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So I've been looking into moving back entirely to Linux, but I play a lot of games so would likely need access to windows. I'm considering using KVM as dualbooting isn't really something I'd want. I've some questions I don't really get from how this setup would work:
- I have 3 monitors. I have 1 Nvidia 2060. I imagine I might have to get a cheap-ish 2nd video card for Linux as the 2060 would have to be passed through to the guest (windows) VM.. right? (I have integrated graphics, but not enough connections for the 3 monitors on it)
- how do you switch between playing on the host and playing on the guest? I.e. if a game runs fine native on Linux, I'd want to use that instead of the windows vm. Is it possible to use the Nvidia card I'd normally pass through on the host? The only thing I can think of here is to run a Linux VM on the Linux host so the card can be passed through to it..? Or is it just not worth it and better to stick to just playing on the windows VM?
- how do multiple monitors behave in this? E.g. I connect the 2 monitors on the left/right to the weak card which I dont have yet. I connect the middle monitor to both cards. Once I launch the VM I change the input on the main monitor to the connection with the Nvidia card. How will my monitors behave (and will I have any control over it)? E.g. will I be able to move the cursor across from the left monitor through the middle monitor and to the right or would they act more like 2 different PCs?
- how do other things work, like microphone? E.g. can I have discord running on Linux and talk in voice chat, while also using the microphone to talk in game chat in the windows VM?
Answering any of them is useful, thanks in advance. Also if I misunderstood how this setup is meant to work, feel free to correct me.
I’ve played a small amount with it— I didn’t go far because I only have one graphics card. But my understanding is that you can set up the virtual machine to “capture” the graphics card when it is booted up, and “release” it when it’s done. That’s how some people can use a single graphics card, they just can’t see the Linux desktop while the vm is in use.
For switching games, make sure the drive the game is on is supported by both Windows and Linux. I imagine you’d need to unmount it on the host while the vm is open. I do this for some games with dual booting. Also, install the Windows version and force proton, otherwise you’ll have to install it twice.
For microphone, I assume there’s a solution like network: a way of forwarding the data to the VM in addition to being available on the host. I haven’t tinkered with this though.
For monitors, I’d look into Looking Glass. My understanding is that it can make a window to display the vm output. If you don’t mind the monitor being “tethered” to the gpu, though, I’d imagine any monitors attached on the gpu you pass would display the vm’s contents, while any on the host card will remain the same.
Best of luck!
The word you are looking for is
GPU passthrough. You can find some guides on the web.