Virtual Machines

[DarylEPerez]

Hey you guys, I'm trying to run 8 virtual machines on my PC. Though, I want each of them to work with their own dedicated hardware in terms of monitors, keyboards and mouses. Is that possible? I mean, Hyper-V allows me to run multiple Virtual Machines so it just popped up to me the idea that that's what it's meant for...

 

System:

XFX R9 290X 2-way Crossfire

XFX 8350 @ 4.62GHz ~ 4.9GHz turbo

16GB DDR3 @ 1866MHz thought I'll be upgrading to 32 pretty soon.

 

[GoodBytes]

Yes. Using remote desktop, you can connect external computers to it. Your main computer will share resources to all VMs as it manages them all, you can lock the number of CPU cores or percentage to use for each VM guest (See settings of each guessed VMs under Hyper-V, under Processor section). Each computers that connect the their respective VM will use their own mouse and keyboard.

To have remote desktop connect to them, in each VM , set Windows to enable remote desktop for the user account you want (default account is already considered and doesn't need to be added), and select the option to allow remote connection to it. You can find these options under System panel > Remote Settings (found on the left column)

[omniomi]

 

I want each of them to work with their own dedicated hardware in terms of monitors, keyboards and mouses. Is that possible?

 

 

Can you explain exactly what you're trying to do? Ie, explain the envisioned setup and how you'll use it. I work with virtualisation for a living but I'm not quite understanding what you mean by dedicated keyboards and mice; it sounds to me like you're trying to setup thin clients (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client) but I want to be sure before typing up a response. 

[DarylEPerez]

Yes. Using remote desktop, you can connect external computers to it. Your main computer will share resources to all VMs as it manages them all, you can lock the number of CPU cores or percentage to use for each VM guest (See settings of each guessed VMs under Hyper-V, under Processor section). Each computers that connect the their respective VM will use their own mouse and keyboard.

To have remote desktop connect to them, in each VM , set Windows to enable remote desktop for the user account you want (default account is already considered and doesn't need to be added), and select the option to allow remote connection to it. You can find these options under System panel > Remote Settings (found on the left column)

So I basically follow the instructions given by you, then assign each keyboard, mouse, so on and so forth with the selected displays... Is that right?

[DarylEPerez]

Can you explain exactly what you're trying to do? Ie, explain the envisioned setup and how you'll use it. I work with virtualisation for a living but I'm not quite understanding what you mean by dedicated keyboards and mice; it sounds to me like you're trying to setup thin clients (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client) but I want to be sure before typing up a response. 

I am trying to set up 8 displays, 8 keyboard, 8 mouses all hooked up to my system. Everyone using their own independent system but everyone's hooked up to my PC.

[omniomi]

I am trying to set up 8 displays, 8 keyboard, 8 mouses all hooked up to my system. Everyone using their own independent system but everyone's hooked up to my PC.

 

You will need thin clients of some kind then. You can't just grab extra graphics cards, a USB hub, plug everything into the same tower and call it a day. There is no easy way to split inputs from HID devices (keyboards and mice) or make it so each monitor is independent from the rest on a single system.

 

The basic premise of a thin client is it is a stripped down bare essentials computer that on boot establishes a remote connection to a virtual machine hosted elsewhere. Ie, you grab a cheap low-resource computer like a Dell Inspiron Zino and configure it to on boot establish a remote desktop connection to one of the VMs hosted on your desktop. The thin clients will still have their own copy of Windows on them but the users will only ever interact with the remote VMs over RDP. Usually in a true thin client setup the thin clients don't have a full OS on them, they have a very basic custom linux distro that just goes out and makes the connection to the remote VM but Hyper-V doesn't really have a true thin client solution baked in so RDP is the way to go.

[DarylEPerez]

You will need thin clients of some kind then. You can't just grab extra graphics cards, a USB hub, plug everything into the same tower and call it a day. There is no easy way to split inputs from HID devices (keyboards and mice) or make it so each monitor is independent from the rest on a single system.

