Will Windows run slowly if in a VM?

Zero03 · 09 Mar 2021

Hey, so I was thinking about switching my main OS to Ubuntu so I could get my foot in the door with linux and start experimenting around with it a bunch. However, I know if I do that a lot of games will be unavailable to me because they require Windows. That being said, I was thinking about making a Windows VM on the Ubuntu OS and using that to play games on it. I have a few questions about this.
Will I be able to play games like Siege with the same FPS as right now? If not, is there a way to go about getting more FPS in those games? Is so, is there a tutorial for it (because I don't know anything advanced and if there isn't a tutorial I don't think I'll be able to do it)
Will the Windows VM boot slowly (on same SSD as main host Ubuntu)?
Is there anything I won't be able to do on a Windows VM that I would be able to do if my main OS was windows?

(For some reason it's asking me to make sure I've included my windows version, even though it's irrelevant to the question, I'll include it) : Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042

Thanks in advance for any info! Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong spot or anything, but I think I posted it in the right spot.

P.S My PC info is as follows (ignore weird font):

𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲: 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝗥𝗚𝗕 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗔𝗧𝗫 𝗠𝗶𝗱 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘄/𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀

𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆: 𝗘𝗩𝗚𝗔 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗔 𝟴𝟱𝟬 𝗚+ 𝟴𝟬 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝟴𝟱𝟬𝗪 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿

𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱: 𝗔𝗦𝗨𝗦 𝗧𝗨𝗙 𝗭𝟯𝟵𝟬-𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗪𝗜𝗙𝗜) 𝗟𝗚𝗔 𝟭𝟭𝟱𝟭

𝗖𝗣𝗨: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝟱-𝟵𝟲𝟬𝟬𝗸 @ 𝟰.𝟲𝗚𝗛𝘇

𝗖𝗣𝗨 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗿: 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟭𝟮 𝗥𝗚𝗕 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝗚𝗣𝗨: 𝗡𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗜𝗔 𝗚𝗲𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗧𝗫 𝟮𝟬𝟳𝟬

𝗥𝗔𝗠: 𝟰𝘅𝟭𝟲𝗚𝗕 𝗗𝗗𝗥𝟰 @ 𝟯𝟮𝟬𝟬𝗠𝗛𝘇 (𝗖𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗥𝗚𝗕)

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝟬: 𝟭𝗧𝗕 𝗠.𝟮 𝗦𝗦𝗗 (𝗪𝗗𝗖 𝗪𝗗𝗦𝟭𝟬𝟬𝗧𝟮𝗕𝟬𝗕-𝟬𝟬𝗬𝗦𝟳𝟬)

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝟭: 𝟮𝗧𝗕 𝗛𝗗𝗗 (𝗦𝗧𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟬𝗗𝗠𝟬𝟬𝟭-𝟭𝗘𝗥𝟭𝟲𝟰)

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝟮: 𝟭𝗧𝗕 𝗧𝗢𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗕𝗔 𝗠𝗤𝟬𝟮𝗔𝗕𝗗𝟭𝟬𝟬𝗛

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝟯: 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽 𝟰𝗧𝗕 (𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘂𝗽+ 𝗛𝘂𝗯 𝗕𝗞 𝗦𝗖𝗦𝗜)

𝗞𝗲𝘆𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱: 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗖𝗔𝗧 𝗩𝗨𝗟𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝟭𝟮𝟮 𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗢

𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲: 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗖𝗔𝗧 𝗞𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗢 𝗪𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲

𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝟭: 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗪𝟮𝟱𝟭𝟴𝗛 𝟭𝟵𝟮𝟬𝘅𝟭𝟰𝟰𝟬 @ 𝟮𝟰𝟬𝗛𝘇

𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝟮: 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗪𝟮𝟱𝟭𝟴𝗛 𝟭𝟵𝟮𝟬𝘅𝟭𝟰𝟰𝟬 @ 𝟮𝟰𝟬𝗛𝘇

jimbo45 · 09 Mar 2021

@Zero03

There's absolutely no reason to worry about Windows performing badly in a VM - your machine has plenty of "OOMPH" to run several VM's concurrently.

If you run Windows VM's on a Linux Host use KVM/QEMU with the virtio drivers to start with --then passthru real devices to the VM and it should perform as native.

What you need to do that is to ensure for Video GPU hardware passthru that the MOBO supports IOMMU and ideally the GPU has 2 ports - or even better a separate GPU for the graphics so you can dedicate graphics for the gaming. I'd start though by using the "Virtualized" video driver just to get "the hang of defining and booting up a VM".

Even with the virtio video if you can't pass thru the graphics you should find gaming can often work decently - KVM is a HYPERVISOR so in fact there's actually very little OS overhead when the VM's are run unlike say using VBOX or VMWare products. HYPER-V also is similar but IMO a lot more complex to get working and also you need to have it running on a Windows HOST anyway !!!

I'm on Arch Linux (current kernel 5.4.11) and running a whole slew of VM's on KVM.

