[H]orde|Central v2 - Everything DC (FAQ's, Guides, Tips and Tricks)

[H]orde Basics:

Q: What is the [H]orde?
A: The [H]orde is our Distributed Computing team. We use our spare CPU cycles to help Research Organizations attempt to find solutions to some of today’s major illnesses.

Q: Where can I find information about the [H]orde?
A: Our offical website is hardfolding.com. You can also visit us in the DC Subforum.

Q: What projects do you participate in?
A: Currently we have one officially supported project: Folding@Home, which is a project from Stanford University to research about proteins folding. The goal is to understand proteins folding and misfolding effects on diseases like Alzheimer, Huntingdon and other diseases. You can find more informations about the project here. The official [H] team ID is 33 that you can enter during the client configuration.

We also welcome other projects and the biggest one we also participate is World Community Grid where many of our members is participating. WCG is a distributed computing grid created to offer the possibility for the various public or profit-free organisations to tap into the grid power to conduct research related to health. There are some teams related to [H] but the biggest we use is team ID 1411.

Q: Why do you do this?
A: We all have our own seperate reasons. Read about Why We DC for lots of inspirationnal contents.

Q: Ok, so how can I get involved?
A: The first thing you should do is find out what project best suits you. You can find all the guides in the [H]orde Guides to install one of the available clients. If you need help about any aspect of DC, make a new thread and our knowledgeable teammates will answer your questions.

Q: What if I have arguments against running a DC project ?
A: There is always something against running a DC project like power usage, bandwidth, etc... There is a great thread to debunk those myths : Answers for reasons to not run F@H (it can also be applied to others projects).​

[H]ordeisms:

Q: I keep seeing words like borg and boxen, what does that mean?
A:

Q: I want to install the client on my work/family members/friends machines, is that ok?
A: There is a good thread about permissions and consequences. It's essential to have permissions (preferably in writing) if you want to avoid the same unwanted fate as woods (page 6 and up) or Party2go9820.

Q: I keep seeing these littles badges in peoples post with their points, how do I get mine?
A: You can read a very simple [H]orde badge guide with pictures by Wheresatom or The [H] Badge FAQ. You can test the badge insertion or to check the colors in the test your Badge thread.

Q: Is there a reward to fold for the [H]orde?
A: Yes, we have a rewards program which offer a free subscription to General Mayhem. The details about the program can be found in the [H]orde Rewards Program.

Q: I don't have much money to upgrade so can I contribute in a different way?
A: Sure, we have a [H]ardFolding community boxen program that you can either donate parts to build a new boxen or to foster them in your house to fold. Some of our glorious members also donate free GPU cards to those who have free PCI-E slots so watch for those threads.

Q: I see a few members with a special [H]ard|DCer of the Month title, what is this?
A: We have a [H]ard|DCer [H]all of fame and FAQ to answer questions and remember our glorious past winners.

Q: Do we have random interviews with the average [H]orde members?
A: Alan2308 is kind enough to do the interview of the normal people in the [H]orde for some interesting stories. A index of the interviews can be found here.​

Advanced Tips and Tricks:

Q: I would like to get into SMP folding, can you help?
A: There are great guides for Windows and Linux SMP in the [H]orde Guides.

Q: Is there a compilation of F@H tools and useful links?
A: Yes, Tobit is nice to build the compilation which can be found at Useful Tools for DC Projects.

Q: What about WCG installation infos?
A: We also have a great guide in the [H]orde Guides as well. You can also find more informations in this discussion thread.

Q: I would like to start folding on my PS3. Do you have a setup guide?
A: We have a great PS3 folding guide by alan2308 you can read to find all the informations.

Q: I heard I can fold on my ATI or NVIDIA Video Cards. Can you help?
A: We also have guides for the GPU folding as well in the [H]orde Guides. Aren't we great?

Q: How can I monitor my points progress on my machine/network? How can I calculate the points per day/hour?
A: FahSpy and FahMon are two excellent applications for monitoring several aspects of your Folding machines including points per day/hour and work unit progress.

Q: Is there a way for me to Benchmark WUs on my CPU?
A: Tech Report Forums has a thread dealing with this subject. Notfred created a program to do exactly that as part of their folding CD generator. Check it out!

Q: How can I check the details of each work unit I'm folding?
A: You can see the full listing of the current projects in the Projects summary with the associated informations like the points value, deadlines and more.

Q: I want to make my Folding box do backflips. How can I accomplish this?
A: Notfred has tons of goodies right here.​

[H]orde Deals, donations and trades:

This section is designed to help our folders get the additional components they need to get more boxen up and running for the cause.

Q: I found a great deal on the web, where can I post it?
A: Post yer' Deals**.

Q: I've got some parts to donate to the cause, how can I do it?
A: Just make a new thread about your wish to donate something to the cause. If you are not sure about the criterias or how to do it, you can always ask Xilikon for some guidance**.

Q: I've got parts I'd like to sell for DCing at a good price, how can I do it?
A: Use the DC For Sale/For Trade subforum**.

**Disclaimer: Any parts or deals that you pursue through these threads are not sanctioned by [H]ardforums, [H]ardOCP, KB Networks or the staff of the aforementioned entities. Please do not contact any members of these groups, as participating in these threads is at your own risk. Please read the The FS/FT Rules before posting.​

[H]orde Activities:

• If you have hit a Stanford F@H milestone, please share your accomplishments!
• If WCG is your thing, come share your milestones with us!
• Help us fight breast cancer or save the world a few clicks at a time.
• In the never ending quest to retain our top spot, we are constantly tallying our borgs. Come countdown the clients or GPUs with us.
• We Love Our Boxen! Come and show off yours.
• Need some material to help spread the word of the [H]orde? Check out Our Posters.
• Take a look at our Wallpapers to help you pimp out your desktop.
• Has the DCing bug bit you? How Bad Have You Got it?
• Got mowed by someone and you are proud of it ? Come join the [H]ard|MowedOver Club.

Suggestions and Comments:

If you have any comments or suggestions related to the [H]orde or the DC forum, make a new thread on the forum or PM Xilikon. He will answer all the PM or foward to Kyle_Bennett if necessary.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding hardfolding.com, please PM or Email our webmaster, King_N.

Since we want to have this thread up to date, if there is something you need to add, update or remove, please post this in the [H]orde|Central update thread and it will get updated ASAP.

We wanted to thank our teammates like Xilikon, alan2308, aldamon, nomad8u, current and past [H]orde members and the [H]ardForum staff for the updates, guides and comments.​

[H]orde guides

Welcome to the [H]orde guides page. You will find the guides you need to setup a Windows SMP (both MPICH and DEINO versions), linux SMP or Windows GPU, including a multi-GPU guide. This is 99% identical to the official guides which can be found on the Folding@Home official site at http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Guide.

If even after following the guides, you have questions or clarification to ask, make a new thread and we will be glad to help.

Guides index :

• Windows SMP (MPICH)
• Windows SMP (DEINO)
• Windows GPU2
• Windows multi-GPU setup
• Linux unified (classic/SMP)
• Windows uniprocessor (classic)
• WCG setup guide
• Client Web Status Guide using FahMon
• Model of waiver agreement
• Setting up notfred in VMWare Player

Note: I have permission to copy the contents of the official guides here since I'm the author of most of them. I also have permissions for the parts I'm not the original author. I have a agreement with Vijay Pande so if you have a problem with this fact, you should contact him via email or thru the FCF.

 

Windows SMP client installation (MPICH version)

Note: Due to the way the Windows SMP client is setup, it's a complicated process to install it properly. For this reason, it's essential to read the whole guide first before attempting the installation. There is a lot of things to be careful like the -smp flag requirement or it won't work properly.

In addition to the instructions below, we also suggest you check out instructions on the FAH wiki.

Requirements for installation

Before you start the installation process of the SMP console client, there are a few requirements you must check to make sure the client will work correctly :

1. You have a computer with at least a recent dual core or better to run the SMP client. This means than the older single core processors won't be able to run it. Since it's a high performance client, if you notice that after installation, it doesn't always meet the deadlines, please use the uniprocessor client instead.
2. If you are installing this under Windows XP, you are required to install the Microsoft .NET framework v2.0. You can download the package from Microsoft. Windows Vista already includes the necessary package by default so it's not necessary to do it if you install the client under Vista.
3. The Windows user account you are using to install the client must have a password and have enough administrator rights. Blank passwords will not work and you must have a password only with those valid characters : A-Z, a-z and 0-9. Special characters should not be used to avoid any potential issues. If you change the password of the Windows user account, you need to rerun install.bat. The password being used to install is encrypted in the registry and not transmitted to the Stanford servers.

Installation

Note: Under Windows, antivirus software can interfere with the Folding@Home client files and cause errors. We suggest that you configure the antivirus software to exclude the F@H client directory and especially the work directory inside of it from the antivirus scanning list. This can be done by going into the exclusion list panel that every antivirus should have. The work subdirectory contains semi-random binary data and can confuse overly aggressive heuristic virus scanning.

