Create a Gaming HVM

Community Guides
, , ,
48

Hello,

I just got a powerful laptop, installed Qubes 4.2 and read all day on how to create a video card passthrough in qubes. Read most of everything from the 2020 articles to present. Also bought a separate HDMI monitor, keyboard and mouse. My laptop has Inter integrated graphics as well as a dedicated Nvidia card.

I have to start by saying that I am a pretty big newb when it comes to unix/commands/analyzing logs.

Before I even attempted anything, I wanted to write down what the steps I need to take are and see if I got anything wrong. Your answers will help me tremendously as well as any others who may attempt this and are not on an advanced technical level.

  1. Are there any Qubes bricking risks associated with attempting this? I spent about a week fully customizing my new laptop and Qubes, and now want to attempt this Windows install with the GPU passthrough. But there are modifications and reboots involved. Is there a risk that the main Qubes OS gets bricked and may require a fresh reinstall? Would be useful to have a better understanding of this risk.

  2. Someone was saying that GPU passthrough on laptops is almost impossible because display devices are hard-wired to the same outputs, and they can’t be used at the same time.

https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/perfect-qubesos-hardware-with-a-dedicated-gpu-for-passthrough/18707/2

Is there a way for me to determine whether my Intel and Nvidia cards are hard wired to the same outputs and can or can’t be used at the same time?

Based on this PDF https://device.report/manuals/precision-7770-external-display-connection-guide mine should work if I enable Hybrid Mode in BIOS. I should be able to use the laptop screen + a separate monitor using using HDMI for the HVM.

  1. I see that it all starts with IOMMU group. If I see my intel card as well as the Nvidia card with unique device id’s when running “qvm-pci”, is it still necessary to reboot using a live distro and edit grub?

If yes, can anyone be more specific on how to add that text in the live distro grub? I have a PartedMagic live disk but I dont see where I could add this and where I would be able to see the IOMMU information I need.

  1. Under GRUB modification you are saying to hide the secondary GPU from dom0 - but then you specify that in case the laptop gets stuck at startup, it means I am trying to use the GPU i tried to hide.

Is this a recoverable situation? Or if you make that mistake a fresh install is needed.

I will pause here, these are the only points I need clarification before doing anything. Thank you very much and I apologize for the noob questions.