I'm having a tough time installing Looking Glass after realizing the documentation is mainly for those without QEMU/KVM set up. Since I already have QEMU/KVM installed via Virtual Machine Manager, I dove straight into the Looking Glass installation. Unfortunately, I've encountered errors along the way.
My goal is to achieve high FPS and near bare-metal performance with my Windows VM using a dedicated GPU. Is there a more effective method for installing Looking Glass? Are there any better alternatives that could work for me? Here are my specs:
- CPU: Ryzen 7 5700X3D
- GPU: RTX 3050 8GB
- RAM: 32GB DDR4
- OS: Zorin OS 18
- Debian Version: Trixie
- Kernel: Linux 6.17.0-14-generic
3 Answers
For a simpler solution, consider using two cables to connect your monitor and just switch inputs as needed, or use a switch. While Looking Glass is fascinating from a technical perspective, it can be finicky and prone to hiccups. It essentially grabs the frames from your GPU’s framebuffer, which I didn’t think was possible before!
If you can get it working, single GPU passthrough actually performs well. However, keep in mind that if you're looking for graphical control of the Linux system while the VM is running, Looking Glass might not be the best fit for that.
From what I recall, you’ll need to build the Looking Glass client for your host OS, then just install the binary inside your guest VM as the host. It was pretty straightforward when I set it up; just make sure to carefully follow the setup instructions in the docs.

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