How to enable the (new) GUI VM?

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Qubes 4.1 includes salt formula to configure GUI domain. There are actually two of them:

  1. qvm.sys-gui-gpu - the one using full GPU passthrough, creates sys-gui-gpu VM
  2. qvm.sys-gui - the one using hybrid mode (X server in dom0, window manager in sys-gui)

Use it this way:

qubesctl top.enable qvm.sys-gui
qubesctl top.enable qvm.sys-gui pillar=True
qubesctl --all state.highstate

(replace qvm.sys-gui with qvm.sys-gui-gpu for the other mode)

You can read more about those modes at Qubes Architecture Next Steps: The GUI Domain | Qubes OS

Note this is still highly experimental and it is quite easy to get locked out. In case of hybrid mode, you can always switch to the text console (ctrl+alt+f2) to access dom0, but in case of GPU passthrough, you need to reboot your system with qubes.skip_autostart option added to the dom0 kernel (the line with vmlinuz in grub) - to avoid starting sys-gui-gpu and taking over the graphics card.

Also note the sys-gui-gpu formula is configured for Intel graphics specifically. In case of different graphics card, you may need to manually attach it to the sys-gui-gpu qube.

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