I recently ran into an issue after enabling ESXi passthrough of the new Intel Iris Xe Integrated GPU (iGPU), which is available with the latest Intel 11th Gen Pro (Tiger Canyon) NUC and SimplyNUC Topaz. After installing the latest Intel Graphics Driver and rebooting the Microsoft Windows 10 (20H2) VM, I noticed Microsoft Device Manager would show the iGPU device with the following error message:
Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)
Unfortunately, this generic error message was not very useful in identifying the underlying issue. I was hoping the process was going to be seamless like it was for enabling passthrough of the iGPU in Intel NUC 10 (Frost Canyon) NUC, especially with the higher execution units for the 11the Gen NUC i3 (48 EU), i5 (80 EU) and i7 (96 EU).
I currently have a case open with the Intel NUC team and see if they can help investigate the underlying issue for their driver. For the time being, it looks like passthrough of the new iGPU is not fully functional when using ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and I will update this blog post if/when I have further updates to share.
I had this issue before with the Intel P530 on Xeon E3-1225 and with some NVIDIA GPUs and was able to fix it with the ESXi advaced setting "hypvisor.cpuid.v0 = false".
I’ve already tried all the advanced settings, same behavior 🙂
Now I'm the same situation as you. Just upgraded my server and running with Rocket-Lake-S iGPU, same issue.
Very disappointing, as I rely on QuickSync in one of my VMs.
Do you know if there is some kind of fix or workaround in sight or is this a platform issue we're not able to deal with?
There's no fix or workaround at the moment. This has already been shared with the Intel NUC team, but I've not heard back on any progress
Was it all same process to pass the gfx on Nuc 9 .. same as 10 or for the 11 perhaps a bios fix is needed.. ?
same issue on nuc 9 with intel uhd 630.
it works now with the advanced setting "hypvisor.cpuid.v0 = false".
Yes, that's a required setting 🙂 However, as mentioned earlier, it doesn't help with Tiger Lake based system
i tried with 11th NUC this fix seems not work.
i use i51135G7 with iris Xe and the same 43 error
Following.
Same here. Error 43 on 11thgen NUC.
Tried using SR-IOV instead and one can turn it on but after reboot it still says "enabled / reboot needed". This message is repeated after every reboot. Maybe possible via passthru configfile?
Didnt test, but could this be due to having vpro running?
No, this is observed with NUC 11 w/o vPro
I'm able to get past the 43 error by disabling and enabling the device in device manager. It only works on the driver installed by Windows Update though, and not on the latest drivers on Intel's site (I'm unable to even boot into Windows with those).
I've tested a few apps and quicksync doesn't appear to work with this workaround. Will post back here if I have any success. This is on an i5-11400.
i51135G7 its work for me, but need to do every reboot
This does not look good guys.....
https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/VT-D-SR-IOV-for-Iris-XE-on-Intel-NUC-11th-gen-NUC11TNHV50L/m-p/1312501/thread-id/85660
This pull request on the acrn-hypervisor project makes it look like the memory configuration is different in tiger lake and elkhart lake for gvt-d - https://github.com/projectacrn/acrn-hypervisor/pull/5902 and https://github.com/projectacrn/acrn-hypervisor/blob/master/devicemodel/include/pci_core.h#L269-L271.
I don't know what that configuration would translate to in ESXi settings though.
OK, intel has answered me they never implemented the SR-IOV in the NUC even if the cpu supports it. I think this answer is the same for all NUC 11, even the extreme variants since they do have the same problem. BUt someone may check up on that. Here is the answer from intel. So if you need GPU in vmware I would skip the NUC11 at this time...
community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/VT-D-SR-IOV-for-Iris-XE-on-Intel-NUC-11th-gen-NUC11TNHV50L/m-p/1324084#M86471
Thanks for sharing Tommy. I've actually got another system (non-Intel NUC) that also has a TGL and its got SR-IOV implemented in BIOS (disabled by default) and even enabling that doesn't make a difference, exact same error. Also, SR-IOV won't help with graphics, its usually in context of networking and assigning the Virtual Functions (VF) to a VM
I think we need to wait for Intel to come back and see if there's a fix, in the way of a future BIOS update ...
Tested on supermicro x12sth-f with xenon E-2374G runing ESXi 7.0U3c (19193900), same issues. Any luck with proper drivers ?
FWIW I have it working using Debian 11 on my 11th Gen NUC. Windows wouldn't work and I wasted a couple of days on it, but Debian worked out of the box. I'm running Emby Server in Docker with hardware decoding succesfully.
Debian working, interesting, I’ll try as well with Ubuntu.
How do you disable the primary adaptor and assign the passthrough as the HW decoder?
I tried svga FALSE but the VM doesn't start. My transcoder just ignores iris (Plex). Thanks!
Hi William,
Is there any update on the driver?
I got the NUC 11 Pro and every VM that I attach the PCI (Xe Graphics) to won't boot.
Disconnecting it makes the VM bootable again, so I guess this is also part of the issue.
I would really like using the NUC for some graphical performance applications, thus wanting to use the passthrough.
Remi
For Ubuntu 22.04 In VMWare just disable the default video card and passthrough the Iris without SRVIO in advanced settings add this.
svga.present = false
Haven't tested this for Windows.
But works for Plex.
