Windows guest with VMSVGA adapter
Posted: 9. Dec 2018, 12:29
GA installation fails in this configuration as it fails to find appropriate GPU adapter. I think GA installer should skip GPU driver install in this case or if it's possible to preload the VboxSVGA driver using pnputil.exe, something similar to what DriverStore Explorer does. This trick only works for WDDM drivers as far as I know though. In the longterm however Virtualbox VMSVGA should support VMWare windows proprietary VMSVGA driver included in VMWare Tools. At the moment attempting to install it results in BSOD. Just like Linux Mesa3D svga driver, VMWare proprietary GPU driver is a lot faster than VboxSVGA driver.
Testing compatibility with VMWare proprietary GPU driver
- Download VMWare Tools standalone: https://packages.vmware.com/tools/relea ... index.html
- After mounting VMWare Tools ISO in a VM run setup.exe /a or setup64.exe /a (on 64-bit guests) to extract the installer components as normal installation is not allowed in a non-VMWare VM;
- the remaining steps are manual driver installation similar to virtio-net. As I said it doesn't succeed and everything ends in a BSOD. Fortunately Windows returns to basic display on restart so there is no permanent damage to the VM.
Testing compatibility with VMWare proprietary GPU driver
- Download VMWare Tools standalone: https://packages.vmware.com/tools/relea ... index.html
- After mounting VMWare Tools ISO in a VM run setup.exe /a or setup64.exe /a (on 64-bit guests) to extract the installer components as normal installation is not allowed in a non-VMWare VM;
- the remaining steps are manual driver installation similar to virtio-net. As I said it doesn't succeed and everything ends in a BSOD. Fortunately Windows returns to basic display on restart so there is no permanent damage to the VM.