Hello. This is my first time attempting any sort of virtualization. The goal is to create an LTT-style 4 gamers on 1 tower. Below are my system specs:

 

• Core i7 7820X
• MSI X299 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
• 32GB DDR4 3000 non-ECC
• 2x GTX 1050
• 2x GT 710
• 5x Kingston A400 120GB SSD

 

The system posts just fine and all hardware is detected in the BIOS.

 

First Question: Since the 7820X doesn't have an on board GPU, must I use one of the NVIDIA cards, or can I disable unRAID's video output so I can pass that GPU through to a VM? I don't use the command line for setup, I use the web GUI. I'd like to be able to pass through each GPU so I can have 4 VMs.

 

Second Question: In the VMs tools in the web gui, I've created 4 Windows 7 Pro VMs, but only one will actually turn on. Would switching to Windows 10 VMs make any difference?

 

Third Question: We'd like to use 4 of the same mouse and keyboard for each VM. Can we pass through a different USB hub to each VM, then plug our peripherals into those?

 

I don't have access to the system until Monday (it's at work), so I can't send any info. But are these questions/problems common and easy fixes?

 

Thanks!

Edited April 21, 20188 yr by ItsDaveHD

Hi Dave,

 

Here are the answers to your questions:

 

On 4/21/2018 at 10:07 AM, ItsDaveHD said:

First Question: Since the 7820X doesn't have an on board GPU, must I use one of the NVIDIA cards, or can I disable unRAID's video output so I can pass that GPU through to a VM? I don't use the command line for setup, I use the web GUI. I'd like to be able to pass through each GPU so I can have 4 VMs.

 

By default, you need to have a GPU dedicated to unRAID OS (especially if you are booting into GUI mode) in order to pass through other GPUs to virtual machines.  There are possibilities to work around this issue, but they require you to pass the ROM file for your GPU through manually (there is an instruction on how to do this here):  

 

 

On 4/21/2018 at 10:07 AM, ItsDaveHD said:

Second Question: In the VMs tools in the web gui, I've created 4 Windows 7 Pro VMs, but only one will actually turn on. Would switching to Windows 10 VMs make any difference?

 

Of course it would!  Windows 7 is pretty old and GPU pass through works only so-so in that world.  Windows 8 or 10 would result in MAJOR improvements.

 

On 4/21/2018 at 10:07 AM, ItsDaveHD said:

Third Question: We'd like to use 4 of the same mouse and keyboard for each VM. Can we pass through a different USB hub to each VM, then plug our peripherals into those?

 

Unfortunately no.  USB hubs themselves are not assignable devices.  The other way you could do this would be to purchase a 4-in-1 USB controller that presents 4 discreet USB controllers to the host OS.  Then you could attach a USB hub to each port on that device, then pass through each of those individual controllers through to individual VMs.