Is Intel GPU SR-IOV GPU Passthrough with KVM/QEMU for Windows 11VM possible?

Framework Laptop 13
,
1

Hey, I already placed my Order for a Lovely Pro 13 but got some questions. (Batch 18)

At the moment im Using Parallels on MacOS and want to switch to Fedora, but I need Windows for some specific applications - I DONT want to Dual-Boot because its most of the Time its low Power stuff like ETS Programming for Smart Home or some Security System stuff that only runs under Windows and I just need them maybe 5 to 20 Minutes a Day. I can’t Live without these applications and there is no way around windows at the moment.

I tried to get my question as precise as Possible and English isn’t my first language so I Hope you can understand that I used some AI to Formulate and Translate my Questions.

Hi everyone,

I’m considering using the new Framework Laptop 13 Pro with Intel Core Ultra X7 358H / Intel Arc B390 as my main Linux laptop, and I’d like to know whether anyone has already tested Intel GPU SR-IOV on this specific Framework model.

My intended setup is:

  • Fedora 44 as the host OS

  • KVM/QEMU + libvirt

  • Windows 11 x86-64 as a VM

  • Intel Arc B390 used by Fedora through the Physical Function (PF)

  • One Intel GPU Virtual Function (VF) passed through to the Windows VM via VFIO/SR-IOV

The goal is to let Fedora and Windows use the integrated GPU at the same time, rather than doing full GPU passthrough.

Intel officially supports SR-IOV graphics virtualization on Core Ultra Series 3 / Panther Lake, including Linux host + Windows guest scenarios. What I’m mainly trying to confirm is whether the Framework BIOS/UEFI exposes everything required for this to work.

Has anyone tested this on the Framework Laptop 13 Pro yet?

I would especially be interested in the following:

  • Is GPU SR-IOV available with the Intel xe driver?

  • Does /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:02.0/sriov_totalvfs report available Virtual Functions?

  • Can sriov_numvfs be used to create a VF?

  • Is there an SR-IOV or Intel Graphics SR-IOV option in the Framework BIOS?

  • Is Intel VT-d / IOMMU fully available?

  • Is Above 4G Decoding enabled or configurable?

  • Are there any BIOS/firmware restrictions that prevent assigning the Intel GPU VF to a Windows 11 KVM guest?

  • Has anyone successfully used the Intel Panther Lake Windows virtualization driver inside the VM?

  • Any experience with Looking Glass or another low-latency display solution?

The architecture I’m aiming for is basically:

Fedora 44
→ Intel Arc B390 PF

Windows 11 KVM/QEMU VM
→ Intel Arc B390 VF
→ VFIO / SR-IOV

I’m especially interested in real-world experience with the Framework Laptop 13 Pro, not just Panther Lake in general.

If anyone has already tested this, I’d really appreciate details about the BIOS settings, kernel version, xe driver configuration, libvirt/QEMU setup, and whether Windows recognized the virtual GPU correctly.

Thanks!

2

I’m planing something similar for my 3D scanning software, I did ask over on lvl1techs forum but never got a reply. I’m batch 8 so a few weeks? out on delivery though.

I know pantherlake works as there is a writeup on github for a PVE box with a windows guest.

1 Like
3

I tried back then when I just got the mainboard but not all the way to the end:

I forgot what exactly did I use or what sriov_totalvfs said - it’s deep in some random AI chatlog on another machine. In short, what works:

  • Passing the VF to VM - it’s just a pcie device
  • Installing graphics drivers in VM
  • Running games in VM using virtual GPU

What I didn’t manage to get working:

  • Handling VM shutdown gracefully - for me it causes host graphics to freeze.
  • Had some problems choosing how to view VM’s desktop properly with hardware accelerated graphics - there were issues with it being headless

What I didn’t try:

  • Resource scheduling priority with both host & VM competing for GPU

I have since reverted to Ubuntu defaults. Now it’s up to you to get this 100% working so I can just copy the setup :grinning_face:

1 Like
4

Hey, I got an answer from the framework support, but unfortunately not a really helpful one. Seems Like its a edge use case :smiley:

"
Framework Support

Hi there,

Thank you for showing interest in Framework Laptops. We understand that you would like to see a Framework Laptop 13 Pro with Intel Core Ultra Series configured for SR‑IOV GPU virtualization.

At this time, these options and information are not available. While we cannot promise or speculate on the possibility of including them in future iterations, we truly appreciate your suggestion and will share your feedback with the appropriate team.

We recommend checking the Framework Community, as another user has recently posted a discussion about using the Framework Laptop 13 Pro in a similar configuration. Is Intel GPU SR-IOV GPU Passthrough with KVM/QEMU for Windows 11VM possible? Anybody tried?

