Intel Gen 12 vGPU (SR-IOV) on Proxmox

This guide is designed to help you virtualize the 12th-generation Intel integrated GPU (iGPU) and share it as a virtual GPU (vGPU) with hardware acceleration and video encoding/decoding capabilities across multiple VMs.

Introduction

Although not suited for gaming due to the limited performance of Intel’s iGPU, especially when shared among multiple VMs, this setup excels at video decoding tasks like streaming YouTube and accelerating RDP sessions without burdening the CPU.

Once you complete this setup, consider enhancing your RDP experience with my project UpinelBetterRDP, which leverages vGPU capabilities.

Lazy Option

If you are install it on a fresh Proxmox System with EFI boot ON and Secure Boot Off, you may able to use this one-click installer Upinel/PVE-Intel-vGP-Lazy

Disclaimer

This workaround is not officially supported by Proxmox. Use at your own risk.

Environment

The environment used for this guide:

• Model: Intel NUC12 Pro Wall Street Canyon (NUC12WSKi5)

• CPU: Intel 12th Gen i5 1240P (12 Cores, 16 Threads)

• RAM: 64GB DDR4 by Samsung

• Storage: 2TB Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD and 4TB Samsung 870 Evo SATA SSD

• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80 Execution Units)

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure the following:

• VT-d (IOMMU) and SR-IOV are enabled in BIOS.

• Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) version 8.1.4 or newer is installed with GRUB bootloader.

• EFI is enabled, and Secure Boot is disabled. (Please refer to Appendix 2 during the guide if your Secure Boot is Enabled)

• Linux kernel version 6.1 or newer is present. Validate with

uname -r

If your kernel is older than 6.1, refer to Appendix 1 for instructions on updating it.

Proxmox Setup

DKMS Setup

1. Update your system and install required packages:

apt update && apt install pve-headers-$(uname -r)
apt update && apt install git pve-headers mokutil
rm -rf /var/lib/dkms/i915-sriov-dkms*
rm -rf /usr/src/i915-sriov-dkms*
rm -rf ~/i915-sriov-dkms
KERNEL=$(uname -r); KERNEL=${KERNEL%-pve}

2. Proceed to clone the DKMS repository and adjust its configuration:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/strongtz/i915-sriov-dkms.git
cd ~/i915-sriov-dkms
cp -a ~/i915-sriov-dkms/dkms.conf{,.bak}
sed -i 's/ -j$(nproc)//g' ~/i915-sriov-dkms/dkms.conf
dkms_ver=$(grep 'PACKAGE_VERSION=' dkms.conf | awk -F '=' '{print $2}' | tr -d '"')
cat ~/i915-sriov-dkms/dkms.conf

3. Install the DKMS module:

apt install --reinstall dkms -y
dkms add .
cd /usr/src/i915-sriov-dkms-*
dkms status

4. Build the i915-sriov-dkms

dkms install -m i915-sriov-dkms -v $dkms_ver -k $(uname -r) --force -j 1
dkms status

GRUB Bootloader Setup

Backup and update the GRUB configuration:

cp -a /etc/default/grub{,.bak}
sudo sed -i '/^GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT/c\GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_iommu=on iommu=pt i915.enable_guc=3 i915.max_vfs=7"' /etc/default/grub
update-grub
update-initramfs -u -k all
apt install sysfsutils -y

Create vGPU

Identify the PCIe bus number of the VGA card, usually 00:02.0: 

lspci | grep VGA

Edit the sysfs configuration to enable the vGPUs. In this case I’m using 00:02.0. To verify the file was modified, cat the file and ensure it was modified.

echo "devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/sriov_numvfs = 7" > /etc/sysfs.conf
cat /etc/sysfs.conf

Secure Boot Configuration (Optional)

If you are using Secure Boot, please follow the Appedix 2 before next step

Completing vGPU setup

Now reboot your Host

reboot

And you should able to see the minor PCIe IDs 1-7 and finally Enabled 7 VFs

lspci | grep VGA
dmesg | grep i915

Now your host is prepared, and you can set up Windows 10/11 VMs with SR-IOV vGPU support.

