My goal is to have one PC with 2 completely independent users on it...I'm talking about having 2 keyboards/mice, GPU pass through etc.
would it possible to have a windows 10 host and using hyper v create a W10 VM with GPU pass through?
Hi there.
@Joshy
The great thing about VM's is that users can have access without needing access at all on the Host. As for GPU passthru I don't know enough about HYPER-V but each VM is treated as a separate physical machine anyway.
What you though need is to be able to run these in the background --otherwise when YOU logoff the host the VM's will be shut down too.
This is why if you really want to do this I'd run a LINUX server as host and run the Windows VM's from that. Then you've got no problems as the Linux can run totally headless and doesn't need anybody actually logged on to it to serve the VM's.
Problem with HYPER-V of course also is sound is a dog to get working efficiently, as is USB access etc so IMO unless you just want the VM's for bog standard "Officy" type stuff I'd go for VMWARE or VBOX.
Using RDP (which you'd need for HYPER-V) also for multi-media etc especially if users have large monitors is a real pain as it's slow. Note also for what you have in mind you'd need a decent multi-monitor set up. The VM's can have their own mice and keyboard but you need then to have the VM's in the background running preferably from a server.
ESXI is another possibility - although setting that up is really out of scope for this discussion. IMO unless you have a Windows server I'd run your VM's from Linux (both VMware and VBOX work fine) and you then can just leave the whole thing up and running. Also another irritant with using a bog standard version of Windows (i.e a non server version) is that you sometimes get updates or prompts requiring input which makes running it headless a problem and you don't want VM users to get kicked off because Windows decides it wants to do an update.
Another idea is to set up your own VPN so each user gets a Windows desktop -- bit more complex -- there's programs out there like OPENVPN which you could use.
Plenty of choice to do this -- businesses do this type of thing every day --anybody who's ever remotely logged on to a corporate machine via a VPN is probably being routed via a Virtual Windows desktop on a corporate server.
The other question is how will your users access the VM's -- from their own laptops etc. If they logon to the host then you've got a problem as Windows (non server version) can't run more than one concurrent user (i.e more than 1 at the same time) and they'd need an account on the Host machine too . You also couldn't be on the machine if either of these users were on it.
That's why I'd look for the Linux server solution / OPEN VPN solution - although VM's in the background can work on Windows - but you still have the single user issue with Windows 10 (or any non server version).
Cheers
jimbo
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