Running BI in Virtualbox, will Intel hardware acceleration work?

PatPend

Pulling my weight
Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Messages
158
Reaction score
193
I'd like to run BI in a Windows 7 Virtualbox guest on an Ubuntu linux host. If the host machine is running an Intel i7 processor with Quicksync hardware acceleration, will BI be able to take advantage of it?
 

ITHelpMe

Young grasshopper
Joined
Mar 13, 2017
Messages
35
Reaction score
5
I'm running BI in Vmware ESX and it works fine for me.
 

cyberwolf_uk

Getting comfortable
Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
606
Reaction score
705
I'm running BI in Vmware ESX and it works fine for me.
BI will work with ESX, but you will not have hardware acceleration, If you have any HA it will be software HA, which is a big difference.
 

cyberwolf_uk

Getting comfortable
Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
606
Reaction score
705
Sorry, my bag, I though there was software acceleration which the likes of the PS4 uses to unlock more power in the GPU for example in rendering etc. Must of misunderstood.
 

Soepkip

Young grasshopper
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
34
Reaction score
11
BI will work with ESX, but you will not have hardware acceleration, If you have any HA it will be software HA, which is a big difference.
This is incorrect. Intel QuickSync does work inside a Windows 10 VM on ESXi. Blue Iris is able to use this for hardware acceleration inside a virtual machine.
 

bp2008

Staff member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
12,666
Reaction score
14,005
Location
USA
This is incorrect. Intel QuickSync does work inside a Windows 10 VM on ESXi. Blue Iris is able to use this for hardware acceleration inside a virtual machine.
Hmm. I looked into this and I guess you're right, with ESXi 6.5 if you pass through the Intel GPU to a VM and the stars align then Quick Sync will work in that VM. Lots of people saying it didn't work. I'm going to try it myself on my little NUC box and see if it works for me. Right now though my Win10 vm is in update limbo.
 

bp2008

Staff member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
12,666
Reaction score
14,005
Location
USA
Gigabyte BRIX Pro GB-BXi7-4770R
CPU: i7-4770R
iGPU: Iris Pro 5200
ESXi 6.5

I managed to pass through the graphics device, but there were driver issues which prevented it from working:



Enabling hardware acceleration in Blue Iris has no apparent effect on CPU usage, and GPU-Z can't read proper stats from the GPU either.



I also took this opportunity to try direct to disk in Blue Iris that isn't activated, and it does not function.
 

Soepkip

Young grasshopper
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
34
Reaction score
11
It works for me:

You need to correctly install the drivers. I have a Kaby Lake CPU, maybe it does not work with earlier generations?
Without the drivers correctly installed, QuickSync will not function so hardware acceleration also won't work in Blue Iris. For me it works.
Try downloading the latest drivers from the Intel website. But maybe older CPU's are not supported?
 

bp2008

Staff member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
12,666
Reaction score
14,005
Location
USA
Hmm. I did not download the driver from intel, and just let Windows try to install it.

I'll try again.
 

Caveman

n3wb
Joined
Apr 7, 2016
Messages
24
Reaction score
8
It works for me:

You need to correctly install the drivers. I have a Kaby Lake CPU, maybe it does not work with earlier generations?
Without the drivers correctly installed, QuickSync will not function so hardware acceleration also won't work in Blue Iris. For me it works.
Try downloading the latest drivers from the Intel website. But maybe older CPU's are not supported?
Is this still working? Ive got an i5 Kaby Lake NUC that Im considering using for Blue Iris. Id like to use ESXi if possible to run a few other small VMs with low requirements as well.
 

Soepkip

Young grasshopper
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
34
Reaction score
11
I thought I had replied to bp2008's post, apparently not...
Yes, it works for me, although it took some time to figure out how to get it working. It might not work on a NUC (wrong motherboard configuration or whatever), but you will have to try it.
I think it also only works with CPU's of Skylake and beyond, so that is probably why bp2008 can't get it to work.
 

devastator

Getting the hang of it
Joined
May 22, 2015
Messages
169
Reaction score
28
Location
Belgium
Do you have an additional GPU as well in that build, or does the machine only have an internal GPU ?
 

Soepkip

Young grasshopper
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
34
Reaction score
11
I only have the internal GPU which is used by the Windows VM. The Linux VM does not need a GPU in my case (just a file server basically).
I am not using a monitor by the way, but I think that should also work.
 

Wilhelm

n3wb
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
3
Reaction score
1
Soepkip, could you post your full HW setup ? I'm planning to build and test a VM system for BI
 

Pedro Tera

n3wb
Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
Just an fyi, I am planning to test bi in a VM as well, hopefully sometime this month...
I am optimistic since I have already been able to passthrough 2 hbas and the on-board SATA controller to my nas VM, so hopefully won't have issues with the integrated graphics. In fact I know of someone that has been able to passthrough the gfx with a very similar hardware as mine - supermicro s11 mb with e3 v6 xeon.
 
Top