Windows Installation

I will write a simplier version of Windows Installation Guide soon. Stay Tune.

Download Windows Images and Virtos Driver

1. Download the latest VirtIO Windows driver ISO from here. 
2. Download the Windows 11 ISO from here. Use the Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices option.
3. Upload both .iso image to your Proxmox storage, I use local -> ISO Images here
4. Start the VM creation process. On the General tab enter the name of your VM. Click Next.
5. On the OS tab select the Windows 11 ISO.  Change the Guest OS to Microsoft Windows, 11/2022. Tick the box for the VirtIO drivers, then select your Windows VirtIO ISO. Click Next. Note: The VirtIO drivers option is new to Proxmox 8.1. I added a Proxmox 8.0 step at the end to manually add a new CD drive and mount the VirtIO ISO.
6. On the System page modify the Machine Type to Q35, SCSI Controller to VirtIO SCSI single, BIOS to OVMF (UEFI). If you are installing Windows 11, also enable TPM 2.0. If your local VM storage is named differently (e.g. NOT local-lvm, use that instead).
7. On the Disks tab, modify the size as needed. I suggest a minimum of 64GB. Modify the Cache and Discard settings as shown. Only enable Discard if using SSD/NVMe storage (not a spinning disk).
8. On the CPU tab, change the Type to host. Allocate however many cores you want. I chose 2.
9. On the Memory tab allocated as much memory as you want. I suggest 8GB or more. 
10. On the Network tab change the model to VirtIO.
11. Review your VM configuration. Click Finish. Note: If you are on Proxmox 8.0, modify the hardware configuration again and add a CD/DVD drive and select the VirtIO ISO image. Do not start the VM. 

Windows 11 Installation

1. In Proxmox click on the Windows 11 VM, then open a console. Start the VM, then press Enter to boot from the CD.
2. Select your language, time, currency, and keyboard. Click Next. Click Install now.
3. Click I don’t have a product key. 
4. Select Windows 11 Pro. Click Next.
5. Tick the box to accept the license agreement. Click Next.
6. Click on Custom install.
7. Click Load driver.
8. Click OK.
9. Select the w11 driver. Click Next.
10. On Where do you want to install Windows click Next.
11. Sit back and wait for Windows 11 to install.

Windows 11 Initial Configuration

Note: I strongly suggest using a Windows local account during setup, and not your Microsoft cloud account. This will make remote desktop setup easier, as you can’t RDP to Windows 11 using your Microsoft cloud account. The procedure below “tricks” Windows into allowing you to create a local account by attempting to use a locked out cloud account. Also, do NOT use the same username for the local account as your Microsoft cloud account. This might cause complications if you later add your Microsoft cloud account.

1. Once Windows boots you should see a screen confirming your country or region. Make an appropriate selection and click Yes.
2. Confirm the right keyboard layout. Click Yes. Add a second keyboard layout if needed. 
3. Wait for Windows to check for updates. Windows may reboot. 
4. Enter the name of your PC. Click Next. Wait for Windows to reboot.
5. Click Set up for personal use. Click Next. Click Sign in.
6. To bypass using your Microsoft cloud account, enter **user @ outlook .com **(no spaces), enter a random password, click Next on Oops, something went wrong. 
7. On the** Who’s going to use this device?** screen enter a username. Click Next.
8. Enter a password. Click Next.
9. Select your security questions and enter answers.
10. Select the Privacy settings you desire and click Accept.
11. In Windows open the mounted ISO in Explorer. Run virtio-win-gt-x64 and virtio-win-guest-tools. Use all default options.
12. You will probably also want to change the Windows power plan so that the VM doesn’t hibernate (unless you want it to).
13. You may want to disable local account password expiration, as RDP will fail when your password expires with no way to reset. You’d need to re-enable the Proxmox console to reset your password (see later in this post for a how to).

