Proxmox on personal computer

Just wondering about the feasibility of putting proxmox on a PC to run multiple OS at the same time (minimum two, one Windows and one Linux) and if anyone has done it.

Dual boot is a pain because I can only access one but not the other OS at the same time. I can use virtual box or VMWare but GPU passthrough seems impossible. Proxmox seems to be able to handle GPU passthrough to containers.

Any advice and sharing of experience is greatly appreciated so that I can plan how to roll out this thing if feasible on my PC. I have a powerful GPU that I use for machine learning stuff mostly on Linix, but sometimes I work on Adobe apps in Windows and I would like to passthrough the GPU to the Windows container to take advantage of its capability.

Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

«1

Comments

  • It could work, for experimental purposes, if you install Proxmox and then install a desktop environment. I don't know how well it would work, but you could run a Windows guest with the GPU passed to it and an extra monitor? Never tried it but the pieces are all there, don't see why it wouldn't work.

    Thanked by (1)poisson

    Get the best deal on your next VPS or Shared/Reseller hosting from RacknerdTracker.com - The original aff garden.

  • @dahartigan said:
    It could work, for experimental purposes, if you install Proxmox and then install a desktop environment. I don't know how well it would work, but you could run a Windows guest with the GPU passed to it and an extra monitor? Never tried it but the pieces are all there, don't see why it wouldn't work.

    I guess this will be an interesting year-end experiment to see how well it performs. I think you should be able to VNC or RDP into the Windows guest with GPU passed to it if you don't have an extra monitor, just that resolution may be an issue.

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • seriesnseriesn OG
    edited November 2019

    Why not virtualbox?

    NVM, just read you use linux.

    Virt-manager is something I have used for some of my homelab stuff. Does what is needed to be done without much drama.

  • @seriesn said:
    Why not virtualbox?

    NVM, just read you use linux.

    Virt-manager is something I have used for some of my homelab stuff. Does what is needed to be done without much drama.

    I use virtualbox now, but my issue is that it doesn't support GPU passthrough into the Windows VM. I have a GTX1070 that I would like to passthrough into the Windows VM for Adobe apps to take advantage of. Not that I do it often, but I want an effective non-dual boot solution so that I can always work in Linux and then quickly switch to a Windows VM to use Adobe apps that can make use of the GPU via passthrough.

    It's an uncommon scenario because I prefer to use Linux as my daily driver. I have been trying to figure out what's the most painless way to quickly switch to Windows and have a native windows environment that can run any program (Wine doesn't work well for the latest Windows programs).

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • @poisson said:

    @seriesn said:
    Why not virtualbox?

    NVM, just read you use linux.

    Virt-manager is something I have used for some of my homelab stuff. Does what is needed to be done without much drama.

    I use virtualbox now, but my issue is that it doesn't support GPU passthrough into the Windows VM. I have a GTX1070 that I would like to passthrough into the Windows VM for Adobe apps to take advantage of. Not that I do it often, but I want an effective non-dual boot solution so that I can always work in Linux and then quickly switch to a Windows VM to use Adobe apps that can make use of the GPU via passthrough.

    It's an uncommon scenario because I prefer to use Linux as my daily driver. I have been trying to figure out what's the most painless way to quickly switch to Windows and have a native windows environment that can run any program (Wine doesn't work well for the latest Windows programs).

    If your workflow depends on Windows, it's kinda unavoidable having to dual boot or run Linux virtualized for your daily driving. X2go is an awesome, faster and generally better alternative to VNC for Linux remote desktops.

    Get the best deal on your next VPS or Shared/Reseller hosting from RacknerdTracker.com - The original aff garden.

  • Does

    seriesn said: Virt-manager

    dahartigan said: run a Windows guest with the GPU passed to it

    ?

  • @dahartigan said:
    If your workflow depends on Windows, it's kinda unavoidable having to dual boot or run Linux virtualized for your daily driving. X2go is an awesome, faster and generally better alternative to VNC for Linux remote desktops.

    I have weaned myself off Windows. It's just that I have to use the latest Adobe CC apps from time to time and I have been looking for a solution that can allow me to quickly boot up a Windows guest that can take advantage of my GPU. I probably do this thing like once every few months, so I prefer to stay on Linux and seek a perfect solution for having Windows as guest.

