GPU's. And a lot of AMD cards, like my HD5450 Silent.
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