How do i set up host video card on guest???

[Philip_Ulrich]

Hey everyone,

Thanks in advance for any help you give. first of all i got 32 bit version of vmware workstation 6. on my host computer i got 128 mb GeForce 8400M and i am wondering how i can get the vmware to let me use it instead of Vmware SVGA II that only has 16 mb. anyone know?

[sbeaver · Accepted solution]

You can't currently. Maybe in a future release

Steve Beaver

VMTN Forum Moderator

*Virtualization is a journey, not a project.*

[Philip_Ulrich]

Well do u relize how stupid that is. u cant even run the simplest of games!!! I hope they fix that soon. X-((-)X-((-)X-(

[asatoran]

The way the technology works is that you create a virtual machine that has virtual hardware. Your virtual hardware is (mostly) independant of your physical hardware so that your virtual machines are portable between different hosts that have different hardware. Imagine if you were able to setup your VM with the drivers for your specific video card. Then you buy a completely new computer with a different video card. You move your VMs to the new computer but now your VMs BSoD because you don't have the correct video card driver.

As the saying goes, "It's not a bug. It's a feature." And this feature is what allows me to develop VMs on my workstation and deploy them to my clients without having to worry that they have the exact same hardware as me. Yet, it would be nice in the future if your could have more direct access to the video card for game machine virtualization, but I don't think that is a trivial issue.

[dmalaguti]

Why would you want to run a game in a virtual machine anyway? Even if you could access the physical video card, you'd still be losing performance. If you're actually playing, you're much better off running on a physical machine. Even if you're developing and/or testing, use the virtual machine for installer testing and non-performance critical stuff. Do your playtesting on a physical machine and use something like Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost to switch OSes and maintain a clean test environment.

[merfxo]

There is an experimental support for Direct3D acceleration which might allow some games running, more at http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d.html

[janmike]

i want to run games on my vm too..for me one good use of this is to test games on new operating systems.. for example, now that windows 7 is out i wanted to know what games will actually run on it now without actually installing windows 7 on my physical machine..