First, create a new folder on C:\Users\[username]\ or on the root of C:\ (what matters here is to not put it in C:\Program Files\ to avoid issues with permissions, especially under Vista) with a simple name without spaces or special characters. A good suggestion is to name it FAH. The reason for this suggestion is because Vista has some strict restrictions when a program is run from the Program Files folder. Doing this will avoid lots of issues.

Go to the High performance Windows clients download page. There will be a DEINO or MPICH package available for download. Pick the MPICH version in this case.

After you downloaded it, you will see a executable installer package so run it. You will be presented with this window :



Click on Next to bring the next window, which is a Readme with the client notes. Click on Next again to bring the following window:



It's up to you to pick which option. I recommend picking the first option for All Users to make things simpler but if you don't want others users to see this, leave the default option as is. After this, click on Next to bring the next window:



If you followed the recommendation to make a new folder, pick this one by clicking on the Browse button to get the following window :



After you picked the desired folder where you will install the client, click on Ok then on Next on the previous window. At this point, the installer knows everything required to proceed with the installation so click on Next to run it. When it's done, click on Finish to close the installer.

With Windows Explorer, browse to the folder you just installed the client and you will see a bunch of files like this :



To make the following steps easier to do, it's suggested to rename the executable to something easy to remember and to type like fah6.exe (right-click on the executable file, select Rename and change to a new name).

MPICH Configuration

Open the Command Prompt window by clicking on the Start menu then type cmd.exe on the Run box and click on Ok. If you are under Vista, you must run it with the Run as administrator option or you will not have sufficient rights to complete the following steps (to get this, right-click on Command Prompt icon then select Run as administrator). With Windows XP, it's sufficient to run cmd.exe as is.

Here is what it should look under Vista (typed cmd.exe then right-click on it) :



You can use CD to change the directory and type D:\ (or any other letter) to change the drive if the client is not installed on C:\ by default. With those commands, move to the folder you created earlier (C:\FAH in our example). When you are here, type install.bat and you will see a message like this :

Code:

MPICH2 Process Manager, Argonne National Lab installed.
 account (domain\user) [FAH\Username]:

Note: When you execute install.bat, you may get a firewall popup asking to allow or block twice, once for mpiexec.exe and once for smpd.exe. You should make sure both are allowed or the program won't work.

If the domain and user account is correct, just click on Enter but if you want to use a different account, enter the proper information (If you are on Active Directory, enter the Domain name but if it's not the case, it's the computer name you need to enter). After you press enter, you will see a password prompt :

Code:

password:

Enter the Windows user password (you will see nothing on screen but type away). It will ask for a confirmation so enter the password again. If you did this correctly, you will see the following messages :

Code:

password:
 confirm password:
 Password encrypted into the Registry.
 If you see this twice, MPI is working
 If you see this twice, MPI is working
 Press a key to continue...

The important thing is to see that the If you see this twice, MPI is working is displayed twice. If you don't see this or you see a different error, check why and fix this before retrying. When MPICH is working correctly, it's time to configure the client below.

Client configuration

The next step is to configure it by typing the following command (if you used a different one, use the correct name) :

Code:

fah6 -configonly

You will see a list of configuration options. Here is an sample with an explanation about each option :

Code:

Launch directory: C:\FAH
 Executable: fah6
 Arguments: -configonly

 [16:25:22] Configuring Folding@Home...

 User name [Anonymous]?
 Team Number [0]?
 Passkey []?

Enter your user name (not the Windows user name but your folding name), team number and passkey here

Code:

Ask before fetching/sending work (no/yes) [no]?

If you are not on a permanent connection, select this to yes to wait for your permission to upload/download work units. Because of the short deadlines on SMP work assignments, persistent connections are strongly recommended so this option should not be set to yes.

Code:

Use proxy (yes/no) [no]?

If you are connected to a proxy, enter yes and configure the proxy options.

Code:

Acceptable size of work assignment and work result packets (bigger units
 may have large memory demands) -- 'small' is <5MB, 'normal' is <10MB, and
 'big' is >10MB (small/normal/big) [normal]?

This is related to the size of downloaded and uploaded work units. Bigger units will also have bigger memory requirement. If you run on a slow broadband or dialup internet connection, it's suggested to pick small to ease the bandwidth usage. However, all SMP WUs are big, so setting it to small or normal will often lead to long periods where no assignments are available.

Code:

Change advanced options (yes/no) [no]? yes

If you want to change the advanced options, enter yes but it's not mandatory.

Code:

Launch automatically, install as a service in this directory (yes/no) [no]?

You can install the client as a service but currently, it's not recommended. If you still insist to do this, there are special steps to do after installing the service but before running it for the first time. See below for detailed instructions.

Code:

Core Priority (idle/low) [idle]?

This adjusts the priority level. Any priority higher than idle can cause some slowdown during general computer usage.

Code:

CPU usage requested (5-100) [100]?

This will adjust the percentage of CPU usage. If you want to limit temperature issue or to keep some CPU cycles for more intensive computer tasks, enter a number below 100.

Code:

Disable highly optimized assembly code (no/yes) [no]?

If you are having issues running the client, disable this. For 99% of the users, leave this alone since this could reduce the client performance a lot.

Code:

Pause if battery power is being used (useful for laptops) (no/yes) [no]?

If you run a laptop, set this to yes to pause if the laptop is not plugged on the wall. This will avoid the client draining the battery.

Code:

Interval, in minutes, between checkpoints (3-30) [15]?

Number of minutes between each checkpoint where the client is writing the client progress on disk in case of unexpected interruption.

Code:

Memory, in MB, to indicate (1013 available) [1013]?

Set the amount of memory available to the client. By default, it show the full memory amount but if you have programs which require lots of memory, it's suggested to reduce this.

Code:

Set -advmethods flag always, requesting new advanced scientific cores and/or work units if available (no/yes) [no]?

This is the same as using the -advmethods flag. This will allow you to grab workunits with bigger requirements (often with more points value) than the normal units. Keep in mind this will often have a higher risk of failure so use this flag only if you are ready to accept the risks.

Code:

Ignore any deadline information (mainly useful if system clock frequently has errors) (no/yes) [no]?

Set this to yes if your local computer clock is having issues keeping the correct date and time. For 99% of the users, leave this to no.

Code:

Machine ID (1-16) [1]?

This is the ID of the client. If you are running more than one client under the same OS, you need to have a different machine ID for each client. If you are installing on multiple computers, you don't need to change this since this is only for installing multiple clients on the same computer.

Code:

The following options require you to restart the client before they take effect Disable CPU affinity lock (no/yes) [no]?

Not useful for SMP since it use all cores.

Code:

Additional client parameters []?

You can enter the client flags here so you don't have to type the flag each time. I strongly suggest you enter the -smp -verbosity 9 flag here to make things easier. Don't enter -config or -configonly or any single-use flag to avoid issues.

Code:

IP address to bind core to (for viewer) []?

For future use

When you are done, the configuration will end and you will be back to the command prompt. You have successfully configured the client so the next step is to start the client. Here are 2 ways :

• By clicking on the executable icon (this assumes you entered the proper flags during configuration).
• By typing fah6 on the same command prompt window. Enter the necessary flags (including the mandatory -smp flag) if you didn't enter during configuration.

Normally, if everything is done correctly, it will be chugging fine. To check this, open the task manager and make sure there is 4 instances of FahCore_Ax.exe in the list.

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 :

Code:

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 :

Code:

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.

 

Windows SMP client installation (DEINO version)

Note: Due to the way the Windows SMP client is setup, it's a complicated process to install it properly. For this reason, it's essential to read the whole guide first before attempting the installation. There is a lot of things to be careful like the -smp flag requirement or it won't work properly.

In addition to the instructions below, we also suggest you check out instructions on the FAH wiki.

Requirements for installation

Before you start the installation process of the SMP console client, there are a few requirements you must check to make sure the client will work correctly :

1. You have a computer with at least a recent dual core or better to run the SMP client. This means than the older single core processors won't be able to run it. Since it's a high performance client, if you notice that after installation, it doesn't always meet the deadlines, please use the uniprocessor client instead.
2. If you are installing this under Windows XP, you are required to install the Microsoft .NET framework v2.0. You can download the package from Microsoft. Windows Vista already includes the necessary package by default so it's not necessary to do it if you install the client under Vista.
3. The Windows user account you are using to install the client must have a password and have enough administrator rights. Blank passwords will not work and you must have a password only with those valid characters : A-Z, a-z and 0-9. Special characters should not be used to avoid any potential issues. If you change the password of the Windows user account, you need to rerun install.bat. The password being used to install is encrypted in the registry and not transmitted to the Stanford servers.

Installation

Note: Under Windows, antivirus software can interfere with the Folding@Home client files and cause errors. We suggest that you configure the antivirus software to exclude the F@H client directory and especially the work directory inside of it from the antivirus scanning list. This can be done by going into the exclusion list panel that every antivirus should have. The work subdirectory contains semi-random binary data and can confuse overly aggressive heuristic virus scanning.

