ESXi 6.7U2 | GPU passthrough deactivated after ESXi reboot

[HeimServer]

Dear all,

in my configuration there is an ESXi 6.7U2 server and I'd like to pass through an NVIDIA NVS310 to my VMs. The GPU card is a PCIe x16 and it is installed on the PCIe x8 slot in my HPe Proliant Microserver Gen10.

The GPU card is recognized by the ESXi and is also visible in the vSphere GUI. When I enable GPU PCIe passthrough it is active/ reboot necessary. In the esx.conf it is visible that passthrough for the GPU card is enabled. The passthrough is only possible when the audio HD also is passed through.

/device/00000:003:00.0/owner = "passthru"

/device/00000:003:00.0/device = "107d"

/device/00000:003:00.0/vendor = "10de"

/device/00000:003:00.1/vendor = "10de"

/device/00000:003:00.1/device = "e08"

/device/00000:003:00.1/owner = "passthru"

After rebooting the server the GPU card is in the disabled state again and the configuration is not visible in the esx.conf anymore.

What can be done to keep the GPU card enabled after reboot?

[Lalegre]

Hey HeimServer,

First of all take into account thtat connecting a PCI-E x16 card in a PCI-E x8 slot will work but you would receive half of the performance as you are not covering all the pins in the connection.

Secondly i was looking at NVIDIA for your model and i could not find it anywhere. You need to make sure that your GPU is supported by the ESXi version you are running, the hardware and that you have the correct drivers associated. Take a look here: https://docs.nvidia.com/grid/10.0/product-support-matrix/index.html

[HeimServer]

Hello Lalegre,

thanks for your reply. I am aware that putting a x16 card in a x8 slot only brings half the speed. It's just that the card was lying around and I hoped that I somehow can use it without any further expenditures. The supported graphics cards are not very cheap...

I am also aware that my graphics card is not officially supported by vmware ESXi, but was just hoping as written before.

Here is a link to my GPU, maybe that is of any help: https://www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/design-visualization/quadro-product-literature/NV...

[Lalegre]

Hello HeimServer​,

Using a device that is not supported for LAB purposes is perfectly fine but is also best effort to make it work. Did you find a suitable driver for that card? Try multiple combinations of drivers. Hopefully one of them will match and you will be able to use it.

[HeimServer · Accepted solution]

It's been quite a while, but I got a solution. After I upgraded to ESXi 7.0 PCIe passthrough can be activated.