Can a KVM hyper-visor be also used as a normal PC

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I am soon will be setting up a desktop soon for my day-to-day tasks and gaming usage. I would like to have it run Linux for my day to day usage, but have a Windows VM running on top of it for gaming purposes (with PCIe passthrough for the graphics card). From my current research, I can use KVM and Qemu to run the Windows VM and have a graphics card passed through to the VM.

From what I am reading, when I load the KVM kernel module, it converts the Linux kernel into a type 1 hypervisor. My question is that can the Linux hypervisor still be used as a normal machine for my day to day tasks? or should I have another Linux VM set up on top of the hypervisor (leading to 2 VMs)?

Aryan

Posted 2019-10-21T16:25:01.917

Reputation: 123

The question should rather be: Do you have enough GPUs? // Also, as general advice: getting GPU passthrough to work isn’t always easy. – Daniel B – 2019-10-21T16:59:00.637

@DanielB Ya, I'm actually following in my friend's footsteps where he did something similar. He learned the hard way and needed to buy a cheap graphics card just for the hypervisor. – Aryan – 2019-10-21T18:17:23.453

Answers

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From what I am reading, when I load the KVM kernel module, it converts the Linux kernel into a type 1 hypervisor.

It doesn't matter because when you (or an application) loads the KVM kernel module, nothing in your current session, shell, or desktop changes.

The KVM module is how Linux lets applications use the virtualization features of the CPU. It may technically internally turn the kernel into a type 1 hypervisor or whatever but the hypervisor type doesn't matter for your purposes.

You typically don't have to do anything with KVM manually. Just ensure virtualization is enabled in your BIOS. Applications are what use it.

LawrenceC

Posted 2019-10-21T16:25:01.917

Reputation: 63 487

Thank you, exactly what I needed. – Aryan – 2019-10-21T18:18:06.610

Asked: 2019-10-21T16:25:01.917

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Active: 2019-10-21T16:54:57.373