I decided to put together a bit for anyone asking "how to" for a few advanced folding things.
Windows GPU2 client installation guide
Installation for a multi-GPU system
Here is some specific requirements to follow for the multi-GPU setup to work
:
- The current multi-GPU installation guide requires some knowledge of
the Windows system, if you are having issues, you can ask for help.
- If you are running multiple GPU cards with SLI or Crossfire, you
need to unlink the cards by disabling SLI or Crossfire in the driver control
panel. Also, you need to extend the desktop for the client to recognize the
cards.
- When Windows ask to look for a driver hit CANCEL. If you let Windows
install the driver automatically, there is a big risk of having sub-par
performances or client issues.
- If you run Windows Vista, you need to have each GPU connected to a
monitor (a KVM can also work but not all models of KVM will provide a signal
when it's not switched as current monitor) or a VGA dummy plug.
Before you start doing the installation, make sure to grab the
latest CUDA driver and the latest client. You can find the links in the Requirements
section. Also, the following guide is based on the GPU Systray client
installation so if you didn't install the client yet, follow the Systray
instructions first before following the instructions below.
Note: First of all, make sure the GPU2 client didn't copy the shortcut in the startup folder
during installation because we don't want it to start automatically. The current
client doesn't do it but previous clients did, hence the warning. The shortcut
is usually found in ''Start -> Programs -> Startup".
Note: If you are following this multi-GPU
guide to upgrade from a single-GPU setup, make sure that the second copy doesn't
include the work folder and queue.dat from the original one or you will
duplicate the work unit. To ensure it's ok, delete the work
folder and queue.dat in the new folder after you copied from
the original folder.
Next, open up Windows Explorer and find the directory where the
installer created a folder under your user name. Below is the path of the folder
depending on the OS :
XP : C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application
Data\
Vista: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\
Note: This folder is usually hidden so you
may need to type the whole path in the address bar or to enable the option to
view all files and folders.
Once you’ve located the directory, copy the folder called
Folding@Home-gpu and paste into the same location. Rename the
new copy by cutting the “Copy of” off and adding a 2 (or more for extra cards)
after the directory name. You will need to repeat the same steps if you have 3
or more GPU you want to use. Here is what it should look :
Now, go in the C:\Program
Files\Folding@Home\Folding@Home-gpu folder (with Vista, it's in the x86
folder). You should find the client executable here so make a new shortcut of
the client (right-click on the executable icon then select Create
Shortcut). After creating the shortcut, move the shortcut to the desktop
then rename with a short name like GPU1. Don't copy
more than one shortcut since you will do it after doing some modifications :
Right-click on the first shortcut then select
Properties. It should bring up the following screen:
Now, replace the Start in: path with the path of the
data file which is stored in either those places (replace [username]
with your Windows user name) :
XP : C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application
Data\Folding@Home-gpu
Vista: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@Home-gpu
Make sure there are quotes at the start and end of the Start
in: path.
Add the -gpu 0 flag at the end of the
Target: path, after the quotes (make sure there is a space between the
quote and the flag). It should look like this in the Target: field:
"C:\Program
Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 0
Once you are done, the properties should look like this for the
first client. Click on Ok to close the panel afterwards :
Target: "C:\Program
Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 0
Start in: "C:\Documents and
Settings\[username]\Application Data\Folding@Home-gpu" (XP/2003) or
"C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@Home-gpu" (Vista)
Now that you are done editing the shortcut, it's time to create
more for the other GPU cards. Copy the first shortcut and paste as many copies
(based on how many GPU cards you want to run) you need on the desktop. Rename
each shortcut copy with a simple yet distinct names (to help identify which
client) like GPU2, GPU3,
etc. When you are done, right-click on each new shortcut and select
Properties to edit the properties. This time, since you did
most of the configuration above, all you need to do is to point the Start
in: path to each data folder that you created and put -gpu
1 flag (or higher for subsequent cards). After you are done, you should
have something like that :
Target: "C:\Program
Files\Folding@home\Folding@home-gpu\Folding@home.exe" -gpu 1
Start in: "C:\Documents and
Settings\[username]\Application Data\Folding@Home-gpu2" (XP/2003) or
"C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Folding@Home-gpu2" (Vista)
When you are done editing each shortcut, click on the first
shortcut and configure your client as demonstrated in the Systray
installation guide above. The key things to make sure you do are :
On the Connection tab :
- Click yes to accept WUs larger than 10
megabytes.
On the Advanced tab :
- Check the Core Priority for Slightly Higher
- Click do not lock cores to specific CPU
- Make sure the Machine ID is different then any CPU or GPU client you have
running. Note: default is 2.