Note: Under Windows, antivirus software can interfere with the Folding@Home client files and cause errors. We suggest that you configure the antivirus software to exclude the F@H client directory and especially the work directory inside of it from the antivirus scanning list. This can be done by going into the exclusion list panel that every antivirus should have. The work subdirectory contains semi-random binary data and can confuse overly aggressive heuristic virus scanning.

First, create a new folder on C:\Users\[username]\ or on the root of C:\ (what matters here is to not put it in C:\Program Files\ to avoid issues with permissions, especially under Vista) with a simple name without spaces or special characters. A good suggestion is to name it FAH. The reason for this suggestion is because Vista has some strict restrictions when a program is run from the Program Files folder. Doing this will avoid lots of issues.

Go to the High performance Windows clients download page. There will be a DEINO or MPICH package available for download. For the current guide, download the DEINO package.

After you downloaded it, you will see a package in .zip format so you need to unpack it to the folder you created above. With Windows Explorer, browse to the folder you just unzipped the client and you will see a bunch of files like this :

[/img]

To make the following steps easier to do, it's suggested to rename the executable to something easy to remember and to type like fah6.exe (right-click on the executable file, select Rename and change to a new name).

DEINO Configuration

Open the Command Prompt window by clicking on the Start menu then type cmd.exe on the Run box and click on Ok. If you are under Vista, you must run it with the Run as administrator option or you will not have sufficient rights to complete the following steps (to get this, right-click on Command Prompt icon then select Run as administrator). With Windows XP, it's sufficient to run cmd.exe as is.

Here is what it should look under Vista (typed cmd.exe then right-click on it) :



You can use CD to change the directory and type D:\ (or any other letter) to change the drive if the client is not installed on C:\ by default. With those commands, move to the folder you created earlier (C:\FAH in our example). When you are here, type install.bat and you will get the installer messages (in a command prompt) like that :

Code:

 C:\FAH>install.bat

 C:\FAH>msiexec /i DeinoMPI.msi

This will start the installation of the DEINO MPI client. You will see a dialog box like this :



Just press Next to get the next window :



Check to accept the license terms and click Next to enter the path :



Unless you want to install in a different place, you should leave the default path there and press Next. The next window will just confirm the options so press Next once more to install it. When it's done, press Finish to close it. The batch will then present you with the credentials store installation and configuration below.

Code:

 C:\FAH>create_credential_store true

 This program creates a Credential Store for the current user.
 The credential store contains a public and private security key
 and zero or more secure user credentials.
 Deino MPI uses this store to establish secure connections between machines
 and store sensitive information like user credentials.

 Do you want to create a new store (yes, no)? [yes]

Press enter since we want to create a new credentials store

Code:

 Please enter a passphrase to protect the private key:

Don't enter anything, just press enter since we don't want to use a passphrase.

Code:

 Are you sure you want no password for the private key (yes,no)? [no]
 yes

Type yes and press enter to confirm we don't want a passphrase.

Code:

 Options for encrypting the private key:
   protect   - Use the ProtectedData.Protect/Unprotect methods to encrypt.
   none      - Do not encrypt.
 Please enter a method to encrypt the private key: [protected]

Just press enter since protect is what we wanted.

Code:

 Available locations to create the store:
 (1) Windows Registry
 (2) Hard drive
 Where would you like to create the store (1,2): [1]

Press enter again since we want it to be stored in the registry. If you have a removable media plugged, the available locations list will be different (the removable media entry will be (1) so select (2) instead for the Windows Registry).

Code:

 Credential store written to the Windows Registry.

 C:\FAH>manage_credentials /add
 Enter the account name: [COMPUTERNAME\Username]
 Enter the account password:
 ************
 Enter the password again to verify:
 ************

Accept the account name by pressing enter and enter your Windows password twice here. If you need to use a different username (like a local windows account instead of a domain account), change the information first.

Code:

 C:\FAH>net start deinopm
 The DeinoMPI process manager service service is starting.
 The DeinoMPI process manager service service was started successfully.

 C:\FAH>mpiexec -np 2 foo
 If you see this twice, MPI is working
 If you see this twice, MPI is working

 C:\FAH>

When the line mpiexec -np 2 foo is executed, you may get a firewall popup asking you to allow or deny mpiexec.exe. Make sure you allow it or it won't run properly. When you are done, you should see the If you see this twice, MPI is working being displayed twice. If you don't see this or you see a different error, check why and fix this before retrying. If it is running correctly, continue with the client configuration below.

Client configuration

The next step is to configure it by typing the following command (if you used a different one, use the correct name) :

Code:

fah6 -configonly

You will see a list of configuration options. Here is an sample with an explanation about each option :

Code:

Launch directory: C:\FAH
 Executable: fah6
 Arguments: -configonly

 [16:25:22] Configuring Folding@Home...

 User name [Anonymous]?
 Team Number [33]?
 Passkey []?

Enter your user name (not the Windows user name but your folding name), team number and passkey here

Code:

Ask before fetching/sending work (no/yes) [no]?

If you are not on a permanent connection, select this to yes to wait for your permission to upload/download work units. Because of the short deadlines on SMP work assignments, persistent connections are strongly recommended so this option should not be set to yes.

Code:

Use proxy (yes/no) [no]?

If you are connected to a proxy, enter yes and configure the proxy options.

Code:

Acceptable size of work assignment and work result packets (bigger units
 may have large memory demands) -- 'small' is <5MB, 'normal' is <10MB, and
 'big' is >10MB (small/normal/big) [normal]?

This is related to the size of downloaded and uploaded work units. Bigger units will also have bigger memory requirement. If you run on a slow broadband or dialup internet connection, it's suggested to pick small to ease the bandwidth usage. However, all SMP WUs are big, so setting it to small or normal will often lead to long periods where no assignments are available.

Code:

Change advanced options (yes/no) [no]? yes

If you want to change the advanced options, enter yes but it's not mandatory.

Code:

Launch automatically, install as a service in this directory (yes/no) [no]?

You can install the client as a service but currently, it's not recommended. If you still insist to do this, there are special steps to do after installing the service but before running it for the first time. See below for detailed instructions.

Code:

Core Priority (idle/low) [idle]?

This adjusts the priority level. Any priority higher than idle can cause some slowdown during general computer usage.

Code:

CPU usage requested (5-100) [100]?

This will adjust the percentage of CPU usage. If you want to limit temperature issue or to keep some CPU cycles for more intensive computer tasks, enter a number below 100.

Code:

Disable highly optimized assembly code (no/yes) [no]?

If you are having issues running the client, disable this. For 99% of the users, leave this alone since this could reduce the client performance a lot.

Code:

Pause if battery power is being used (useful for laptops) (no/yes) [no]?

If you run a laptop, set this to yes to pause if the laptop is not plugged on the wall. This will avoid the client draining the battery.

Code:

Interval, in minutes, between checkpoints (3-30) [15]?

Number of minutes between each checkpoint where the client is writing the client progress on disk in case of unexpected interruption.

Code:

Memory, in MB, to indicate (1013 available) [1013]?

Set the amount of memory available to the client. By default, it show the full memory amount but if you have programs which require lots of memory, it's suggested to reduce this.

Code:

Set -advmethods flag always, requesting new advanced scientific cores and/or work units if available (no/yes) [no]?

This is the same as using the -advmethods flag. This will allow you to grab workunits with bigger requirements (often with more points value) than the normal units. Keep in mind this will often have a higher risk of failure so use this flag only if you are ready to accept the risks.

Code:

Ignore any deadline information (mainly useful if system clock frequently has errors) (no/yes) [no]?

Set this to yes if your local computer clock is having issues keeping the correct date and time. For 99% of the users, leave this to no.

Code:

Machine ID (1-16) [1]?

This is the ID of the client. If you are running more than one client under the same OS, you need to have a different machine ID for each client. If you are installing on multiple computers, you don't need to change this since this is only for installing multiple clients on the same computer.

Code:

The following options require you to restart the client before they take effect Disable CPU affinity lock (no/yes) [no]?

Not useful for SMP since it use all cores.

Code:

Additional client parameters []?

You can enter the client flags here so you don't have to type the flag each time. I strongly suggest you enter the -smp -deino -verbosity 9 flag here to make things easier. Don't enter -config or -configonly or any single-use flag to avoid issues.

Code:

IP address to bind core to (for viewer) []?

For future use

When you are done, the configuration will end and you will be back to the command prompt. You have successfully configured the client so the next step is to start the client. Here are 2 ways :

• By clicking on the executable icon (this assumes you entered the proper flags during configuration).
• By typing fah6 on the same command prompt window. Enter the necessary flags (including the mandatory -smp -deino flag) if you didn't enter during configuration.

Normally, if everything is done correctly, it will be chugging fine. To check this, open the task manager and make sure there is 4 instances of FahCore_Ax.exe in the list.

