Physical console (screen+keyboard) dedicated to VM

I have a relatively powerful computer used for playing games in Windows, not too demanding games but with definite need of the GPU card (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760). I would like Windows to run in a VM, without the users (my kids) having a password to the host machine, and without any video problems. I want to be able to snapshot the Windows VM, back it up, and run other VMs on the machine that would not use the physical keyboard or screen, all without interfering with the Windows VM. Running VMPlayer or similar means that the user of the VM can also delete the VM or simply forget about using it and use the host machine.

I was thinking that it might be possible to configure ESXi, KVM or Xen to recognize the serial port or the built-in VGA + a specific USB port as primary console, and dedicate (hardware pass-through?) the GPU and other USB ports to the Windows VM.

Does any one know if this is usefully feasible, and which virtualization solution would be my best bet?

Probably the easiest solution is to create the virtual machine for the kids as a VHD.

Windows 7 has introduced the Boot into VHD feature for dual-booting the host and a virtual machine that resides in a .vhd file.

The kids will then have a login for the VM, but not for the host. A reboot will be needed to pass from one to the other.

Here are some references :

• Dual-boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 using a VHD
• Understanding Virtual Hard Disks with Native Boot
• Boot to VHD (Native Boot): Add a Virtual Hard Disk to the Boot Menu
• Install Windows 8 to VHD for Easy Dual Booting