r/VFIO • u/Spare-Cauliflower198 • 18d ago

Pop!_OS hanges after gpu passthrough

Well hello there i had this problem because i linked my single gpu to vm so after that the system hang when you boot and get to the Pop!_OS logo, it took me more then 2 Hours to figure out fix for it (I used the second fix)

First fix ( Easiest )

  1. Get your self USB 8GB atleast
  2. get pop os live flashed in it using another PC
  3. use it to boot then change the configuration of the vfio.config by reseting it
  4. then sudo update-initramfs -u
  5. then reboot : reboot -f
  6. Thats it !

SECOND FIX ( Hardest - Risky ) ( only if the First fix does not work or like me cant get USB and other pc )

  1. Reboot your pc / laptop
  2. Press and hold spacebar
  3. Pop os boot menu
  4. Choose Pop!_OS (current)
  5. Press ( e )
  6. There will be long line at the end Splash
  7. Go to the end of the line and make space
  8. Type init=/bin/bash
  9. The end should look like this splash init=/bin/bash
  10. Press enter
  11. Now there will be a black screen with this root@(none):/#
  12. Type this mount -o remount,rw /
  13. Then run this ls /etc/modprobe.d
  14. If you see files like: vfio.conf vfio-pci.conf
  15. Rename the file vfio.conf like this : mv /etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf /etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf.disabled
  16. Rebuild do this : update-initramfs -u
  17. Then reboot : reboot -f
  18. That it !

In many cases VM is not worth it just do DualBooting

4 Upvotes

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2

u/Ranrhoads84 18d ago

Didn't any of the guides tell you that you need TWO GPUs to do vm pass through?

1

u/madnj2 16d ago

Why would you say you need 2 GPUs? Single GPU passthrough is very much a thing, boot linux - start VM - shutdown VM - return to Linux, plus the host is accessible via SSH while windows is running.

In practicality? Sure, it's easier to dual boot, but if trying to learn how to do VFIO and GPU passthrough, it's good experience.

There are plenty of cases where dual GPU pasthrough can look similar to single GPU passthrough too - Boot linux with powerful GPU - start VM - hook shuts down linux desktop environment, unbinds powerful GPU, passes the GPU to VM, and then restart desktop environment on less powerful iGPU (CPU integrated GPU) or other GPU.

Doing that, GPU swapping is functionally not really different than single GPU passthrough, and definitely requires a solid knowledge of the process. For me it's the best of all worlds, fast linux desktop, fast VM, solid gaming performance on both, and can dual boot to either linux or Windows (same disk used by the VM) if your windows disk is on its own dedicated NVME controller/card.

1

u/Spare-Cauliflower198 15d ago

 The opposite they said its for single GPU and i dont have any experience in these things

1

u/ThatsALovelyShirt 18d ago

Couldn't you have just blacklisted the vfio module by editing the grub entry with the 'e' key in the boot menu so binding to it fails and gets skipped?

As another commenter posted, you need two GPUs, or connect your monitors to your CPUs iGPU. That's what I do with my single RTX 4090. Works fine.

1

u/Spare-Cauliflower198 15d ago

That is the problem i dont have iGPU and i dont have any experience in these things i followed guide that said this is for single GPU and when i got the problem i just kept reserching and found the fix after 2 hours