Blank vmware console screen after installing nvidia grid driver

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1

Host = ESXi 6.7U3 P04, with Nvidia T4 GPU
VM Guest = Windows server 2019 with one T4 GPU in PCI-e passthrough mode + Citrix 1912 LTSR CU2
After installing the latest grid driver (461.33_grid_win10_server2016_server2019_64bit_international.exe) the vmware remote console screen shows only blank/black. RDP & Citrix HDX work fine.

Tried logging a support ticket with VMware but they told me it was an Nvidia driver issue so they cant provide support for it.
Tried using latest VMtools.
Tried increasing VM Hardware >> Video card >> Total Video Memory to 128GB

2

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the post. This is expected behavior see - Quick Start Guide :: NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Documentation

D

3

OK so I see the statement: “VM console in vSphere Web Client is not supported in this vGPU release. Therefore, use VMware Horizon or VNC to access the VM’s desktop.” That makes troubleshooting the VM really difficult. For example, I have an issue right now where one VM doesn’t reboot cleanly from a nightly scheduled reboot task. It just gets stuck somewhere half-way as its shutting down. RDP & VNV dont work, but I can still ping it. Without the console, I cannot see what is causing the problem.

Is NVidia going to fix this bug??? VM Console is a fundamental part of administering a vmware environment!

4

I understand your frustration. The fix to the bug requires a change to the “VM Console in vSphere” which NVIDIA does not have control of. I have raised the issue internally to see if we get this issue addressed with vmware.

5

Hi

Remove the GPU from the VM, power it back on before its nightly automated shutdown and let it run through it’s automated shutdown process and hang. You can then use the Console to view the VM. Once the issue is resolved, reattached the GPU and carry on as normal. If it reboots cleanly without the VM attached, this will give you an area to investigate once you reattach it.

Regards

MG

6

Disable the VM Console is a stupid design.

7

So feed this feedback to your VMWare contacts. The more customers complain, the better the chance that VMWare would change their console access behavior. All other hypervisors have a solution for this.

Regards Simon

8

I have a Win11 VM, and after installing the a16 vGPU and drivers, the vmware console still works

is this expected or is something wrong?

both display devices show up in device manager as active

9

There is currently an issue due to DCH driver concept. I would downgrade the driver to vGPU 13.9 as example.

10

Is there an official thread or post regarding this issue?
Thanks for the workaround though.

11

Please open a support ticket with NVES regarding this issue

12

Having the same issue after installing driver 537.13 from GRID 16.1. VMware console is still displaying output, which suggest the vgpu is not being utilized properly inside the rdp or ica session.

Opening a ticket on monday, weird that there’s no known issue or kb article. Any updates on a fix or workaround other than downgrading back to 474.44 from GRID 13.8?

13

Same here for 15.4 and ESXi 8.0U2 → Both Adapters working an Console Screen is still present. Anyway; Windows Desktop and RDP only use VMware SVGA 3D Adapter and Performance is bad. Beside that, CUDA will work with the discrete Graphics Card - this is weird. Any Solution for that?

15

Should be fixed in the next releases. Please open a support ticket with NVES to get latest information

16

FYI: Installing VMware Agent fixed the Problem → Graphics Acceleration is now available in RDP and Horizon Sessions. VMware Console access is still available.