6.7

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To enable 3D graphics in virtual machines with Windows 8 guest operating systems, the virtual
machine compatibility must be ESXi 5.1 or later.
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To use a Hardware 3D renderer, ensure that graphics hardware is available. See Configuring 3D
Graphics.
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If you update the virtual machine compatibility from ESXi 5.1 and later to ESXi 5.5 and later, reinstall
VMware Tools to get the latest SVGA virtual graphics driver and Windows Display Driver Model
driver.
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Verify that you have the Virtual machine.Configuration.Modify device settings privilege on the
virtual machine.
Procedure
1 Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory and select Edit Settings.
2 On the Virtual Hardware tab, expand Video Card.
3 Select custom or automatic settings for your displays from the drop-down menu.
Option Description
Auto-detect settings Applies common video settings to the guest operating system.
Specify custom settings Lets you select the number of displays and the total video memory.
4 Select the number of displays from the drop-down menu.
You can set the number of displays and extend the screen across them.
5 Enter the required video memory.
6 (Optional) Click Video Memory Calculator to calculate the required video memory based on the
maximum number of displays and resolution that the guest operating system must support, and click
OK.
7 (Optional) Click Enable 3D support.
This check box is active only for guest operating systems on which VMware supports 3D.
8 (Optional) Select a 3D Renderer.
Option Description
Automatic Selects the appropriate option (software or hardware) for this virtual machine.
Software Uses normal CPU processing for 3D calculations.
Hardware Requires graphics hardware (GPU) for faster 3D calculations.
Note The virtual machine will not power on if graphics hardware is not available.
9 Click OK.
Sufficient memory allocation is set for this virtual machine's graphics.
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration
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