    Virtualbox and VMware on Linux actually works well for everything I need so far (e.g. MS Office because my collaborators don't like to use the awesome LibreOffice that I use and I don't want to deal with the quirks of working on a Word document in LibreOffice, saving it as a docx file and then later get a complaint email about formatting or other issues). The only imperfection is that I can't get GPU passthrough.

    That's what I am trying to see if I can solve with a Proxmox setup on a PC. :)

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • @seriesn said:

    @Rahul said:
    Does

    seriesn said: Virt-manager

    dahartigan said: run a Windows guest with the GPU passed to it

    ?

    Yeap. And quite easily.

    Sounds like another option to try. Maybe I will try this first.

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • poisson said: MS Office because my collaborators don't like to use the awesome LibreOffice that I use

    I too faced this issue, but it was with my family member ever since i installed a linux distro on a Dell Laptop which came with win 8.1 (out of the box).It had 4 gigs and an i3 but it made no difference. So i had to move away from windows.

  • @Rahul said:

    poisson said: MS Office because my collaborators don't like to use the awesome LibreOffice that I use

    I too faced this issue, but it was with my family member ever since i installed a linux distro on a Dell Laptop which came with win 8.1 (out of the box).It had 4 gigs and an i3 but it made no difference. So i had to move away from windows.

    LibreOffice has improved greatly in its interface. It now has tabbed toolbars too. For the price of nothing, you can't beat it.

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • I haven't used Windows for a very long time, I managed to ditch Windows completely a few years back. For anything that insists on Windows, applications only, I don't play games often, I have a VM with Windows 7 running.

    Get the best deal on your next VPS or Shared/Reseller hosting from RacknerdTracker.com - The original aff garden.

  • @dahartigan said:
    I haven't used Windows for a very long time, I managed to ditch Windows completely a few years back. For anything that insists on Windows, applications only, I don't play games often, I have a VM with Windows 7 running.

    Why not Windows 10 on the VM? I have one Windows 10 VM on my el cheapo laptop. Works well and less likely to run into issues of backward compatibility.

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • I hope to do this one day with an 6/8C Ryzen.

  • linustechtips has a few videos on gpu passthrough.

    Thanked by (1)poisson

    The all seeing eye sees everything...

  • @poisson said:

    @dahartigan said:
    I haven't used Windows for a very long time, I managed to ditch Windows completely a few years back. For anything that insists on Windows, applications only, I don't play games often, I have a VM with Windows 7 running.

    Why not Windows 10 on the VM? I have one Windows 10 VM on my el cheapo laptop. Works well and less likely to run into issues of backward compatibility.

    Mainly because I already have a Windows 7 CD and a legit license for it, which I got for free a while back. I'm not keen on paying for Windows 10 and prefer to keep the install clean without cracks and activators adding extra shit (potentially)

    Thanked by (1)AlwaysSkint

    Get the best deal on your next VPS or Shared/Reseller hosting from RacknerdTracker.com - The original aff garden.

  • seriesn said: Virt-manager

    Any support for Android on virt-manager ?

  • Some people (like me) cannot ditch windows, due to the applications they use for their daily jobs (for me, it's Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress, AfterEffects, Premiere, Vegas, Edius and others). Nowadays, some decent alternatives are rising, but not for all and not as good as the mentioned above apps...
    @poisson , have you played yet with proxmox? I have not searched yet, can it pass thru GPU and all external ports like usb3, serial and parallel? Have you tested yet the overhead of the system?

    • If a program actually fits in memory and has enough disk space, it is guaranteed to crash.
    • If such a program has not crashed yet, it is waiting for a critical moment before it crashes.

  • I haven't used it, but I think QubesOS might be a possible solution.. It basically uses Xen as a hypervisor and uses multiple containers to run different operating systems on one hypervisor
    https://www.qubes-os.org/intro/

  • I'd second virt-manager. It's what I use on my desktop, and it works perfectly. In addiction to QEMU/KVM it may handle LXC as well. It usually comes with some pre-configs for commonly virtualized OS. Almost anything can be handled within the GUI (unless you'd have some fancy setup). If GPU passthrough is possible in QEMU/KVM, it's possible to handle it via virt-manager.

    schnafi said: QubesOS

    excessive overhead for OP's purpose imho, also I don't think OP wants to switch distro

  • @jvnadr said:
    Some people (like me) cannot ditch windows, due to the applications they use for their daily jobs (for me, it's Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress, AfterEffects, Premiere, Vegas, Edius and others). Nowadays, some decent alternatives are rising, but not for all and not as good as the mentioned above apps...
    @poisson , have you played yet with proxmox? I have not searched yet, can it pass thru GPU and all external ports like usb3, serial and parallel? Have you tested yet the overhead of the system?

