Adding a Video Adapter

If your computer has an Intel VT-d chipset and an additional PCIe video adapter (except for the one used by the host computer) in its configuration, you can add this video adapter to your virtual machine. The virtual machine will directly access this video adapter without using the resources of the primary OS. Before adding a video adapter to the virtual machine, you should assign it to your virtual machines in the Intel VT-d pane of Parallels Workstation Extreme Preferences.

Note: You are recommended to have at least two video adapters: if you reassign one device to your virtual machines, the other device will be left to the physical computer. Keep in mind that if you assign your video adapter to a virtual machine, this adapter will be invisible to your primary OS.

To add a video adapter to a virtual machine:

1. Choose Configure from the Virtual Machine menu to open the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog.
2. Click the Add button in the bottom part of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog to launch Add Hardware Wizard.
3. In the Select Device window, select Video Adapter and click Next .
4. In the Add Video Adapter window, select the appropriate adapter in the Adapter list. Click the Add Device button to add the video adapter to your virtual machine configuration.
5. Start the virtual machine and install the manufacturer's driver for this PCIe device inside the virtual machine. The driver should support the Intel VT-d technology.

   Note: Parallels Workstation Extreme officially supports the NVIDIA Quadro® FX 3800, 4800, and 5800 video cards for virtual machines. For these video cards, use the latest drivers available on the manufacturer's website.

Notes: 1. If the video adapter is assigned to the host computer in the Intel VT-d pane of Parallels Workstation Extreme Preferences, you will not be able to enable it in the virtual machine configuration untill you assign it to your virtual machines.

2. You can assign one video adapter to several virtual machines but only one virtual machine can use this adapter at a time.