For more about our plans & products, please sign up for our newsletter: https://frame.work/blog/category/news

If anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thanks for contacting Framework Support. Have a great day.
Regards,
Framework Support"

@Zack1 please keep us updated ! Very Interested in what you can achieve:)

I Will test what I can get running, but unfortunately I will get my device in November/December

Best Regards

5

I should hopefully get mine in a few weeks (batch 7) and I’d be happy to report how it works. I’m also interested in a setup like this. FYI: I run gentoo, so things might end up being a little different.

1 Like
6

Alright, we will keep us all updated about the Progress !

Have a nice rest of the Week :slight_smile:

Best Regards

1 Like
7

This might be worth a review, seems the user validated on Pantherlake w/B390 cachyos with a win11 guest an sunlight/moonlight streaming GitHub - YellowWhiteBlackCat/headless-win11-sriov-streaming: Headless Windows 11 VM with Intel Arc SR-IOV GPU passthrough + VDD + Sunshine/Moonlight streaming: unattended Autounattend bootstrap, SSH/QGA/VNC control channels, reproducible asset download · GitHub

8

I just got my payment confirmation, so I should be able to look into this pretty soon. I’m very excited!

1 Like
9

Hey, Hope you got your Device ? Any News so far ?

10

Got it delivered last Friday and I’ve gotten happy enough with my Linux environment to start working on the Windows VM.

With:

Stable Gentoo amd64 (with ~amd64 kernel)
Linux reimu 7.2.6-gentoo-dist-bin #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Mon Sep 14 13:36:00 -00 2026 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra X7 358H GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

sys-kernel/linux-firmware-20260916
app-emulation/virt-manager-5.1.0-r1
app-emulation/qemu-10.2.3
app-emulation/libvirt-12.2.0

and the latest git build of looking glass, everything just works.

  • I added intel_iommu=on iommu=pt to my cmdline
  • Ran echo 1 > /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/sriov_numvfs (creating 00:02.1, verifiable with lspci)
  • Passed through the newly-created VF PCI device through virt-manager
  • Installed a Windows 11 vm normally
  • Installed virtio drivers and Intel GPU drivers
  • Set up ivshmem for looking glass (note: 128M for this screen resolution)

Everything works. FWIW, I’m not having the graceful-shutdown issue that @Zack1 was having. The only issue I’m having is that video performance seems kind of poor, but IMO it’s better than any of the other virtio options and there’s probably some way to tune it for a better experience.

Notes:

  • I needed the following to get my shmem device working for looking glass. I found this in some GitHub discussion, and it seems to be a quirk with using host-passthrough on some CPUs. 
    • <cpu mode="host-passthrough" check="none" migratable="on">
    <topology sockets="1" dies="1" clusters="1" cores="16" threads="1"/>
    <maxphysaddr mode="passthrough" limit="40"/>
</cpu>
  • I’ve read that it’s important to make sure that the VF is created after your WM is started and bound to the GPU. For now, I haven’t automated this so I just run the command once I’m in KDE. I’m sure it’s easy to set up.
  • I had to manually set the 120 hz refresh rate on the looking glass IDD.

For the laptop itself:

  • battery life is like nothing I’ve ever used before

  • build quality feels incredible and it feels great to handle

  • I wish there were dedicated home and end keys instead of full-size left- and right-arrow keys

  • trackpad is very nice but I still miss my trackpoint for the time being

  • the hardware is new enough that I’m still having gpu driver issues [in Linux] but that’s not exactly a FW issue

  • keyboard is really nice to type away on

  • screen is bright and smooth and I am really liking the 3:2 so far

  • best speakers I’ve heard on a laptop

Let me know if you have any other questions :smile:

2 Likes
11

Congrats, I might give it another try now that Ubuntu 26.04 came out and the default intel graphics/mesa/kernel are working fine.

1 Like
12

Hey, thanks for your answer.

About the Performance, have you tried VM vs Native ? What whould you say about the Performance difference ?

Any Crashes or does ist really “Just work” ?

Best regards

1 Like
13

Hmm I thought it might be page size, but its 4k which is the “working” size for the XE driver maybe its secure boot thats preventing me from creating a virtual function in Cachy

edit: got past it, i have some notes on the changes but I’ve had to run out, so will update with full instructions later

1 Like
14

I haven’t had a chance to install Windows bare-metal yet, but I left 128gb at the end of my ssd to be able to do so. Maybe I’ll try sometime this weekend?

No crashes, it just worked.

15

I started after following blucobalt’s post above, and had an LLM summarize my notes (actions taken/software installed but there were some gaps, mostly on windows). I’ve filled them best I could and had it refactor my config files to be a bit less rigid.

Windows was a pain and refused to use the correct display, so after trying s lot of things and starting over several times I finally got looking-glass and ivshmem working and successfully ran hw accelerated stuff to the host with spice for input.

So take the windows instructions as a bit wishy washy I was throwing shit at the wall and 'm not 100% sure what fixed it in the end.

I plan to do another VM in a few days to verify but this weekend is packed so it wont be for a few days.