Profiles

A profile describes how a VM is built: CPU, memory, disk, GPU share, streaming and the optimizations applied inside Windows. Profiles are JSON files in profiles/.

Bundled profiles

Profile	CPU	Memory	Disk	Guest
balanced	8 threads	8 GB fixed	dynamic, 128 GB	High performance power plan, no sleep
max-performance	8 threads, 100 % reserve, maximum weight (10000), host SMT topology	8 GB fixed	fixed, 96 GB	Ultimate Performance power plan, Game Mode, no SysMain or search indexer, minimal visual effects

base holds the values shared by all profiles and isn’t used directly. In the app, balanced appears as Equilibrado and max-performance as Máximo rendimiento.

Inheritance with extends

A profile can extend another one. Objects are merged (the child’s values win) and lists are replaced entirely. Circular inheritance is an error.

max-performance only lists what it changes from balanced:

{
  "extends": "balanced",
  "description": "…",
  "vm": {
    "cpu": { "count": 8, "reservePercent": 100, "relativeWeight": 10000, "hwThreadsPerCore": 0 },
    "memoryGB": 8,
    "disk": { "sizeGB": 96, "type": "Fixed" }
  },
  "guest": {
    "optimizations": ["power-plan-ultimate", "disable-sleep", "game-mode", "disable-sysmain", "disable-search-indexing", "visual-effects-performance"]
  }
}

Because guest.optimizations is a list, it replaces the parent’s list instead of adding to it.

Fields

Field	Default (base)	Meaning
backend	hyperv-gpup	How the GPU is given to the VM. See Architecture.
vm.root	C:\GpuVM	Folder for the VMs.
vm.cpu.count	6	Threads. At least 2, and at least one left for the host.
vm.cpu.reservePercent	0	CPU reserve, 0–100.
vm.cpu.relativeWeight	100	Relative weight, 1–10000.
vm.cpu.hwThreadsPerCore	null	SMT topology; 0 follows the host. Needs VM configuration version 9.0 or later.
vm.memoryGB	8	Fixed memory. At least 4, leaving at least 4 GB to the host.
vm.disk.sizeGB / vm.disk.type	128 / Dynamic	At least 64 GB; Dynamic or Fixed.
vm.network.switch	Default Switch	Hyper-V switch.
vm.secureBoot, vm.tpm	true	Secure Boot and TPM.
vm.mmio.lowGB / vm.mmio.highGB	1 / 32	Memory-mapped I/O space for the GPU.
gpu.match	NVIDIA	Text that the host GPU name must contain.
gpu.allocationPercent	100	GPU share for the VM, 1–100.
streaming	Sunshine, virtual display, VB-CABLE	See Streaming.
guest.edition	Pro	Windows edition applied from the ISO.
guest.userName	gpuvm	Local account.
guest.autoLogon	true	Automatic sign-in.
guest.optimizations	power-plan-high, disable-sleep	Optimizations applied on first boot.

GpuVM validates the profile against your hardware before creating or changing a VM.

Guest optimizations

Each optimization is an entry in guest/optimizations.ps1 with a description and an idempotent block.

Name	Effect
power-plan-high	High performance power plan.
power-plan-ultimate	Ultimate Performance power plan; High performance if unavailable.
disable-sleep	No sleep, hibernation or display off (they cut the stream).
game-mode	Windows Game Mode on.
disable-sysmain	Disables SysMain (Superfetch); on a virtual disk it only adds I/O.
disable-search-indexing	Disables the Windows Search indexer.
visual-effects-performance	Visual effects adjusted for performance.

Overrides

New-GpuVM, Set-GpuVM, Test-GpuVMHost and Get-GpuVMProfile accept -Override for one-off changes without creating a profile:

Set-GpuVM -Name win11 -Override @{ vm = @{ cpu = @{ count = 10 }; memoryGB = 11 } }
Get-GpuVMProfile -Name max-performance -Override @{ gpu = @{ allocationPercent = 50 } }   # see the resolved result

Changing profile or settings needs the VM off (Set-GpuVM). Without -Profile it starts from the VM’s current settings and only changes what the override sets; with -Profile it switches profile but keeps the disk, the folder and the Moonlight preferences. The app’s Options use the same mechanism.

Creating a profile

Add a JSON file to profiles/ that extends an existing one, and choose it by name:

{
  "extends": "max-performance",
  "description": "10 threads and 12 GB.",
  "vm": { "cpu": { "count": 10 }, "memoryGB": 12 }
}

./gpuvm.ps1 profiles                    # list profiles
./gpuvm.ps1 check -Profile my-profile   # validate it against this PC

Test a change in a lab before making it part of a profile.