    Haven't tried it yet. I am just going with a full single boot Linux install but I intend to stick a spare SSD this month into the system and see how it goes. From my research, everything can be passed through into any virtual machine on say VMWare and virtual box easily except the GPU.

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • poisson said: except the GPU

    GPU is crucial...

    • If a program actually fits in memory and has enough disk space, it is guaranteed to crash.
    • If such a program has not crashed yet, it is waiting for a critical moment before it crashes.

  • @jvnadr said:

    poisson said: except the GPU

    GPU is crucial...

    I know.. there is no easy way to passthrough. Here's one guide that apparently works: https://mathiashueber.com/windows-virtual-machine-gpu-passthrough-ubuntu/

    Deals and Reviews: LowEndBoxes Review | Avoid dodgy providers with The LEBRE Whitelist | Free hosting (with conditions): Evolution-Host, NanoKVM, FreeMach, ServedEZ | Get expert copyediting and copywriting help at The Write Flow

  • not a good idea

    proxmox is for servers, you can easily run Windows in a virtual box where its place should be

  • WSSWSS OGRetired

    It's more than plausible, but you should learn how to handle QEMU directly, boot a low-impact hypervisor and spin off your various VMs.

    I've done it with an aging i7 for years, and it works great- provided you have enough RAM and disk I/O isn't the biggest issue you're facing otherwise.

    Thanked by (1)FlamingSpaceJunk

    My pronouns are like/subscribe.

  • @Rahul said:

    seriesn said: Virt-manager

    Any support for Android on virt-manager ?

    My good man, life is difficult as it is, why would you want to run android on a computer is beyond my imagination.

    Thanked by (1)poisson
  • seriesn said: My good man, life is difficult as it is, why would you want to run android on a computer is beyond my imagination.

    Android as a guest OS, Android as a Host OS would be really silly.

    Want to test some things on that.

  • WSS said: I've done it with an aging i7 for years

    LMFAO
    You're on the wrong forums, if you haven't just switched from a Core 2 Duo.

    It wisnae me! A big boy done it and ran away.
    NVMe2G for life! until death (the end is nigh)

  • @poisson GPU passthough will give you video. You'll need at least 3 cards, 1 for Linux, 1 for windows, 1 for proxmox. If you count the built in one, and your existing gfx card, then you'll need one more.

    You also need keyboard and mouse and thumbdrive. So you'll need to get two pcie USB controller and passthrough it as well.

    Don't forget to get a HDMI KVM switch to switch your monitor+usb devices between the Linux and windows.

    As both instances will be running, your power consumption will be high, while the performance will be low as resources are shared.

    I've tried it, and it's not worth it. So I bought a mini PC and use it as my daily driver, while my gaming PC (that hosted proxmox before), I use as windows gaming PC. I only have a 6 core Intel 8600k in there so between proxmox, windows and Linux, it wasn't enough.

    If I need both, I power them on and switch between them using the hdmi+USB KVM switch I already bought. It also shares my USB devices so when I switch, everything I have connected to it will get swapped over.

    My current proxmox is only running as a server for my server on amd ryzen 2600. The leftover graphics card is in there as well.

    Thanked by (1)poisson

    If it’s not broken, keep fixing it until it is. Blink twice if you agree.

  • @dahartigan said:

    @poisson said:

    @dahartigan said:
    I haven't used Windows for a very long time, I managed to ditch Windows completely a few years back. For anything that insists on Windows, applications only, I don't play games often, I have a VM with Windows 7 running.

    Why not Windows 10 on the VM? I have one Windows 10 VM on my el cheapo laptop. Works well and less likely to run into issues of backward compatibility.

    Mainly because I already have a Windows 7 CD and a legit license for it, which I got for free a while back. I'm not keen on paying for Windows 10 and prefer to keep the install clean without cracks and activators adding extra shit (potentially)

    You can download Windows 10 from Microsoft and use a Windows 7 or Windows 8 key to activate it. Soon there will be no more security patches for WIndows 7 because EOL date is January 14, 2020.

    Thanked by (2)poisson dahartigan
Sign In or Register to comment.