6.0.1

Linux distributions must have a 3.2 or later kernel. If 3D is not available on a Linux guest, verify that the
driver is available in the Linux kernel. If it is not available, upgrade to a more recent Linux distribution. The
location of the kernel depends on whether the distribution is based on deb or rpm.
Table 6‑5. Linux Driver Location
VMware Linux Guest Kernel
Drivers Debian Format RPM Format
vmwgfx.ko dpkg -S vmwgfx.ko rpm -qf vmwgfx.ko
vmwgfx_dri.so dpkg -S vmwgfx_dri rpm -qf vmwgfx_dri
vmware_drv.so dpkg -S vmware_drv rpm -qf vmware_drv
libxatracker.so.1 dpkg -S libxatracker rpm -qf libxatracker
3D Rendering Options
You can select the 3D rendering options for each virtual machine to be Hardware, Software, or Automatic.
Table 6‑6. 3D Rendering Options
Rendering Option Description
Hardware The virtual machine must have access to a physical GPU. If
the GPU is not available, the virtual machine cannot power
on.
Software The virtual machine's virtual device uses a software
renderer and will not attempt to use a GPU, even if one if
present.
Automatic The default setting. The virtual device selects whether to
use a physical GPU or software-based rendering. If a GPU
is available on the system and has the resources required
by the virtual machine, the virtual machine uses the GPU.
Otherwise software rendering is used.
How Enabling 3D Graphics Affects the Virtual Machine
You can use vMotion to migrate virtual machines that have 3D graphics enabled. If the 3D Renderer is set to
Automatic, virtual machines use either the GPU on the destination host or a software renderer, depending
on GPU availability. To migrate virtual machines with the 3D Renderer set to Hardware, the destination
host must have a GPU.
You can set a group of virtual machines to use only Hardware rendering. For example, if you have virtual
machines that run CAD applications or have other complex engineering capabilities, you might require that
those virtual machines have persistent high-quality 3D capability present. When you migrate such virtual
machines, the destination host must also have GPU capability. If the host does not have GPU, the migration
cannot proceed. To migrate such virtual machines, you must turn them off and change the renderer setting
to Automatic.
Configure 3D Graphics and Video Cards
When you enable 3D graphics, you can select a hardware or software graphics renderer and optimize the
graphics memory allocated to the virtual machine. You can increase the number of displays in multi-
monitor configurations and change the video card settings to meet your graphics requirements.
The default setting for total video RAM is adequate for minimal desktop resolution. For more complex
situations, you can change the default memory. Typically, 3D applications require a video memory of 64–
512MB.
Fault Tolerance and HA are not supported for virtual machines that have 3D graphics enabled.
Chapter 6 Configuring Virtual Machine Hardware
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