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 :

Code:

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 :

Code:

Additional client parameters []?

Since the client will be running as a service, the additional flags must be entered here to make it work in DEINO SMP mode. In our case, enter -smp -deino -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 DEINO 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.

You also need to make sure that the F@H service is started only when the DeinoPM service is started first. For this, you need to make sure that both the F@H and DeinoPM services is stopped (you can right-click on each service in the Services console and stop them if it is started).

Open the registry editor by going on the Start menu and type regedit.exe (same place as above to start services.msc). When the Registry editor window is open, find the service which is normally in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services branch. When you find it, click on it then add a new Multi-string value (REG_MULTI_SZ) then name it DependOnService :



When it ask for the value, enter DeinoPM which is the service name of DEINO then confirm it. You should see the result like that :



Close the registry editor then go back to the Services console. Double-click on the F@H service then click on the Dependencies tab. You should see that DeinoPM is listed as a dependency :



Alternatively, you can also create a .reg file to add the new entry. Open Notepad and paste this :

Code:

 Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Folding@home-CPU-[MachineID]]
 [/img]DependOnService"=hex(7):44,00,65,00,69,00,6e,00,6f,00,50,00,4d,00,00,00,00,00

Change the contents of [MachineID] to the Machine ID your SMP client is configured. In our example, we assume it's 1 so it would look like [1]. When you are done, click on File then on Save As... to save as a .reg file (Give a name like fahservice.reg). When you are done, just click on the newly created file and it will pop a window asking if you want to add to the registry. Confirm the action and it will be added.

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.

 

Windows GPU2 client installation

Requirements for installation

Before you start the installation process of the GPU client, there is a few requirements you must check to make sure the client will work correctly :

AMD/ATI

1. If you have a ATI GPU, the requirement is to be compatible with CAL and this mean that any card from X2xxx (R6xx) series and above can run any CAL application. This also means that unfortunately, X1xxx and older is not compatible because the shaders architecture is not unified.
2. ATI driver supported for folding is currently the Catalyst 8.7 (or newer) that you can find it here. To update the driver, it's suggested that you uninstall the old driver, reboot then install the new driver.

NVIDIA

1. If you own a NVIDIA card, it must be compatible with CUDA, so the 8 series and above is compatible (a list is available to check if your card is compatible, including the GeForce, Tesla and Quadro lines). The GeForce series 7 and older is not compatible due to a lack of unified shaders.
2. You need to run the proper driver to run CUDA. NVIDIA official CUDA 177.35 (or newer) driver can be downloaded here and you should use this version unless there is a compelling reason to use a different one. To update the driver, it's suggested that you uninstall the old driver, reboot then install the new driver.

There are two types of client available, which is a Systray version and a Console version. The advantage of the Systray version is that you have a icon on the task bar that you can use to control the client. The Console version use the command prompt to run but the main advantage is that version can be configured as a service, thus concealing the client entirely from the user. However, the service mode doesn't work at all under Vista.

Note: Under Windows, antivirus software can interfere with the Folding@Home client files and cause errors. We suggest that you configure the antivirus software to exclude the F@H client directory and especially the work directory inside of it from the antivirus scanning list. This can be done by going into the exclusion list panel that every antivirus should have. The work subdirectory contains semi-random binary data and can confuse overly aggressive heuristic virus scanning.

Installation (Systray version)

Note: The viewer included with the Systray client is not working properly and it's a known bug. The Pande Group is aware of the issue and is working to fix it. In the meanwhile, don't use it (it's not required to open the viewer to make the client run, having the Systray icon on the taskbar is enough).

You can download the GPU Systray client installer from the Download page. After it has downloaded, run the installer package by double clicking the downloaded file (If it doesn't start automatically, it probably means you need to install the Windows Installer 3.1 package first, which you can get through Windows automatic update). You will see this window :



Click on the Next button to continue to the License agreement window :



If you accept the license, click on the I Agree button then click on the Next button. There is no configuration to edit :



Click on the Next button to start the installation process. When it's done, you will see the last window :



Click on the Close button to end the installation process.

During the installation process, the installer will have created a new folder in the Start menu. You can find it under Start -> Programs -> Folding@Home-x86 as indicated here :



There are two shortcuts, the first is to run the program whenever you want and the second is to go in the data folder where the client is storing the work unit's data, configuration and executable files for any maintenance need. For now, we need to configure it so click on the first one (Folding@Home). As you are running the client for the first time, a configuration window will appear :



In this panel, if you want to fold under your own username, enter it here along with the team number if you are part of the team. If all you want is to contribute while not caring about a username or team, leave them as is. If you have a passkey associated to your username, enter it (if you want to know what is a passkey and how to obtain one, check this page). When you are done, click on the Connection tab on the top to get to the next panel :



The first checkbox should be checked if you want the client to ask before downloading or uploading a work unit. This is useful if you are on a non-permanent connection like dialup or to control when to download/upload. If you are connected behind a proxy, you'll need to configure the client for it (if you need the information about configuring a proxy, ask your administrator). The last checkbox will let you decide if you would like to receive large work units (they have bigger bandwidth and memory requirements). After doing this, click on the Advanced tab to get to the next panel :



These are the advanced configuration of the client so if you are unsure about them, you can leave them alone since the defaults are suitable for the majority of users. Here is what each element does :

• Core priority : If you are running multiple clients or have another program running continuously in the background, you may need to adjust the priority so it won't sit idle while waiting for free cycles.
• CPU Usage Percent : If you don't want the CPU to allocate all the cycles to F@H, adjust the percentage to suit your needs.
• Disable highly optimized assembly code : If you are having problems running the client due to a processor incompatibility or any weird error, check this to disable the SSE optimizations. Doing this will cause the client to run slower depending on the workunit.
• Checkpointing frequency : Increase or decrease the frequency of Work Unit progress backups. This won't prevent the client from writing the data before the checkpoint if the next frame is completed before.
• Do NOT lock cores to specific CPU : If you have more than one core, checking this will allow the client to use any free CPU/core. If it is left unchecked, it will only use one core no matter if others is free or not.
• Core Network Address (Advanced) : For future use
• Pause work while battery power is being used : This is useful for laptops to stop the client from running when it's on battery power, to avoid draining power.
• Additional Client Parameters : This is where you can save the frequently used flags like -verbosity 9 or -advmethods.
• Machine ID : This is the client ID and it needs to be different if you are running more than one client under the same OS. An example would be if you are running the Systray client and the GPU2 client at the same time, in which case each client will use Machine ID 1 and 2 respectively.

When you are done, click on Ok. If you entered any Additional Client Parameters during configuration, you may need to restart the client to use them. It will now run in the background with a icon in the Taskbar. You can hover on it to check the current client status but if you want to see what is the last actions of the client, you can check the log file generated by the client. For that, right-click on the taskbar icon and you will see this :



Click on Status then on Log file to open a notepad window with the log file contents. This is useful to see if there are errors and if you need help, you can copy the contents of this log file to the forum.

Installation (console version)

First, download the console client from the Download page (There is 2 distinct packages, one for Windows XP and 2003 and one for Vista so make sure to pick the correct one for your OS). If you wanted to use a installer, the Console client doesn't come with one so it's suggested to use the Systray client instead. After you are done downloading the package, unzip the package in any place except the Program Files folder (due to potential permissions issues). A good suggestion is to create a new folder on C:\Users\[username]\FAH! for Vista or C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\FAH for XP. You can also place it on the desktop or on a custom folder like C:\FAH\. After you are done unzipping, it's suggested you rename the executable file name to fah6.exe to make the following steps easier to do.

Note: If you are using the Vista GPU Console client, don't install as a service since it's currently not working properly. If you need a unobstructive client under Vista, it's suggested to use the Systray version.

The next step is to configure it by typing the following command (if you used a different one, use the correct name) :

Code:

 fah6 -configonly

You will see a list of configuration options. Here is an sample with an explanation about each option :

Code:

 Launch directory: C:\FAH
 Executable: fah6
 Arguments: -configonly

 [16:25:22] Configuring Folding@Home...

 User name [Anonymous]?
 Team Number [0]?
 Passkey []?

Enter your user name (not the Windows user name but your folding name), team number and passkey here

Code:

 Ask before fetching/sending work (no/yes) [no]?

If you are not on a permanent connection, select this to yes to wait for your permission to upload/download work units.

Code:

 Use proxy (yes/no) [no]?

If you are connected to a proxy, enter yes and configure the proxy options.

Code:

 Acceptable size of work assignment and work result packets (bigger units
 may have large memory demands) -- 'small' is <5MB, 'normal' is <10MB, and
 'big' is >10MB (small/normal/big) [normal]?

This is related to the size of downloaded and uploaded work units. Bigger units will also have bigger memory requirement. If you run on a slow broadband or dialup internet connection, it's suggested to pick small to ease the bandwidth usage.

Code:

 Change advanced options (yes/no) [no]? yes

If you want to change the advanced options, enter yes but it's not mandatory.