wmic UserAccount set PasswordExpires=False

Windows 11 vGPU Configuration

1. Open a Proxmox console to the VM and login to Windows 11. In the search bar type remote desktop, then click on remote** desktop settings**.
2. Enable Remote Desktop. Click Confirm.
3. Open your favorite RDP client and login using the user name and credentials you setup. You should now see your Windows desktop and the Proxmox console window should show the lock screen.
4. Inside the Windows VM open your favorite browser and download the latest Intel “Recommended” graphics driver from here. In my case I’m grabbing 31.0.101.4972.
5. Shutdown the Windows VM. 
6. You can now unmount the Windows 11 and VirtIO ISOs.
7. In the Proxmox console click on the Windows 11 VM in the left pane. Then click on Hardware. Click on the Display item in the right pane. Click Edit, then change it to none. Note: If in the next couple of steps the 7 GPU VFs aren’t listed, try rebooting your Proxmox host and see if they come back. Then try adding one to your Windows VM again.
8. In the top of the right pane click on Add, then select PCI Device.
9. Select Raw Device. Then review all of the PCI devices available. Select one of the sub-function (.1, .2, etc..) graphics controllers (i.e. ANY entry except the 00:02.0). Do NOT use the root “0” device, for ANYTHING. I chose 02.1. Click** Add**. Do NOT tick the “All Functions” box. Tick the box next to Primary GPU. Click Add.
10. Start the Windows 11 VM and wait a couple of minutes for it to boot and RDP to become active. Note, the Proxmox Windows console will NOT connect since we removed the virtual VGA device. You will see a Failed to connect to server message. You can now ONLY access Windows via RDP. 
11. RDP into the Windows 11 VM. Locate the Intel Graphics driver installer and run it. If all goes well, you will be presented with an Installation complete! screen. Reboot. If you run into issues with the Intel installer, skip down to my troubleshooting section below to see if any of those tips help. 

Windows 11 vGPU Validation

1. RDP into Windows and launch Device Manager. 
2. Expand Display adapters and verify there’s an Intel adapter in a healthy state (e.g. no error 43).
3. Launch Intel Arc Control. Click on the gear icon, System Info, Hardware. Verify it shows Intel Iris Xe.
4. Launch Task Manager, then watch a YouTube video. Verify the GPU is being used.

Appedixies

Appedix 1 - Kernal lower than 6.1

You can update the PVE kernel to 6.2 5.19 using these commands:

1. Disable enterprise repo:

vi /etc/apt/sources.list

Then use the following repos from Proxmox:
(https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Package_Repositories)
My sources.list looks like this:

deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib
deb http://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription
# security updates
deb http://security.debian.org bookworm-security main contrib

2. Install 6.5 kernel.

apt install pve-kernel-6.5

3. Update apt and install headers.

apt update && apt install pve-headers-$(uname -r)

4. Update initramfs and reboot.\

update-initramfs -u
reboot

5. Check your kernel

uname -r

Back to the Guide where you left

Appedix 2 - EFI Enabled and Secure Boot Enabled

You need to install mokutill for Secure Boot

apt update && apt install mokutil
mokutil --import /var/lib/dkms/mok.pub

Reboot Proxmox Host, monitor the boot process and wait for the Perform MOK management window (screenshot below). If you miss the first reboot you will need to re-run the mokutil command and reboot again. The DKMS module will NOT load until you step through this setup. 

Secure Boot MOK Configuration (Proxmox 8.1+)

Select Enroll MOK, Continue, Yes, (password), Reboot.

Back to the Guide where you left

Conclusion

By completing this guide, you should be able to share your Intel Gen 12 iGPU across multiple VMs for enhanced video processing and virtualized graphical tasks within a Proxmox environment.

Credits

The DKMS module by Strongz is instrumental in making this possible (i915-sriov-dkms GitHub repository).
Additionally, Derek Seaman and Michael's blog post was an inspirational resource (Derek Seaman’s Proxmox vGPU Guide & vGPU (SR-IOV) with Intel 12th Gen iGPU).
Because this is a lazy installer, to reduce variances, this pack also included the archive of strongtz/i915-sriov-dkms driver on the date of 21 Feb 2024.
This installer is tailored for Proxmox 8, aiming to streamline the installation process.

License

This project is licensed under Apache License, Version 2.0.

Author

Nova Upinel Chow
Email: [email protected]

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