 

The basic premise of a thin client is it is a stripped down bare essentials computer that on boot establishes a remote connection to a virtual machine hosted elsewhere. Ie, you grab a cheap low-resource computer like a Dell Inspiron Zino and configure it to on boot establish a remote desktop connection to one of the VMs hosted on your desktop. The thin clients will still have their own copy of Windows on them but the users will only ever interact with the remote VMs over RDP. Usually in a true thin client setup the thin clients don't have a full OS on them, they have a very basic custom linux distro that just goes out and makes the connection to the remote VM but Hyper-V doesn't really have a true thin client solution baked in so RDP is the way to go.

Is there any suggestions in terms of a software that would allow me for this? I mean, how would you do it?

[GoodBytes]

I am trying to set up 8 displays, 8 keyboard, 8 mouses all hooked up to my system. Everyone using their own independent system but everyone's hooked up to my PC.

Oh. No you can't

Windows ONLY supports 1 keyboard, 1 mouse per system. And also, only support 1 application focused at a time. For each of your individual VM you want, you need a separate computer, ideally a low powered system called a thin client, where they'll use your desktop computer for processing once they start-up and connected via remote desktop to each of their corresponding VMs. You can opt for Linux based OS thin-client and setup VNC instead of using remote desktop to save a bit more money by going with even lower specs thin-client and not paying for Windows license.

[omniomi]

Is there any suggestions in terms of a software that would allow me for this? I mean, how would you do it?

 

Looks like I was wrong... you won't need PCs with Windows, there are RDP capable thin clients.... Something like the HP t510 Flexible Thin Client (H2P23AT) http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06b/12454-12454-321959-338927-3640406-5226831-5226832-5263690.html?dnr=2. if you look at the "Protocols" section of the communication features you'll see "Microsoft RDP" which is what you'll need. Basically you configure the thin client to point to one of the VMs and when it's turned on that's what it displays instead of using a local operating system.

 

The limitation of RDP and thin-clients is you won't be able to to intensive 3D stuff like gaming.

 

When I was working with thin clients it was with VMWare View and thin clients made by Sun that don't use RDP but use a different display protocol... looks like things have changed since then.

[DarylEPerez]

Oh. No you can't

Windows ONLY supports 1 keyboard, 1 mouse per system. And also, only support 1 application focused at a time. For each of your individual VM you want, you need a separate computer, ideally a low powered system called a thin client, where they'll use your desktop computer for processing once they start-up and connected via remote desktop to each of their corresponding VMs. You can opt for Linux based OS thin-client and setup VNC instead of using remote desktop to save a bit more money by going with even lower specs thin-client and not paying for Windows license.

So what were you explaining? Maybe you could give me a suggestion based on what you thought I was speaking about. 

[GoodBytes]

So what were you explaining? Maybe you could give me a suggestion based on what you thought I was speaking about.

I thought you meant that you had 8 separate computers that wanted to connect to your VM at startup.

Where each computers (ideally super low powered, and would be normally a pain in the ass to use individually on their own as a standalone PC) have their own monitor, computer, keyboard and mouse, where they can benefit from high-performance system and network, to react smooth, fast and responsive, as it would use your main computer for processing by remote desktoping to its appropriate VM.

[woodycarson]

Adding onto what Omniomi said, I would use a Raspberry Pi and rdesktop for a thin client if the OP just wants to play around with the idea and not implement in it in a professional setting. Those thin clients are expensive for what they do.

 

If OP wants to hook everything up to the host machine, I'm not sure if there is a better way to do this, but you could passthrough a usb hub and video card to each vm. Each pair of video card and usb hub would be where you connect the mouse, keyboard, and monitor. The VM will have exclusive control over the mouse, keyboard, and monitor. You wouldn't be able to do this with a Windows  host, because as far as I know, there is no way to do PCI-passthrough in Windows.