Code:

 Launch automatically, install as a service in this directory (yes/no) [no]?

If you want the client to run as a service, say yes and it will install a new entry in the services list. Next time you restart the computer, the service will start automatically and run in the background.

Code:

 Core Priority (idle/low) [idle]?

This adjusts the priority level. Any priority higher than idle can cause some slowdown during general computer usage.

Code:

 CPU usage requested (5-100) [100]?

This will adjust the percentage of CPU usage. If you want to limit temperature issue or to keep some CPU cycles for more intensive computer tasks, enter a number below 100.

Code:

 Disable highly optimized assembly code (no/yes) [no]?

If you are having issues running the client, disable this. For 99% of the users, leave this alone since this could reduce the client performance a lot.

Code:

 Pause if battery power is being used (useful for laptops) (no/yes) [no]?

If you run a laptop, set this to yes to pause if the laptop is not plugged on the wall. This will avoid the client draining the battery.

Code:

 Interval, in minutes, between checkpoints (3-30) [15]?

Number of minutes between each checkpoint where the client is writing the client progress on disk in case of unexpected interruption.

Code:

 Memory, in MB, to indicate (1013 available) [1013]?

Set the amount of memory available to the client. By default, it show the full memory amount but if you have programs which require lots of memory, it's suggested to reduce this.

Code:

 Set -advmethods flag always, requesting new advanced
 scientific cores and/or work units if available (no/yes) [no]?

This is the same as using the -advmethods flag. This will allow you to grab workunits with bigger requirements (often with more points value) than the normal units. Keep in mind this will often have a higher risk of failure so use this flag only if you are ready to accept the risks.

Code:

 Ignore any deadline information (mainly useful if
 system clock frequently has errors) (no/yes) [no]?

Set this to yes if your local computer clock is having issues keeping the correct date and time. For 99% of the users, leave this to no.

Code:

 Machine ID (1-16) [2]?

This is the ID of the client. If you are running more than one client under the same OS, you need to have a different machine ID for each client. If you are installing on multiple computers, you don't need to change this since this is only for installing multiple clients on the same computer.

Code:

 The following options require you to restart the client before they take effect
 Disable CPU affinity lock (no/yes) [no]?

If you disable the affinity lock, the client will pick any free CPU core. Leave to no if you want the client to be locked to a CPU core. If you run a NVIDIA card, you can adjust the affinity by using the NV_FAH_CPU_AFFINITY environment variable (check the NVIDIA FAQ for more details). For this to work, you need to enter no or it will ignore the affinity you configured.

Code:

 Additional client parameters []?

You can enter the client flags here so you don't have to type the flag each time. -verbosity 9 flag here to make things easier. Don't enter -config or -configonly'' or any single-use flag to avoid issues.

Code:

 IP address to bind core to (for viewer) []?

For future use

When you are done, the configuration will end and you will be back to the command prompt. You have successfully configured the client so the next step is to start the client. Here are 2 ways :

• By clicking on the executable icon (this assumes you entered the proper flags during configuration).
• By typing fah6 on the same command prompt window. Enter the necessary flags if you didn't enter during configuration.

Normally, if everything is done correctly, it will be chugging fine. To check this, open the task manager and make sure there is a process called FahCore_xx.exe in the list.

 

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 above. 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 above 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".

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).

 

Linux Installation Instructions

The following instructions is for the unified Linux 6.02 client. To run in SMP mode, just add the -smp flag to run it.

Go to Terminal. Depending of your desktop engine (KDE, GNOME, ...) the Terminal application can be at different places, but you'll find it. GNOME has it at "Applications->Accessories->Terminal". Open Terminal.

In the Terminal window you should see a prompt that looks something like this: yourusername@yourcomputername ~ $

To get the FAH client going type in (or copy/paste) the following commands:

Code:

 mkdir -p ~/folding
 cd ~/folding
 curl -O http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/FAH6.02-Linux.tgz
 tar xzf FAH6.02-Linux.tgz

Note: If you don't have curl available on your machine, use wget instead:

Code:

 wget http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/FAH6.02-Linux.tgz

Before you run the client, you will have to unzip it first. After this, execute these commands to make the fah6 executable with the appropriate libs (only if you are running a 64 bit version of Linux) :

Code:

chmod 755 fah6
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

If you run Fedora, do this instead :

Code:

chmod 755 fah6
yum install libXtst.i386

Now you should have the FAH client in place and you'll have to configure it. It can be done by running following command:

Code:

 ./fah6 -configonly

After setting the configuration there are couple of ways to start the FAH client. One way is to start it is by typing in each time the following command (If you run SMP, put the -smp flag there as well):

Code:

 ./fah6 -verbosity 9

OPTIONAL: To make it a little easier for yourself, you can make a script by running the following commands:

Code:

 echo "./fah6 -verbosity 9 $* &" > fah
 chmod +x fah

Now you'll just have to run

Code:

./fah

and all those additional FAH client flags will get added by itself.
Note: All those listed commands MUST be typed/pasted from this little HOWTO to the terminal (window) of your machine.

Example:

Code:

user@box ~ $ mkdir -p ~/folding
 user@box ~ $ cd ~/folding
 user@box FAH $ curl -O http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/FAH6.02-Linux.tgz
 % Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
 Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
 100 138k 100 138k 0 0 34461 0 0:00:04 0:00:04 --:--:-- 39789
 user@box FAH $ tar xzf FAH6.02-Linux.tgz
 user@box FAH $ ls -la
 total 960
 drwxr-xr-x 5 user guest 170 Nov 6 23:58 .
 drwx------ 18 user guest 612 Nov 6 23:55 ..
 -rw-r--r-- 1 user guest 138145 Nov 6 23:56 FAH6.02-Linux.tgz
 -rwxr-xr-x 1 user guest 282796 Nov 4 07:04 fah6
 -rwxr-xr-x 1 user guest 60156 Oct 27 16:52 mpiexec
 user@box FAH $ ./fah6 -configonly
 ...
 user@box FAH $ echo "./fah6 -verbosity 9 $*" > fah
 user@box FAH $ chmod +x fah
 user@box FAH $ ./fah
 ... 

How to start the linux client as a service

Note: Adding the client as a service in Linux depends on which distribution you are using. The instructions below should work for the majority of distributions available in the market. If nothing works, you might need to do some research to find out what your distribution needs to install as a service.

Do not change accounts or change directory location then create a script named folding by pasting the following commands:

Code:

echo "# chkconfig: 345 93 14" > ./folding
 echo "# description: will start FAH client as a service" >> ./folding
 echo "su - $USER -c \"cd $PWD; ./fah6 -verbosity 9 < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &\"" >> ./folding
 chmod +x ./folding

Note: In the following steps, replace [fahdir] with the value you saw on screen during the previous installation steps (don't include the brackets).

To mark down where you installed the FAH client just run:

Code:

echo "[fahdir]=$PWD"

Note: All the following steps need root privileges to be carried out successfully.

For Debian-based distributions run:

Code:

sudo cp [fahdir]/folding /etc/init.d/

For other distributions run:

Code:

su - -c "cp [fahdir]/folding /etc/init.d/"

Note: If you installed the client under root user account, do this instead :

Code:

echo "# chkconfig: 345 93 14" > ./folding
 echo "# description: will start FAH client as a service" >> ./folding
 echo "cd $PWD; ./fah6 -verbosity 9 < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1 &" >> /etc/init.d/folding
 chmod +x /etc/init.d/folding

Last step is to register the folding service.

For Debian-based distributions run:

Code:

sudo update-rc.d folding defaults

For other distributions run:

Code:

su - -c "chkconfig --add folding"

That's all so reboot the computer to make the new script start the client. To check if it is working fine, just go to your folding folder and open fahlog.txt or run:

Code:

tail -f [fahdir]/FAHlog.txt

 

Windows uniprocessor (classic) client

There are two types of client available, which is a Systray version and a Console version. The advantage of the Systray version is that you have a icon on the task bar that you can use to control the client. The Console version use the command prompt to run but the main advantage is that version can be configured as a service, thus concealing the client entirely from the user.

Note: Under Windows, antivirus software can interfere with the Folding@Home client files and cause errors. We suggest that you configure the antivirus software to exclude the F@H client directory and especially the work directory inside of it from the antivirus scanning list. This can be done by going into the exclusion list panel that every antivirus should have. The work subdirectory contains semi-random binary data and can confuse overly aggressive heuristic virus scanning.

Installation (Systray version)

Note: The viewer included with the Systray client is not working properly and it's a known bug. The Pande Group is aware of the issue and is working to fix it. In the meanwhile, don't use it (it's not required to open the viewer to make the client run, having the Systray icon on the taskbar is enough).

You can download the Systray client installer from the Download page. After it has downloaded, run the installer package by double clicking the downloaded file (If it doesn't start automatically, it probably means you need to install the Windows Installer 3.1 package first, which you can get through Windows automatic update). You will see this window :



Click on the Next button to continue to the License agreement window :



If you accept the license, click on the I Agree button then click on the Next button. There is no configuration to edit :



Click on the Next button to start the installation process. When it's done, you will see the last window :



Click on the Close button to end the installation process.