Now hit accept and repeat the step above for each shortcut and
make sure you pick a unique machine ID for each client. When you are done, all
that remain to do is to click every shortcut to start the clients and monitor
them closely to make sure they run fine (it's often tricky due to a possible
driver version conflict).
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Configuring the SMP client as a service
Warning: If you want to run the SMP client as a service, be aware
this is currently unsupported by the developers. A bad configuration can cause
the client to have issues and lose work units.
Note: The guide is validated with Windows Vista. A lot
of people have a problem starting the service under XP so follow the steps at
your own risks.
In addition to this guide, there is also a very detailed guide
available on the Folding
Forum which is a bit outdated but still valid.
The first step is to start the client in configuration mode with
the -configonly flag. When you are in the Advanced options section,
find this entry :
Launch automatically, install as a service in this directory (yes/no) [no]?
Enter yes to confirm the service installation.
Continue (edit the options if needed) until you reach this line :
Additional client parameters []?
Since the client will be running as a service, the additional
flags must be entered here to make it work in SMP mode. In our case, enter
-smp -verbosity 9 -d "C:\FAH" then finish the configuration. The
essential piece is the -d "[client path]" where [client path]
is the folder where you installed the client (don't forget the quotes). This
tell Windows to use the specific path since by default, it will use
C:\Windows\System32 as the working folder which cause the client to
stop with a 1067 error.
At this stade, don't start the service yet because it must be
edited to run with the proper parameters and permissions. For this, open the
Services MMC by clicking on the start menu then type
services.msc in the Run... box (XP) or the search
field (Vista). When the Services console is started, find the newly added F@H
service, which should be called Folding@Home-CPU-[1] :
If you didn't see, restart the client in configuration mode
again and double-check that the service is being installed. Now, double-click on
it and it will bring the Properties window. Click on the Log On
tab to get this :
Select the This Account button then enter the
same account you used to configure the MPICH client above. To make sure the
account name is correct, it's suggested to click on the Browse
button and find the account. Even if the password fields seems populated, delete
them and enter the corresponding password.
When you are done, you can either start the service yourself
(suggested) by clicking on the first tab then click on the
Start button or by rebooting. Check if it is started correctly
and if not, double-check the account details.
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How do I add flags using a shortcut to the console
client?
From FaHWiki
NOTE: These instructions assume that the FAH client is not running
as a service.
1. If you currently do not have a shortcut to the console client, one can
easily be created several ways.
- Right click the console executable.
- Select Create Shortcut from the pop-up menu.
This will add a shortcut to the console client in the current dir.
Or you can:
- Right click on the console executable.
- Click Copy.
- Go to where you want to place the shortcut to the console client.
- Right Click on a blank area.
- Selecet Paste Shortcut.
This will paste a shortcut to the console client where you want it.
2. To add a flag (or switch) to your console client:
- Right click on the console shortcut.
- Select Properties.
- Go to the end of the line in the Target: box.
- Add a space
- Add the desired switch (including the leading hyphen.)
- If you are adding more than one switch, be sure to use a space between each
switch.
- Click Apply.
- Close the window.
- NOTE: If the Target happens to be enclosed in quotation marks, the
space, the hyphen, and the desired switches must be OUTSIDE of (AFTER) the right
hand quotation mark.
Visual Examples:
Repeat this process for each client you are running.
FAH will now use the switch(s) every time you start the console using this
shortcut.
Or, you can place the shortcut in your startup folder, if you want the client
to load every time you log on.
To make it load everytime any user logs on, you need to place the shortcut in
to the ALL USERS -> Startup folder.
Or just use the consoles clients built in Windows NT/2000/XP service option.
Adding flags when run as a service is a bit more complicated and can be found
in this
article.
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How to update SMP console client using "drop-in Binary" files.
It's not a huge task, but there are no instructions that I can find anywhere so I'm typing some up. Download the latest SMP binary file and save it were you can easily find it. Now open the folder for your F@H console client, Find the Executable file ( EG: Folding@Home-win32-x86) and delete it, then replace the file you just deleted with the "binary drop in" you just downloaded. Next you will have to open the work folder, and delete every file in it, that will force it to download instead of trying to use the old files, and closing. Now creat a shortcut to the new binary file, and add the -smp tag as instructed in the arcticle above. And you should be up and running after that ... with the update. 
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Anything else you guys can think of adding, or elaborate on further would be helpful. Most of these articles are from stanford, but the last one is off of Wiki. And hpw to add the drop in binairy is my own write up.