Which Intel NUC did you try this on? Normally when you toggle passthrough, you don't touch SR-IOV settings (which I don't, so its disabled by default). The svga.present simply controls the virutal graphics but once you install the Intel drivers and reboot, you'll run into this error and I've seen this for both Linux/Windows
Have you tested this passtrough with newest version of bios and ESXi?
How about ESXi 8 ?
I'm using this on a Intel NUC11 which is now running ESXi 8 but before on 7U3. with the latest BIOS installed.
I've since then removed the svga.present= false and using only "hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = false" and the latest hardware profile.
This works for Plex hw transcoding in Ubuntu 22.04 but I haven't tested Windows yet since I can only share the device once it seems.
One thing to note I'm using Kubernetes on top of Ubuntu and exposing the device to the container via the intel device plugins for kubernetes
Hi William,
I updated my NUC 11 Pro to the latest BIOS version and I have ESXi 8 running. Xe Graphics Passthrough are now working on my Windows 10 VM, no errors and ability to use the GPU too for encoding and the sorts.
which graphic drivers you use ?
Are you able to plug a monitor a see the ubuntu desktop?
With so many folks not being able to get this working, are there specific steps or settings you followed to make this work?
I can confirm that after updating my NUC11 to ESXi 8 and making new Debian 11 virtual machine with hardware id ESXi 8 and passthrough is working with Plex and Jellyfin!
I have not tested Windows. I have dummy HDMI plugged to HDMI1 port. The svga.present is not activated, show Debian 11 is seeing both GPU:s.
Bios in NUC is latest version 0069.
I can not passthrough I5-8400 igpu. My motherboard is Gigabyte B360M-DS3H.
esxi 6.5
Intel Iris Xe Integrated GPU doesn't work after passthrough.
Tried on Ubuntu22.04 and Windows10. Ubuntu refuses to boot.
Intel AX201 doesn't work either.
NUC11TNHv70L
BIOS updated to the latest 0069 as of 2022-12-11
ESXi8.0
I can confirm iGPU passthrough works for a Ubuntu guest on ESXI 8 on NUC11TNKi7 (BIOS 0070).
svga.present = FALSE is mandatory, hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = FALSE is not needed
Small correction, Ubuntu boots without setting svga.present = FALSE, but the video output switches to iGPU as soon as Ubuntu loads its driver. As a result, in the VM console, it feels like the system hung.
svga.present = FALSE disables the SVGA adapter in the guest OS and, in turn, VMware console.
A more elegant solution is to disable loading of video drivers on boot by setting nomodeset kernel boot parameter.
Edit /etc/default/grub:
...
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
...
Then sudo update-grub && reboot.
Hello William,
Do you have any news of Intel for the problem with the intel driver on Windows ?
I have try with the last driver of intel arc for windows : 31.0.101.4146 and it's still not working in march 2023... error code 43 after reboot
Thanks
No, unfortunately this is an issue with their drivers and haven’t seen any updates. Best to also share this through any channels you have asking for an update from Intel. We know it works for Linux, using the Intel Drivers …
Hello William,
I opened a ticket to Intel France support for this problem. I just got an unconvincing answer. I wanted to get your opinion.
Support reply :
Hello Sebastian,
Thank you for your patience while we investigate the issue.
I received a final response from our internal team regarding your issue.
This linked table will outline the virtualization technologies available for each iGPU family
Intel has discontinued support for GVT-g technology which was previously used for passthrough to virtual machines.
Since Tiger Lake (11th Gen), Intel supports SR-IOV, which is a bit different from GVT-g.
SR-IOV requires support in the BIOS as well as in the operating system instance or hypervisor running on the hardware.
The VMware compatibility site shows support for Nvidia/AMD cards but not Intel's iGPU.
That's why my final recommendation is to contact VMware support and ask them to add support for the iGPU line while mentioning everything I mentioned above.
My reply :
Good morning,
Thank you for your answer however it is not correct where then some things escape me.
GPU passthrough works fine with a virtual machine on Ubuntu. My Windows VM is running on the same hypervisor as my Ubuntu VM.
The problem really comes from the driver under Windows, it is not a problem from the hypervisor.
Also, I've seen users experience the same issue on Windows with a Proxmox hypervisor on reddit.
THANKS,
Good day
Support reply :
Hello Sebastian,
Thank you for your answers.
You raise valid concerns about compatibility discrepancies between different supervisors, but until VMware support mentions any official support for the iGPU lineup, our support for this is limited.
I hope this clarifies your concerns.
What can I say to move the topic forward?
THANKS !
any feedback ?
Intel doesn't want to help me anymore because VMware doesn't officially support IGPU for passthrough...
Thanks
VMware does NOT certify hardware (hopefully this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone) and that is actually done by our OEM/Hardware vendors. Once certified, the hardware or hardware components are then listed on VMware HCL as an officially supported hardware platform that customers can use. Additional functionality such as GPU passthrough may require additional drivers whether it's inside of ESXi and/or within GuestOS is also developed by OEM/Hardware vendors. Long story short, Intel NUC isn't supported nor certified by Intel and hence any issues observed is purely managed by community, most of which is done by myself today. Given the fact that Intel Linux drivers work w/o any issues should hopefully give users a clue at who might be able to help get this to work on Windows ...
Yes that's true, no news on your side ? Thanks