DaDesktop Nested Virtualization Compatibility

Getting nested virtualisation to run smoothly can often be a bit of a challenge. Below, we’ve outlined which virtualisation tools work, or perform best, across different environments within DaDesktop.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Do note that some tools, such as Virt Manager, aren’t available on every operating system.

You can also find more details on using Virt Manager to spin up multiple sandboxed servers and/or desktops.
 

		Intel CPU		AMD CPU
		KVM	LXC	KVM	LXC
Virt-Manager	Windows	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Linux	√	√	√	√
VirtualBox	Windows	√	N/A	X④	N/A
	Linux	√	√②③	X④	√②③
VMware Workstation	Windows	√①	N/A	√	N/A
	Linux	√①	X	√	X

 

Test environment:

Intel CPU Model: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2673 v3 @ 2.40GHz

AMD CPU Model: AMD EPYC 7502P 32-Core Processor

Window: Windows 10

Linux: Ubuntu 20.04

Virtualbox: 6.1.18

VMware Workstation: 16 Pro, v16.1.1

Comments:

①: Intel VT-X & AMD virtualisation acceleration in guest is not supported. You must uncheck the "Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI" option under hardware-processors.

②: The version of VirtualBox on the guest must match the version of VirtualBox DKMS on the host.

③: Running VirtualBox in LXC conflicts with running KVM VMs, so you’ll need to halt all KVM instances on the host.

④: Encountered a soft lockup systemd-udevd error; performance was sluggish and the system got stuck.