CUDA within a VirtualBox VM?

Prime95 · 2012-05-23, 03:23

I'm running Windows 7 and MSVC 10 Express on my only CUDA-capable machine. Unfortunately, Nvidia's Nsight tool (which I think contains most of the performance analysis tools) requires MSVC Professional Edition.

Cuda 5 pre-release is available for Linux with a cool looking IDE for performance work. Can I install Ubuntu in a VirtualBox VM and do my CUDA development there? Or is dual boot my only hope?

frmky · 2012-05-23, 04:17

No, you can't use CUDA from the guest OS. There is some early work on enabling that, but it currently only works with new Linux kernels on only a few motherboards. That said, Wubi makes dual boot with an existing Windows installation easy, and here are instructions for installing the CUDA tools on the resultant Ubuntu 12.04 installation.

LaurV · 2012-05-23, 04:27

Ubuntu runs nice in VB, both under winxp_32 and win7_64. There are some small issues with the usb in vista_64. Unfortunately my linux experience is low, I did not get too deep into it, but I am "expert" in (and love it!) Sun's VB (Oracle's now) machinery. That is very stable and powerful virtualization environment. If you play with strange stuff (unknown exe or things from web, viruses, cracks, reverse engineering, whatever), it is an indispensable toy. Very fast (almost instant) guest boot, if something goes wrong kill all, delete everything, clone the guest OS in few minutes, start again. Very fast switch between OS-es, etc.

OTOH, if the money is not the big issue, I would suggest VC++ pro, if only for the sake of compiling 64 bit applications (express can only crochet 32-bits code).

Prime95 · 2012-05-23, 13:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaurV

OTOH, if the money is not the big issue, I would suggest VC++ pro, if only for the sake of compiling 64 bit applications (express can only crochet 32-bits code).

There are ways to make MSVC 10 Express compile and debug 64-bit applications.

mozzis · 2012-06-23, 18:56

is to install the Windows SDK (formerly Platform SDK) version 7.1.

2012-05-23, 03:23	#1
Prime95 P90 years forever! Aug 2002 Yeehaw, FL 17×487 Posts	CUDA within a VirtualBox VM? I'm running Windows 7 and MSVC 10 Express on my only CUDA-capable machine. Unfortunately, Nvidia's Nsight tool (which I think contains most of the performance analysis tools) requires MSVC Professional Edition. Cuda 5 pre-release is available for Linux with a cool looking IDE for performance work. Can I install Ubuntu in a VirtualBox VM and do my CUDA development there? Or is dual boot my only hope?

2012-06-23, 18:56	#5
mozzis Jun 2012 1 Posts	The key to 64-bit is to install the Windows SDK (formerly Platform SDK) version 7.1.

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2012-05-23, 04:17	#2
frmky Jul 2003 So Cal 2,663 Posts	No, you can't use CUDA from the guest OS. There is some early work on enabling that, but it currently only works with new Linux kernels on only a few motherboards. That said, Wubi makes dual boot with an existing Windows installation easy, and here are instructions for installing the CUDA tools on the resultant Ubuntu 12.04 installation.

2012-05-23, 04:27	#3
LaurV Romulan Interpreter "name field" Jun 2011 Thailand 41·251 Posts	Ubuntu runs nice in VB, both under winxp_32 and win7_64. There are some small issues with the usb in vista_64. Unfortunately my linux experience is low, I did not get too deep into it, but I am "expert" in (and love it!) Sun's VB (Oracle's now) machinery. That is very stable and powerful virtualization environment. If you play with strange stuff (unknown exe or things from web, viruses, cracks, reverse engineering, whatever), it is an indispensable toy. Very fast (almost instant) guest boot, if something goes wrong kill all, delete everything, clone the guest OS in few minutes, start again. Very fast switch between OS-es, etc. OTOH, if the money is not the big issue, I would suggest VC++ pro, if only for the sake of compiling 64 bit applications (express can only crochet 32-bits code).