How to disable Nvidia's telemetry in Linux?

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ZeqOBpf6

Gawd
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Aug 24, 2014
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I'm on my most successful installation of Linux ever right now. Almost everything is complete, so now I'm at the point where I'm getting picky.

I'm switching to Linux mostly to get away from Windows telemetry. However, in Windows I was able to stop Nvidia's telemetry using one of the many guides out there
https://www.majorgeeks.com/news/sto...o_latest_drivers_heres_how_to_disable_it.html


So far, at least as I have been able to figure out, installations are pretty much yes or no. Install package is about the only "option" and then it just does everything else.

OR I just copy some gigantic string of text, paste it in command prompt, and just hit enter and type my password repeatedly until something cool happens.


But I can't figure this out in Linux. Google gets me very little, though I did find a post saying that an Nvidia rep did confirm that there is telemetry in the Linux version of drivers now.
 
As far as I'm aware Nvidias Linux driver does no telemetry.

There is no Liunx version of Geforce Experience. Most distros repackage Nvidias kernel driver... if it was doing things it wasn't allowed to to do it would be noticed. Yes its closed and we can't look at the source... but it accessing network resources for no good reason would be noticed.

So don't worry NVs Linux drivers do not have telemetry. The only things I have ever read on line suggesting that is true go like this, "this dude talked to a NV customer service rep who said it does." Yes cause the call center employee reading from the "don't freak out about the telemetry" script has any real clue. :)
 
*shrug* I kinda figured out to search and just typed "nvt" and there were definitely a few folders, NvTmMon, nvtmrep and a few other things. I just deleted all of it, opened a 3d game, checked to see if they came back and they haven't. Everything's still running smoothly.
 
NV is actually pretty open about their Linux driver.

The kernel driver itself is closed source. But NVs code for all of their tools and their own installer are in fact open sourced under GPL (the Nvidia-settings manager and their install tool as well as a few other bits, such as their actual bug reporting tool) and the MIT licence (the persistance deamon).

http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/340.107/README/installedcomponents.html

Its interesting you found a folder NvTmMon... that is a windows thing as far as I'm aware. Curious where you found it exactly... and what distro your running. Was it in a /lib folder or a /bin or /usr folder just wondering if NV is adding these folders where about are the adding them. Would go a long way to understanding their function. Nothing not running under X would have admin access unless you where perhaps running Nvidias own version of modprobe (which most distros do not).
 
haha

I just restored a few of the files and after looking at the dir it seems the Linux search was able to find them on the Windows partition. Odd, too, because I know I deleted them on that install.

Thanks for the help!
 
Makes sense... ya lots of eyes on NV, they get enough hate from the *nix community. I doubt they would want the heat of trying to implement telemetry into their drivers that are used by a lot of scientific types running the CUDA stuffs.

Just another note... its possible you didn't really delete those folders at all. The Linux kernel can read NTFS filesystems but to edit NTFS you need to be running and have your NTFS drive mounted with NTFS-3G (open source NTFS implementation that hooks into the fuse system).

Really as a general rule I would suggest not messing with NTFS file systems from Linux unless you know what your fixing ect. The Open source implementation allows a bunch of stuff that windows doesn't. For instance directories that start with /. such as linux "hidden" directories... and file names with colons. CHKDSK will consider such things errors and delete them. Also if its a main windows drive chances are it is housing a hiberfil.sys... you can disable its use, but for the most part I would just not access those drives from Linux if you can help it.

I mention it because I know many people that will use NTFS formated storage drives expecting to use that space on both drives... and end up running into unexpected errors. Not saying its not possible. Just that you have to be aware what will freak windows the F out, and what won't. lol
 
Nvidia drivers under Linux don't phone home.

You need to consider the number of supercomputers using Nvidia products running Linux, if the drivers phoned home all the time there's be some very angry sysadmins.

What distro are you using? Installing the drivers using Nvidia's recommended method is a very outdated process and generally not recommended under most distro's. There's usually far easier and more reliable ways to install Nvidia drivers these days.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
haha

I just restored a few of the files and after looking at the dir it seems the Linux search was able to find them on the Windows partition. Odd, too, because I know I deleted them on that install.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
It's not that odd because Windows obscures you from true access. I wouldn't be surprised if there were hidden files that you can see only using linux.
 
Mazzspeed said:
What distro are you using? Installing the drivers using Nvidia's recommended method is a very outdated process and generally not recommended under most distro's. There's usually far easier and more reliable ways to install Nvidia drivers these days.
Click to expand...

Second this. You should use your distributions tools for installing closed source drivers.

In general, in linux, you should never manually download any software, especially drivers. The distribution generally has tools to get them and install them.

If the ones available through the repositories for your distribution are not new enough for you, there are ways you can add repositories that contain newer drivers.

Same goes for software.

Installing stuff manually in Linux is always a bad idea, as it removes one of the greatest benefits of linux, the package manager that keeps track of, and makes sure you are on th elatest version of everything, and that the version you have is tested to make sure it plays nice with your distribution.
 
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