During the installation process, the installer will have created a new folder in the Start menu. You can find it under Start -> Programs -> Folding@Home-x86 as indicated here :



There are two shortcuts, the first is to run the program whenever you want and the second is to go in the data folder where the client is storing the work unit's data, configuration and executable files for any maintenance need. For now, we need to configure it so click on the first one (Folding@Home). As you are running the client for the first time, a configuration window will appear :



In this panel, if you want to fold under your own username, enter it here along with the team number if you are part of the team. If all you want is to contribute while not caring about a username or team, leave them as is. If you have a passkey associated to your username, enter it (if you want to know what is a passkey and how to obtain one, check this page). When you are done, click on the Connection tab on the top to get to the next panel :



The first checkbox should be checked if you want the client to ask before downloading or uploading a work unit. This is useful if you are on a non-permanent connection like dialup or to control when to download/upload. If you are connected behind a proxy, you'll need to configure the client for it (if you need the information about configuring a proxy, ask your administrator). The last checkbox will let you decide if you would like to receive large work units (they have bigger bandwidth and memory requirements). After doing this, click on the Advanced tab to get to the next panel :



These are the advanced configuration of the client so if you are unsure about them, you can leave them alone since the defaults are suitable for the majority of users. Here is what each element does :

• Core priority : If you are running multiple clients or have another program running continuously in the background, you may need to adjust the priority so it won't sit idle while waiting for free cycles.
• CPU Usage Percent : If you don't want the CPU to allocate all the cycles to F@H, adjust the percentage to suit your needs.
• Disable highly optimized assembly code : If you are having problems running the client due to a processor incompatibility or any weird error, check this to disable the SSE optimizations. Doing this will cause the client to run slower depending on the workunit.
• Checkpointing frequency : Increase or decrease the frequency of Work Unit progress backups. This won't prevent the client from writing the data before the checkpoint if the next frame is completed before.
• Do NOT lock cores to specific CPU : If you have more than one core, checking this will allow the client to use any free CPU/core. If it is left unchecked, it will only use one core no matter if others is free or not.
• Core Network Address (Advanced) : For future use
• Pause work while battery power is being used : This is useful for laptops to stop the client from running when it's on battery power, to avoid draining power.
• Additional Client Parameters : This is where you can save the frequently used flags like -verbosity 9 or -advmethods.
• Machine ID : This is the client ID and it needs to be different if you are running more than one client under the same OS. An example would be if you are running the Systray client and the GPU2 client at the same time, in which case each client will use Machine ID 1 and 2 respectively.

When you are done, click on Ok. If you entered any Additional Client Parameters during configuration, you may need to restart the client to use them. It will now run in the background with a icon in the Taskbar. You can hover on it to check the current client status but if you want to see what is the last actions of the client, you can check the log file generated by the client. For that, right-click on the taskbar icon and you will see this :



Click on Status then on Log file to open a notepad window with the log file contents. This is useful to see if there are errors and if you need help, you can copy the contents of this log file to the forum.

 

Setting the core affinity with NVIDIA GPU2 client (original by Sunin)

If you run a NVIDIA client with core version 1.07 or above (this can be found by looking at fahlog.txt, before a workunit start), you can configure the affinity precisely. This can often boost the performance, especially when you are trying to run multiple clients or you want to avoid using core 0 to reduce the graphics slowdown.

With core 1.07 or later, they introduced a new environment variable called NV_FAH_CPU_AFFINITY and it take a binary mask. A binary mask is just a programming trick to set the bits but for the majority, it may be a bit confusing so here is a full list to help you get the correct value :

Code:

0  = all cores
1  = core 0
2  = core 1
3  = core 0 + 1
4  = core 2
5  = core 0 + 2
6  = core 1 + 2
7  = core 0 + 1 + 2
8  = core 3
9  = core 0 + 3
10 = core 1 + 3
11 = core 0 + 1 + 3
12 = core 2 + 3
13 = core 0 + 2 + 3
14 = core 1 + 2 + 3
15 = core 0 + 1 + 2 + 3

Alternatively, there is also a simple way to determine the value :

Code:

Core 0 = 1
Core 1 = 2
Core 2 = 4
Core 3 = 8

If you want core 1 and 3 only, add 2 and 8 to get 10.
If you want core 0, 2 and 3, add 1, 4 and 8 to get 13.

For your information, if you have a quad-core, setting a value or 0 or 15 set the same affinity to all cores. If you have more than 4 cores, each additional core always take a 2^n value where n is the core number, starting from 0.

Now that you know how to determine the value to enter in the environment variable, we need to create that variable. Here is the simple steps (OS independent) :

-Go to start and run type in: sysdm.cpl then a system config panel should pop up.
-Under the Advanced tab click the environment variables button.
-Click new and under Variable name put NV_FAH_CPU_AFFINITY
-Under Variable value put the corresponding # you desire... Look above to determine the desired value.
-Walla, you have now setup the environmental variable hit Ok and close the window.
-Stop and restart the GPU2 client to make use of the new environment variable.

Your GPU should now utilize whatever cores you specified! I generally use 15 to allow it to use all cores. Then just check the box as indicated above in Xil's guide to not lock the GPU to a single core and your ready to roll!

Overclocking your video card

Soon

 

Most common issues and solutions

- If you get EARLY_UNIT_END or UNSTABLE_MACHINE, you have a setup that MIGHT require you to trick your system into thinking it has a monitor plugged into the 2nd video card or you Overclocked it too much! close the GPU client now by right clicking the tray icon and selecting Quit. If you overclocked the card, return the card to stock. If you still EUE then you will have to try one of two things:

A. Add the flag -forcegpu nvidia_g80 (or ati_r600 or ati_r700 if your running ATI) :



Note: All nvidia cards work with the nvidia_g80 flag

Run the GPU client again and see if it still errors, if so you are probably running Vista and need to do step B below.

B. Right click your desktop and click personalize, select Display settings. You should see a tab that says monitor with one that is dark black while another is grey. Select the 2nd display and click Extend the desktop onto this monitor.



Restart your client and you should be good to go now.

-Slow Performance 2-3k with 8800GTs for example. You will need to remove the drivers and reinstall them. Go to your start menu and under control panel find add/remove programs. Uninstall the driver. Download a driver cleaner. I use driver cleaner from guru3d.com, and install it. Reboot into safe mode by hitting F8 before the windows screen comes up and select safe mode. Run the driver cleaner program and clean the nvidia or ati graphics drivers out. Then reboot. As windows boots up it may ask you to search for a driver hit cancel and then run the driver you downloaded in step 2 above.

-Video card not recognized. Perform step 1 A. above. It means your system didn't properly detect your video card and you need to provide the -forcegpu command.

I didn't find my problem in the list above, what more can I do ?

The first step is to check the logs to see what kind of issue you are having then do a search on the DC forum here to see if someone else had this issue and if a solution is found. If no problem is found or no solution is known, the next step would be to first uninstall the client and delete the user data before reinstalling the latest client.

If uninstalling and reinstalling the client doesn't work and it cannot fold due to a driver issue, uninstall the current driver, run DriverCleaner in safe mode then reinstall the CUDA 177.35 driver before reinstalling the client.

If the issue is related to networking (inability to upload or download), the first thing you should do is to disable the firewall to see if it works. If not, look at your router if the configuration is preventing workunits from downloading or uploading. Alternatively, try to connect the pc directly to the internet, bypassing the router and network to determine. If it still doesn't work, do a tracert to the IP listed in the log file to see if it's a ISP having issues or a dead router along the path to destination.

If you still have issues, chances are that the F@H server is having a issue. Just wait for a few hours (up to 24 hours if it is in the weekend) to see if it will end up connecting and download/upload correctly. If not, make a new post and see if others have issues.

 

WCG setup guide by aldamon

1. Click here to register for the WCG project. Enter your ID, password, Email address, etc. Click Continue.
2. Under Available Projects, select the projects you would like to crunch or select Participate in All Projects to crunch all of the WCG Projects. Click Continue.
3. The download screen displays but I recommend downloading the generic BOINC client instead of the default WCG client because it is updated more frequently. In another window or tab, click here to download BOINC.
4. Back on the WCG registration page, since you've downloaded BOINC from another source, scroll down to the bottom of the Download page, and click clicking here to explore the rest of World Community Grid.
5. Under Join a Team, click To search for a team to join, click here.
6. Under Contains, enter HardOCP. Click Search.
7. Scroll down and click HardOCP. Under Team Control Panel, Click join this team.
8. Install the BOINC client. Instead of installing the default settings, install with the Advanced options and deselect Use BOINC Screensaver. We're [H]ard. We're not interested in running BOINC in a screensaver . After installing, restart your system.
9. After Windows finishes booting, the Attach to Project window displays. Click Next.
10. The Choose a Project window displays. Select World Community Grid. click Next.
11. Enter your WCG Username and Password. Click Next.
12. Click Finish. BOINC runs. BOINC starts and BOINC Manager are loaded into the task bar automaticallly on startup.
13. In BOINC Manager, click Advanced > Preferences. Choose your options. Click OK.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Client Web Status Guide using FahMon

• Setup FahMon (Based on 2.3.4v Configuration)

(This guide assumes all your clients are already setup and monitored by Fahmon)

• Go to your Fahmon Install directory and Create a New Folder named "Upload"
• Open the Preferences (Ctrl +P) and select the "WebApp 1" tab.
• Select the "Export Simple Web Page Function" & name the file fahmon.html
• Save fahmon.html file in the new "Upload" folder created a few steps earlier.
  
