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My host machine has a 2GB graphic card (GeForce GT740M) but VirtualBox allows me to use just 256MB of memory. Because I would use CAD applications on Win7 (Guest) I would like to have more memory to run them properly.
I've installed guest additions.
I've searched online and I've found some different suggestions like:
- Manually modify the value on a file in VirtualBox folder
- Use the command
VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows 7" --vram 1024
Both solutions are unstable and often give a boot error.
I've found also this TomsHardware thread and it says that no, there's no way to go above 256MB of VRAM.
To me it sounds ridiculous this cap on the VRAM (but there has to be a reason). Anyone may help to overcome it?
DavidMonten
Posted 2017-10-10T10:31:26.863
Reputation: 51
“To me it sounds ridicolous this cap on the vram (but there has to be a reason).“ - It’s not ridiculous just a limitation of your hardware and VirtualBox – Ramhound – 2017-10-10T10:34:43.993
ok, but why so few? I've 2gb vram, I would use one but I can use just 256mb. 1gb and 1gb would be fine for both host and guest ...but I must be wrong :/
So at the end we can state that there's no recommanded way to overcome this limit? as a consequance I cant' run graphic applications smoothly on a virtual machine? – DavidMonten – 2017-10-10T10:36:58.243
I already explained. It’s a limitation of the hardware you have plus a limitation of your chosen hypervisor. The only one you can address Ian the software limitation – Ramhound – 2017-10-10T10:38:06.083
4The "VRAM" your virtual machine sees almost certainly isn't your actual hardware VRAM. Like every other piece of "hardware" in the virtual machine it is effectively an emulated hardware device. That you have 2GB of VRAM on your graphics card is largely irrelevant to your virtual machine. – Mokubai – 2017-10-10T10:46:11.150
What you might need to look into is a hardware pass through for your graphics card. – Seth – 2017-10-10T11:50:17.170
Consider trying other virtualization products. I've never tried using CAD on a VM - seems that the performance would be terrible. – Christopher Hostage – 2017-10-10T15:11:35.093
have you checked the User manual? It might provide some insights. http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/5.1.28/UserManual.pdf
– AK M – 2017-10-10T14:21:11.397As you did not quote anything, I assume you mean p.52 / chapter 3.5:
Video memory size: This sets the size of the memory provided by the virtual graphics card available to the guest, in MB. As with the main memory, the specified amount will be allocated from the host’s resident memory. Based on the amount of video memory, higher resolutions and color depths may be available.- How, exactly, does that answer the question? – flolilo – 2017-10-10T14:26:20.393Forcing VirtualBox to emulate more graphics memory will make your CAD application slower because emulated graphics memory is much slower than real RAM. As Mokubai said, emulated VRAM in VirtualBox has nothing to do with actual VRAM on your graphics card. – David Schwartz – 2017-10-11T07:14:37.807
1@DavidMonten I think the key you are missing is VirtualBox EMULATES A video controller. It does not pass through your GPU to the VM. It currently, does not use your GPU except in very simple, if at all, ways. passing through GPU capabilites is in the works for most virtualization platforms, but it definitely is a new capability and the features available and stability per platform varies widely. Citrix does this currently; they tout you can run CAD/CAM software remotely with the GPU enhanced CAD running on a hosted VM elsewhere I think via XenDesktop – Damon – 2017-10-12T03:57:34.747