Thunderbolt pass-through support for non SSD/eGPU PCIe device

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by RichardW30, Feb 3, 2023.

Tags:
  1. RichardW30

    RichardW30 Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    I have an m2 mini, and a Sonnettech Echo Express I PCIe external enclosure.
    In the enclosure, I have a PCIe card.
    I can plug the enclosure into Windows and use the PCIe card, same for Linux.

    Question is: Will Parallels (any version/feature set) allow me to tunnel the PCIe card connection to a driver for it, running on a Windows or Linux client OS?

    Most of the other forum posts I've found concentrate on eGPU and SSD, so: Typical questions answered here: No, this is not an eGPU. No this is not an SSD or similar storage media. The PCIe card provider does not support MacOS natively, I'm trying to figure out if there are any VM/hypervisor providers that support Thunderbolt pass-through, or if indeed it's an Apple issue (Darwin/Apple Silicon doesn't support this)


    Thank you,
    rw
     
    RichardW30, Feb 3, 2023
    #1
  2. Maxim Rasulov

    Maxim Rasulov Staff Member

    Messages:
    81
    Hello,

    Thank you for reaching out to us.

    To answer your question, it will not be possible to bypass the PCI-E card connection to a Windows driver directly, for the same reasons it's not possible to connect eGPU directly to a virtual machine, the required VT-d technology cant be used to pass the GPU directly to a virtual machine, on a Mac computer regardless of connection interface.

    Also, Parallels Desktop currently only supports Thunderbolt storage devices, please check the following article for additional information: https://kb.parallels.com/en/5136
     
    Maxim Rasulov, Feb 9, 2023
    #2
  3. RichardW30

    RichardW30 Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Hi,
    The kb article was more informative, thank you.
    This is (as I noted above), neither a graphics card nor storage device, so out of luck.

    Thank you,
    rw
     
    RichardW30, Feb 9, 2023
    #3

Share This Page