• Under the "Monitoring Tab" - set the "Auto Reload Clients" interval to 10 minutes
• Under the "General Tab" - enable "System Tray Icon"
• Now Minimize FahMon (Will come back to it later)

• Setup FTP Upload

• Create a new txt file inside the Fahmon\Upload\ folder and name that file ftpupload.txt
• Copy the following code into the upload.txt file
  
  
  Code:

  OPEN my.ftp.com
  mylogin
  mypassword
  binary
  MPUT fahmon.html
  BYE
  

• Change the value of "my.ftp.com" , "mylogin", & "mypassword" to your server & login information.
• Change the value of "MPUT fahmon.html" to the location of your html file from Section 1 - Step 4
  (Example: "MPUT Z:\Fahmon\Upload\fahmon.html" or "MPUT C:\Program Files\FahMon\Upload\fahmon.html")
• Save Txt File and Close
• Go the your Windows\System32\ Folder and create a new txt file
• Copy the Following Code into that file
  
  Code:

  ftp -i -s:C:\ftpupload.txt
  

• Change the value of "C:\ftpupload.txt" to the location of the "ftpupload.txt" you created in Section 2 - Step 1
  (Example: "ftp -i -s:C:\FahMon\Upload\ftpupload.txt" or "ftp -i -s:C:\Program Files\FahMon\Upload\upload.html")
• Save File as FTP.BAT in the Windows\System32\ folder and close file
  (Another option is to save the txt file and rename it to FTP.BAT)

• Setup Verification

(At this point, we need to verify the steps were completed successfully up to this point)

1. Navigate to the FahMon Upload folder and open Upload.html
   All your clients should be listed on that page. If they are not, Bring Up FahMon from the system tray and hit "F6" or "Menu Bar - Clients - Reload All"
2. Navigate to the Windows\System32\ folder and run FTP.BAT, then verify that the html file has been sent to your web server.
   (Example: http://webpages.charter.net/evilalchemist/)
3. Once you have verified that FahMon is creating the fahmon.html file and FTP.BAT is uploading the file correctly, move on to the next section.

• Create Scheduled Task

• Create a new scheduled task to run FTP.BAT Every 30 minutes.
  If you are unfamiliar on how to created a scheduled task - here are some help site.
  For XP Users - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308569
  For Vista Users - http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/132903-task-scheduler-create-task.html
• Once the scheduled task is configured, manually run the task to make sure it works correctly.
  (I would suggest you go back into FahMon and "Reload All Clients" again to get a newer html file to verify the new task upload worked correctly.

• Congratulations - You Are Done

• You Fahmon Client Status page will update every thirty minutes to your server.
• Make sure you have Fahmon running in the system tray at all times or the scheduled task will just keep uploading the same html file.

• Advanced Option - Template Customization

• Some Users may wish to change the layout of the web page created by the client.
• The template file is located at "FahMon\templates\simple_template.html"
• Template Options & Help is located in "\Fahmon\docs\TEMPLATE_SYNTAX.txt"
• If you wish to use my custom template - here is the code
  
  Code:

  <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
  <head>
  	<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
  	<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />
  	<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="500" />
  	<title>UserName Folding@Home Server Status</title>
  	<style type="text/css">
  		<!--
  	TD {
  	padding:2px;
  	border:1px solid #000;
  	}
  	//-->
  </style>
  </head>
  <center><font size=+2 color="#FF0000"><!--tpl_static @USERNAME@ -- Team: @TEAMNUMBER@ [H]ardOCP tpl//--></center></font>
  <body bgcolor="#000000" topmargin=0 bottommargin=0 leftmargin=0 rightmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0">
  			<div align="center">
  		<table style="border-collapse:collapse;border: 1px solid #000;font-family: Courier New; font-size: 10pt">
  			<tr>
  				<td colspan="3"><font color="#FF0000">Windows / Linux Systems</font></td>
  				<td colspan="3"><font color="#FF0000"><!--tpl_static @_Last_updated:@ @UPDATE_TIME@ tpl//--></font></td>
  				<td colspan="2"><font color="#FF0000"><!--tpl_static @_Total_PPD:@ @TOTAL_PPD@ tpl//--></font></td>
  			</tr>
  			<tr bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
  				<!--tpl_static <td><center>@_State@</center></td>
  				<td><center>@_Progress@</center></td>
  				<td><center>@_Name@</center></td>
  				<td><center>@_ETA@</center></td>
  				<td><center>@_PPD@</center></td>
  				<td><center>@_PRCG@</center></td>
  				<td><center>@_Credit@</center></td>
  				<td><center>Core</center></td> tpl//-->
  			</tr>
  			<!--tpl_loop <tr>
  				<td bgcolor="@STATE_COLOR@"><center>@STATE@</center></td>
  				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@PERCENTAGE@</font></center></td>
  				<td><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@NAME@</font></td>
  				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@ETA@</font></center></td>
  				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@PPD@</font></center></td>
  				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@PRCG@</font></center></td>
  				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@POINTS@</font></center></td>
  				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@CORE@</font></center></td>
  			</tr> tpl//--></FONT>
  		</table>
  	</div>
  </center></body></html>
  

• Edit the "UserName" in line"<title>UserName Folding@Home Server Status</title>" to your F@H User Name
• If you wish, you can edit "Windows / Linux Systems" in the line "<td colspan="3"><font color="#FF0000">Windows / Linux Systems</font></td>" to state which clients you are running.
  (Example: Windows GPU2 Clients or Linux SMP Clients or any other text you wish)
  (Warning: Too many Characters in this line *may* mess up the table spacing)
  
• Once you are done making modications, save the file, go into Fahmon & Reload All Cleints and check the new fahmon.html file inside your FahMon\Upload\ folder.

• Advanced Option - Multiple Client Locations

(If you have clients at different locations or different networks)

• Repeat this guide, but in Section 1 - change fahmon.html to fahmon1.html.
• Change the fahmon.html file reference in the upload.txt to also reflect this different file name.

• Advanced Option - View Multiple FahMon HTML Pages

(Only Needed if "Multiple Client Locations" is used)

1. 
   Create a new txt file copy the following Code
   
   Code:

   <html><head>
   <title>UserName - Folding@Home Stats</title>
   </head>
   
   <frameset rows="400,*" framespacing="0" border="0">
   	<frame name="main" noresize scrolling="no" src="fahmon.html">
   	<frame name="main2" noresize scrolling="no" src="fahmon1.html">
   	<noframes>
   	<body>
   <body bgcolor="#000000" topmargin=0 bottommargin=0 leftmargin=0 rightmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0 style="font-family: Courier New; font-size: 10pt">
   
   
   	<p>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them.</p>
   	</body>
   	</noframes>
   </frameset>
   

2. Save and Close File
3. Rename File index.html and upload to your web server.
   (Now, two FahMon pages will be displayed on the same page)
4. You can edit the "<frameset rows="400,*" framespacing="0" border="0">" line to change the height of the top frame to better fit your client.
   (Example: "<frameset rows="500,*" framespacing="0" border="0">" or "<frameset rows="250,*" framespacing="0" border="0">"
5. If you wish to have 3 pages listed at the same time, here is an example of the code
   
   Code:

   <frameset rows="400,100,*" framespacing="0" border="0">
   	<frame name="main" noresize scrolling="no" src="fahmon.html">
           <frame name="main2" noresize scrolling="no" src="fahmon1.html">
           <frame name="main3" noresize scrolling="no" src="fahmon2.html">
   

6. This can be expanded to as many pages as you want to display at a single time.

• Advanced Option - Cell Phone Web Template & Viewing

(Allow for easy viewing on any cell phone with web access)

2. Create a new txt file inside the Fahmon\template\ folder and name that file cell_template.txt
3. Copy the code below into that txt file.
   