I've a few VM's set up and here's W2K19 server running on KVM - I've fiddled with the server to make it look and work as a desktop- the Windows servers are so much better and less bloated (by far) than the W10 OS consumer version - especially Windows HOME edition.

This server as a VM runs better even though it's on modest hardware than my Windows 10 pro system does on a decent laptop !!. Run the VM's though (and the Host OS) on an SSD if poss.

There's loads of documentation on enabling KVM on Linux hosts -- great thing also the Linux system can have everybody logged off and the VM still available for remote users.

Before doing everything via command line I'd recommend you install on your Linux system a GUI -- I prefer KDE (plasma) but I see you use UBUNTU so that would probably have a GNOME GUI - but your choice. Also install ovmf package if you want your Windows VM to have UEFI boot (it boots quicker BTW to use EFI) and the virtual machine manager which is a good GUI for managing virtual machines.

Also download the virtio drivers (it's an iso) for installing in the Windows VM once booted. You can get that from the FEDORA site.

After defining the VM - create the Virtual disk as a virtio one then at install time windows will prompt for the disk driver -- just point to the virtio iso.

To get HOST / VM networking - don't bother with bridged -- simply define 2 Virtual NIC's - one which will be a "Virtual isolated" network and the other a macvtap device which is your real Nic - I've got a post on how to do that in this section on the forum. The advantage of macvtap is that it also works for Wireless devices - it's not always possible to get KVM and wireless nics to work as bridged devices although that could change as kernel developments continue.

Enable Windows VM's HOST access with KVM HOSTS

Meanwhile have fun -- if you get stuck post again and we'll see what we can do -- prepare though if you haven't done this before to have a "few goes" with it !!!

Here's how to set up KVM/QEMU on arch linux / Manjaro -- it is I'm sure almost identical on UBUNTU - of course the package manager will be different but packages required should be identical.

Complete Installation of KVM, QEMU and Virt Manager on Arch Linux and Manjaro | ComputingForGeeks

VM's defined

Will Windows run slowly if in a VM?-screenshot_20210309_091435.png

W2K19 server setup

Will Windows run slowly if in a VM?-screenshot_20210309_091600.png

W2K19 server running on KVM

Will Windows run slowly if in a VM?-screenshot_20210309_091756.png

Macvtap device

Will Windows run slowly if in a VM?-screenshot_20210309_093025.png

Cheers
jimbo

zebal · 10 Mar 2021

Zero03 said:

That being said, I was thinking about making a Windows VM on the Ubuntu OS and using that to play games on it. I have a few questions about this.
Will I be able to play games like Siege with the same FPS as right now? If not, is there a way to go about getting more FPS in those games?

Your GPU needs to support virtualization, and such GPU's are more expensive, ex:
NVIDIA GPUs for Virtualization

I recommend you to set up dual boot, ubuntu doesn't require a lot of disk space and you'll get best performance with minimum effort and no money spent.

jimbo45 · 10 Mar 2021

zebal said:

Your GPU needs to support virtualization, and such GPU's are more expensive, ex:
NVIDIA GPUs for Virtualization

I recommend you to set up dual boot, ubuntu doesn't require a lot of disk space and you'll get best performance with minimum effort and no money spent.

Hi there
actually that's not quite true

What you do need is IOMMU support (for hardware passthru) and an available video port for the VM.

Here's a good starting point.

Running Windows 10 on Linux using KVM with VGA Passthrough - Heiko's Blog

Cheers
jimbo

zebal · 10 Mar 2021

you're correct jimbo, I already heard of GPU passtrough, can be set in Hyper-V as well although the steps and requirements were so arcane I gave up and didn't learn about this much.

It's definitely a long journey to setup these things but doable, I think most people will find it too advanced and old fashioned dual boot may be much easier to set up, at least for gaming.

jimbo45 · 10 Mar 2021

zebal said:

you're correct jimbo, I already heard of GPU passtrough, can be set in Hyper-V as well although the steps and requirements were so arcane I gave up and didn't learn about this much.

It's definitely a long journey to setup these things but doable, I think most people will find it too advanced and old fashioned dual boot may be much easier to set up, at least for gaming.

Hi there

Dual boot is of course easier - but where's the challenge in that !!!! - I think we;ve all (or at least most of use) got a bit more time on our hands these days so a great time for "learning".

If it's done right with the correct hardware your VM's can run almost as fast as Native - the dvantage also is you can run loads of things concurrently without having to re-boot different OS'es.

But also in Dual boot --There's also a trap for the unwary if dual booting Windows and Linux -- in that scenario you should install the Windows OS first -- if you don't the Windows boot manager will overwrite your Linux boot manager (usually GRUB). If you install Linux after windows then GRUB will check for other OS'es on the machine and give you a choice at boot.

I've avoided using double booting for years apart from the odd "Windows to Go2 homemade disks I've created - and these boot totally from the external USB device. I use those sometimes when working for clients and I want different languages / keyborads both for Windows and Office. Saves mucking around with different versions of Windows etc on main machine.

Cheers
jimbo