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VMWare ESXi 5.5 - Installing drivers on guests

Hi,

I'm experimenting with VMware ESXi 5.5 with a couple of guest Windows 7 x64 machines.

The installs went well, but I have a couple of driver questions. I have a very generic test motherboard that doesn't allow for passthrough, etc.:

1. The display driver appears as "VMware SVGA 3D". How do I get it to recognize the Nvidia GT 640 card? Is it just a matter of installing the drivers on the guest machine?

2. There doesn't seems to be a device for the sound. Again - is it just a matter of installing the sound drivers from the motherboard CD?

Thanks in advance.

rindi

Just install the VMware Tools inside your guests. They include drivers for the virtual hardware. For sound you would have to connect to the VM's with Remote Desktop, in the Remote desktop client You can setup That the VM's sound will use your local PC's soundcard.

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

You will NOT be able to use the nVidia card because your motherboard does not support VM Direct Path I/O it is not just about installing drivers or VMware Tools in the VM.

Also that nVidia graphics is not compatible with PCI pass through.

There is NO Sound.....this is a commercial hypervisor not a gaming rig.

Go-Bruins

ASKER

Hi,

I do have VMware Tools installed on the guest machine.

Go-Bruins

ASKER

I see - thanks.

If I do get a MB with Direct Path I/O, do all the guest machines share the video card, or is it dedicated only to one guest machine of your choosing?

Also, what kind of video card is compatible with PCI pass through?

Go-Bruins

ASKER

It seems when I host the VM's in a Windows 7 environment, the guests have sound enabled.

Is the loss of sound just part of using ESXi as the host environment?

rindi

As I mentioned above, if you use RDP to connect to the VM's you get sound (sometimes you need to make sure the audio services are started in the VM's).

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Are you trying to do VDI?

If you use PCI pass through the resource is to the VM only not shared.

If you do VDI you can share that compatible GPU between VMs

Go-Bruins

ASKER

Sorry, don't know what VDI is, but I'm trying to use a decent video card that will enable the guest VM's to run things like Windows Media Center, which doesn't seem to want to run with the generic VMware video driver.

Ideally, I'd like all the VM's to have access to the video card and its capabilities. If the Nvidia GT 640 is not the right card, I'd go and purchase a different one. Are the AMD cards better for this application?

Thanks.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

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Go-Bruins

ASKER

Thanks much.

In terms of "consumer grade" MB/GPU combinations, what are your favorites?

SOLUTION

rindi

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