Adding vGPU to Windows 11 VM fails with error 'The use of a virtual IOMMU is not supported on this virtual machine with a vGPU device. Nested Hardware-Assisted Virtualization is not supported on a virtual machine with a PCI passthrough device.'
search cancel

Adding vGPU to Windows 11 VM fails with error 'The use of a virtual IOMMU is not supported on this virtual machine with a vGPU device. Nested Hardware-Assisted Virtualization is not supported on a virtual machine with a PCI passthrough device.'

book

Article ID: 396481

calendar_today

Updated On: 05-06-2025

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Unable to add NVIDIA vGPU as a PCI device to a Windows 11 VM. There are existing virtual machines working with the similar setup .

It is not a Nested Virtualization environment, and GPU is not configured as Passthrough device on ESXi Hosts in vSphere Cluster.

 

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x , 8.x 

VMware vCenter Server 7.x , 8.x

Virtual Machine Guest OS Windows 11

Cause

In Windows 11, Virtualization-based Security (VBS) is enabled by default and this requires Virtualization-based security (VBS) is a security feature in Windows that isolates system components in a virtualized environment to enhance protection against malicious code and attacks. 

Virtualization-based Security (VBS) leverages hardware virtualization and Input/Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU) features to enhance protection of critical system components by enabling isolation of hardware like GPUs. 

Resolution

Uncheck the box to disable VBS under VM options and then disable Hardware virtualization and I/O MMU features under CPU settings of the VM. 

Add vGPU device to the VM and Power-On. See Add an NVIDIA GRID vGPU to a Virtual Machine