Unable to use Intel Arc A750 in virtual environment (Linux vfio)

[Jansen]

Hi, I've successfully passed through an Intel Arc A750 to a virtual machine. However, I do have to apply some workarounds to get it somewhat working. * The display cable needs to be plugged in after the VM booted to Windows to get display output. I've seen a LTT video (https://youtu.be/j6kde-sXlKg?t=285), where Linus also has problems with Arcs display output. Is this related? * When using the above workaround, the host kernel hangs after a reboot and a complete reboot of the host is necessary. Unfortunately I see no debug information in the kernel logs after a reboot :( Linux 4gamers1pc 6.1.8-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:07:04 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux qemu 7.2.0-3 edk2-ovmf 202102-1

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Jansen,

We understand that you are having issues with the Intel Arc A750 in a virtual environment.

We will do further research on this matter and post the response on this thread once available.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Jansen,

We appreciate your patience.

We are still reviewing this matter. However, we want to request some information to better understand the situation:

• Are the issues present only when you try to run the VM?
• What hypervisor are you using?
• We would like to have the following system information:
  • CPU model:
  • Motherboard model:
  • BIOS version:
  • Operating system version:
  • Kernel-Version:

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jansen]

Hi Jean,
thanks for replying and sorry for the bad formatting in my original post!

• Are the issues present only when you try to run the VM?
  • Yes, the GPU itself works fine if not in a virtual environment
•  What hypervisor are you using?
  • Qemu (7.2.0-3) + KVM (Linux Kernel 6.1.8-arch1-1)
• We would like to have the following system information:
  • CPU model: Intel Core i9-7980XE
  • Motherboard model: Asrock X299 OC Formula
  • BIOS version: P1.90B
  • Operating system version: Arch Linux
  • Kernel-Version: 6.1.8-arch1-1

I've patched my Bios and enabled ReBAR/Smart Access Memory/Clever Memory Access. It works fine with my RTX 3090 (even in a virtual machine).

Thanks in advance, Jan

[mitchealrocher]

If you're unable to use the Intel Arc A750 in a virtual environment (Linux vfio), here are some steps you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Verify that the device is compatible: Make sure that the Intel Arc A750 is compatible with the virtual environment you're using. Some devices may not work with vfio or may require additional configuration.

2. Load the vfio-pci module: You may need to load the vfio-pci module in order to use the Intel Arc A750 with vfio. You can do this by adding the following line to your "/etc/modules" file:

vfio-pci

3. Pass the device to the virtual machine: Once you've loaded the vfio-pci module, you need to pass the device to the virtual machine. This can typically be done by adding the following lines to your virtual machine configuration file:

bash 

<hostdev mode='subsystem' type='pci' managed='yes'> <source> <address domain='0x0000' bus='0x01' slot='0x00' function='0x0'/> </source> </hostdev>

Note that you'll need to replace the values for "domain", "bus", "slot", and "function" with the actual values for your Intel Arc A750 device.

4. Update the virtual machine configuration: You may also need to update the virtual machine configuration to ensure that the Intel Arc A750 is recognized by the virtual environment. This can typically be done by adding the following lines to your virtual machine configuration file:

php

<devices> <disk type='file' device='disk'> <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/> <source file='/path/to/disk.qcow2'/> <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/> <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x04' function='0x0'/> </disk> </devices>

Note that you'll need to replace the values for "domain", "bus", "slot", and "function" with the actual values for your Intel Arc A750 device.

These steps should help you resolve the issue of unable to use Intel Arc A750 in a virtual environment (Linux vfio). However, if the issue persists, you may need to consult the virtualization software's forums or seek technical support from the software's developers.

[adamjason]

Thank you mitchealrocher the way you explain Its quite amazing and helpful for me. stay blessed

[Jansen]

Hey mitchealrocher,

no offense, but this sounds like a answer from chatgpt and does not actually focus on my problem. The GPU is already passed-through to the VM.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Jansen,

We appreciate your patience.

After investigating this matter we can confirm that Intel® Arc™ A-Series discrete graphics family does not support virtualization. Here is information about which graphics virtualization technology is supported on each Intel® graphics family.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jean_Intel]

Hello Jansen,

I hope you are doing fine.

I have not heard back from you. So I will close this thread. If you need any additional information, submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards.

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[kcw]

In my Rocky Linux 9 host with Intel Arc 750 card loaded with vfio-pci (including audio and other hw addr of the card, checked by lspci -vnn), Window guest will boot flawlessly with cables always plugged. However, the host cannot handle a guest reboot. The situation also happens with a Radeon GPU, but they have a open source solution https://github.com/gnif/vendor-reset. Hope Intel can develop such a solution as well.

A PCI-E GPU passthrough to a single VM should not require GVT-g, it should be  a VT-d feature.

[Jansen]

If I passthrough only the video card and not the audio device, the card host survives reboots