Windows, remote desktop and GPU
10 Sep 2011 19:57:18 UTC
Topic 195959
(moderation:
I'm on vacation about 2,000 miles from home. I needed to check something my biggest cruncher at home so I ran remote desktop through an ssh tunnel through a Linux server on the Internet and the local firewalled network (which worked amazingly well BTW).
My problem now is that I have 3 GPU tasks pending that seem stuck with GPU missing status.
Unfortunately I have only a week left of vacation so I will be able to get back and finish these off before their deadline.
Does anyone know how to get them to use the GPU remotely rather than physically log in at the console?
Logging off and disconnecting do not do it. I'll try rebooting and report back but I wish there is an easier way.
Joe
Windows, remote desktop and GPU
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Didn't think, vacations are wonderful!
Rebooting doesn't work on a dual boot system when the default is Linux. Oh well it'll run those tasks and I'll complete the Windows ones barely on schedule next week.
You will want to use a
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You will want to use a program like VNC to remote access your Windows system. Remote desktop does not work correctly for launching CUDA applications. Regarding the reboot, if you can remote login via SSH to your Linux system, you can change the default boot order in the boot loader config and have Windows boot by default.
Thanks Jereon. VNC on a
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Thanks Jereon.
VNC on a local network that I have to tunnel into is fine.
I guess it doesn't matter much which operating system is crunching while I'm out, I should be able to finish everything before the deadline.
I've got to look into whether GRUB has a way to boot once in a specific OS.
I really dislike the way GRUB specifies which OS to boot by number of the menu entry because that changes if you upgrade the kernel and keep an old one around.
But your suggestion is the only way I know of to get that machine back into Windows remotely. Thanks again.
Joe
Now for the next time, do
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Now for the next time, do know that the remote desktop procedure in Windows uses its own videocard driver. This driver doesn't know anything about CUDA, CAL or OpenCL, which is why BOINC stops running GPU tasks as it detects the driver change when you RDP in. When you close the RDP connection, Windows will return to the previous driver (the one that does know about the GPU's special capabilities) and BOINC will detect that change and continue the work.
You cannot check on this through Windows RDP as each time you do, it's that special driver that Windows will load, which will 'break' things.
VNC uses the driver that the user installed, which is the whole difference.
So there's really no need to log off, back on, or reboot... all you have to do is break the Windows RDP connection which will mend the 'broken driver'.
Jord, Thanks for the
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Jord,
Thanks for the explanation.
I tried disconnecting both from the client side and the Windows Start menu.
What I hoped to happen is as you described. I thought that by logging in again with RDP that I would see a GPU had started and had made some progress even if the status was GPU lost (or unavailable).
I waited a good hour after disconnecting and still had 3 GPU processes that hadn't started. That's what led me to think that they wouldn't. I suppose I could have waited long and seen if any got completed and reported.
I'll play with it more when I get home and have access to the console.
Joe