   Code:

   <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
   <head>
   	<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
   	<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache" />
   	<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="500" />
   	<title>Username Folding@Home Server Status</title>
   	<style type="text/css">
   		<!--
   	TD {
   	padding:2px;
   	border:1px solid #000;
   	}
   	//-->
   </style>
   </head>
   <center><font size=+2 color="#FF0000"><!--tpl_static @USERNAME@ -- Team: @TEAMNUMBER@ [H]ardOCP tpl//--></center></font>
   <body bgcolor="#000000" topmargin=0 bottommargin=0 leftmargin=0 rightmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0">
   			<div align="center">
   		<table style="border-collapse:collapse;border: 1px solid #000;font-family: Courier New; font-size: 10pt">
   			<tr>
   				<td colspan="3"><font color="#FF0000"><!--tpl_static @_Last_updated:@ @UPDATE_TIME@ tpl//--></font></td>
   				<td colspan="2"><font color="#FF0000"><!--tpl_static @_Total_PPD:@ @TOTAL_PPD@ tpl//--></font></td>
   			</tr>
   			<tr bgcolor="#CCCCCC">
   				<!--tpl_static <td><center>@_State@</center></td>
   				<td><center>@_Name@</center></td>
   				<td><center>@_PPD@</center></td> tpl//-->
   			</tr>
   			<!--tpl_loop <tr>
   				<td bgcolor="@STATE_COLOR@"><center>@STATE@</center></td>
   				<td><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@NAME@</font></td>
   				<td><center><FONT COLOR="#ffffff">@PPD@</font></center></td>
   
   			</tr> tpl//--></FONT>
   		</table>
   	</div>
   </center></body></html>

4. Edit the "UserName" in line"<title>UserName Folding@Home Server Status</title>" to your F@H User Name
5. Save and Close File
6. Change file extension from txt to html
7. Open the Preferences (Ctrl +P) in FahMon and select the "WebApp 2" tab.
8. Go to the "Custom Web Application Template" option.
9. Point that entry to the new cell_template.html file in the Fahmon\template\ folder.
10. Now go to the "WebApp 1" tab
11. Enable the Export Web Application Section
12. Now point that entry to the FahMon\Upload\ folder and name the html cell.html
    (Example: Fahmon\Upload\cell.html
    (This is the same process used in Section 1 when setting up the original stats page)
13. Hit okay and minimize FahMon back to the system tray
14. Open the upload.txt file in the Fahmon\Upload\
    (This is the file created in Section 2 of this guide)
15. You will need to add the MPUT cell.html line into the txt file.
    (Here is an example)
    
    Code:

    OPEN my.ftp.com
    mylogin
    mypassword
    binary
    MPUT fahmon.html
    MPUT cell.html
    BYE
    

16. Remember as in Section 2, the MPUT line will need to be to the full file path
    (Example: "MPUT Z:\Fahmon\Upload\cell.html" or "MPUT C:\Program Files\FahMon\Upload\cell.html")
17. Save and Close that file

You are done and your stats designed for phone viewing will upload the next time the script is ran by the task schedules. Simply go to that address on your cell phone and get a great overview of your clients with no extra data



End Guide
Publish Date: December 2008
EvilAlchemist

 

By the Folding@Home EULA, it's a good idea to have a written permission if you want to install the client on computers you don't own to protect yourself from any liability. You can use the following agreement for this purpose :

 

This guide needed and update. We have had quite a few people in the last few weeks follow the old guide only to find out that they are using an outdated guide. This new version is HEAVILY borrowed from the previous version, so credit where it is due.

The nice part is that it is now even easier to set up.

Hardware:

This guide will work for 2-8 or more threads/cores.

4GB of RAM in the minimum unless it is a folding only box. Then you can get by with 2. The VM will take up 1GB or more of memory.

Quoted from Tigerbiten on 11/20/09. (keep in mind WU change so this may go up int he future)

Software:

VMware Player 3.0 You will need to register, it is free.

Notfred's pre-packaged VM


Edit "folding.vmx" using WordPad. Do NOT use notepad as you may lose formatting making the file unusable by VMWare Player.


You will need to make three changes.
First:

Code:

numvcpus = "4"

This needs to indicate the number of cores/threads that you want the VM to use. Player 3.0 will go up to 32.

Second:

Code:

priority.grabbed = "idle"

priority.ungrabbed = "idle"

These lines need to be added to the bottom to the file. This sets the priority to the lowest setting and will allow you to run your system as if the VM was not even there.

Third:

Code:

memsize = "1024"

This will give the VM room to breathe and will stop the VM from throwing an error because it is out of memory. (this may need to be upped with future WUs as they get larger)

My .vmx file looks like this:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/vmplayer
.encoding = "windows-1252"

# This is a Workstation 5 or 5.5 config file
# It can be used with Player
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"

# Number of virtual CPUs. Your virtual machine will not
# work if this number is higher than the number of your physical CPUs
numvcpus = "4"

# Memory
memsize = "1024"

# Selected operating system for your virtual machine
guestOS = "other-64"

# displayName is your own name for the virtual machine
displayName = "Folding@Home"

# These fields are free text description fields
annotation = "Diskless Folding@Home"
guestinfo.vmware.product.long = "Diskless Folding by Nick Reilly"
guestinfo.vmware.product.url = "http://reilly.homeip.net"
guestinfo.vmware.product.class = "virtual machine"

# First serial port, physical COM1 is not available
serial0.present = "FALSE"

# Optional second serial port, physical COM2 is not available
serial1.present = "FALSE"

# First parallel port, physical LPT1 is not available
parallel0.present = "FALSE"

# Settings for physical floppy drive
floppy0.present = "FALSE"

# Logging
logging = "FALSE"

# These settings decides interaction between your
# computer and the virtual machine
isolation.tools.hgfs.disable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.copy.enable = "FALSE"
isolation.tools.paste.enabled = "FALSE"

# First network interface card
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "folding.vmdk"

ide0:0.redo = ""

extendedConfigFile = "folding.vmxf"

virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:06:e6:ee"
uuid.location = "56 4d ee 72 7e 31 4b 6a-15 91 0e ad d8 06 e6 ee"
uuid.bios = "56 4d ee 72 7e 31 4b 6a-15 91 0e ad d8 06 e6 ee"
debugStub.linuxOffsets = "0x0,0xffffffff,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0,0x0"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "16777216"

checkpoint.vmState = ""
replay.supported = "FALSE"
replay.filename = ""
cleanShutdown = "FALSE"

priority.grabbed = "idle"

priority.ungrabbed = "idle"

Wireless Configuration: If you are using Wireless, you will need to change ethernet0.connectionType to "nat". This is a quirk that I have discovered with notfred's as it is configured for e0000 which is usually your Wired Connection. If someone has been able to figure out a way to get "bridged" to work with wireless, I'd appreciate your comments and can update this guide accordingly. I am currently wired, but can test any wireless solutions that are provided.

Remember to save the file.

Install VMWare Player

I install with default values. There is not anything special you will need to do to get it up and running. This will run on WinXP (x86 or x64), Vista (x86 or x64), or Win7 (x86 or x64). I have not confirmed Win7 personally, but I have not read any reports otherwise.

** Win7 compatability confirmed by Vaulter98c.

Starting the VM up

After a system reboot you should be able to double click on the folding.vmx file (or make shortcut)

This will open up a VMWare WIndow.



Take note of the following:

IP Address that is assigned to the VM

Host Name



Open up an instance of your internet browser (IE or FF or whatever).

In the address bar, type in the IP Address assigned to the VM

The main screen gives you the basic information regarding this instance of notfred's. You will notice that the user is notfred and his team number is the default value. We are going to change that.


Click on hyperlink to Reconfigure this host and any USB Drive

The next screen is where you will change information regarding this instance.

Change Username to your folding Username

Change Team to 33 (yes, we hold for [H]!!)

Change "SMP instance per:" to 2, 4, or 8 depending on how many cores/threads you have.

Optional:
You can leave Windows Networking Workgroup as DISKLESS. I normally change it to my home networking group


Proxy Hostname | Proxy Port | Proxy Username | Proxy Password : Populate only if you have a proxy server


Interface: honestly am not sure what values are valid here. I will ping notfred's for valid values for this field


Static IP | Subnet Mask | Default Gateway | DNS Server IP: leave blank if your router will assign an IP address. I use a Static IP address as I normally create an IE Favorite Entry for the VM Instance. It is possible the IP address can change as you add items to your network. If it does change, then you will have to go to the box that is running the VM and take a look at the new IP Address that it has been assigned to via the VMWare Player Console. I currently run several VMs on headless boxen so it isn't easy for me to get to it. A Static IP address prevents this issue from happening.



TFTP Server IP: leave blank unless you have a TFTP Server running. If you do, then the VM Instance can backup the files to this server and can also restore from this server. It should be noted that since this is a persistent VM, all data is also saved within itself. NO data is lost if the VM is shut down.



Click on Reconfigure. Click on here hyperlink or wait for the screen to refresh.

From Main Screen, Click on Remote Reboot Enabled Hyperlink. Confirm Reboot. Reboot should take a minute or two depending on your machine.



It should go back to the main screen after the reboot is complete. IF you changed to Static IP Address, change the IP Address in the address box to the Static IP Address you assigned to this VM Instance. You should see the new values for those entries that you have changed.

All done! Enjoy your SMP goodness!