Naki Posted May 3, 2025 Share Posted May 3, 2025 (edited) How does it work, please? Which Linux distro would you recommend I choose? Can I run it off a USB flash drive, or maybe USB/external SSD? (I have both.) I do not want to partition my existing Windows 10/11 OS disk(s), I want them intact. I want to run latest VMware Workstation on Linux (Workstation is totally free now), then run macOS VMs under that, but will full GPU functions i.e. being able to use 3D acceleration. (On Windows 10/11, I can use various macOS VMs with VMware now but they lack any GPU/3D acceleration, and there is no way to add it I know of.) Which Intel, AMD, Nvidia GPUs are good for passthrough? Which ones are not? Edited May 3, 2025 by Naki 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/360994-gpu-passthrough-on-linux/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeveedee Posted May 3, 2025 Share Posted May 3, 2025 (edited) Your requirements and ultimate selection of a solution for GPU passthrough need to consider the following: Are there passthrough drivers available for the GPU you selected AND for the Hypervisor that you are using? What are the GPU requirements for the guest VM? If you're planning to run macOS as your VM, then Nvidia shouldn't be your GPU choice. EDIT: I performed a few searches and found lots of hits. Web searches should be very helpful. EDIT2: When Apple drops Intel support, macOS VMs will be limited to the same end-of-life cycle as bare-metal Intel hacks. Edited May 3, 2025 by deeveedee 2 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/360994-gpu-passthrough-on-linux/#findComment-2832034 Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeveedee Posted May 3, 2025 Share Posted May 3, 2025 (edited) @Naki This article may help with your "how does it work" question and suggest options for you. You may want to search for other articles like it before you commit to a Hypervisor / VM strategy. Also, there are posted github repos that you can review / clone for complete VM solutions. Again, you may want to search. Edited May 3, 2025 by deeveedee 1 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/360994-gpu-passthrough-on-linux/#findComment-2832035 Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarybethh Posted May 24, 2025 Share Posted May 24, 2025 (edited) On 5/3/2025 at 10:53 PM, deeveedee said: This article may help with your "how does it work" question and suggest options for you. You may want to search for other articles like it before you commit to a Hypervisor / VM strategy. Also, there are posted github repos that you can review / clone for complete VM solutions! Again, you may want to search. How does it work, please? Which Linux distro would you recommend I choose? Can I run it off a USB flash drive, or maybe USB/external SSD? (I have both.) I do not want to partition my existing Windows 10/11 OS disk(s), I want them intact. I want to run latest VMware Workstation on Linux (Workstation is totally free now), then run macOS VMs under that, but will full GPU functions i.e. being able to use 3D acceleration. (On Windows 10/11, I can use various macOS VMs with VMware now but they lack any GPU/3D acceleration, and there is no way to add it I know of.) Which Intel, AMD, Nvidia GPUs are good for passthrough? Which ones are not? I installed the system directly on an external SSD via USB so as not to touch the main disk with Windows - everything went without problems. The main thing is to enable VT-d / IOMMU in BIOS, and choose a video card with good support (I have an RX580, it works stably). Interestingly, I learned about this when I tried to set up a secure virtual environment for testing different payment systems. I was then interested in the topic of minimum deposits on the website and the security of payments and transactions. This prompted me to study passthrough and 3D acceleration in virtual machines in more detail, especially for macOS. VMware is a good option, but for full GPU access I would still recommend KVM. I also recommend watching it on YouTube. Edited May 30, 2025 by maarybethh Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/360994-gpu-passthrough-on-linux/#findComment-2832558 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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