Install drivers for NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstations (vWS)

If you need GPUs for hardware accelerated graphics on a remote desktop or for gaming, you can create virtual workstations that use NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstations (vWS) (formerly known as NVIDIA GRID).

NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstations (vWS) are ideal for running workloads that use APIs such as Vulkan, OpenGL, or Direct3D on a cloud remote desktop.

When you select a GPU that supports visualization for a virtual workstation, you can add an NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) license to your VM. For more information about pricing, see GPU pricing.

To set up an NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS), you need to do the following:

  1. Create a VM with virtual workstation enabled.
  2. Install a driver for the virtual workstation.

After you create your virtual workstation, you can connect to it using a remote desktop protocol such as Teradici® PCoIP or VMware® Horizon View.

Before you begin

  • If you haven't already, then set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:

    Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

    Console

    When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

    gcloud

      1. After installing the Google Cloud CLI, initialize it by running the following command: 

        gcloud init

        If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

      2. Set a default region and zone.

    REST

    To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

      After installing the Google Cloud CLI, initialize it by running the following command: 

      gcloud init

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

    For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Recommended minimum NVIDIA driver versions

For L4, T4, P4, and P100 NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) running on Compute Engine, the following NVIDIA driver versions are recommended based on the NVIDIA virtual GPU software needed for your application:

  • For NVIDIA virtual GPU software version 18, we recommend using the latest driver on the production branch
  • For NVIDIA virtual GPU software version 17, we recommend the following minimum NVIDIA drivers:
    • For Linux VMs: 550.90.07
    • For Windows VMs: 552.55
  • For NVIDIA virtual GPU software version 16, we recommend the following minimum NVIDIA drivers:
    • For Linux VMs: 535.183.01
    • For Windows VMs: 538.67

Install driver for the NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS)

Complete the following steps on your VM.

  1. For Linux operating systems, install the build tools for your Linux version.

    CentOS/RHEL 

    sudo yum group install "Development Tools"

    Debian/Ubuntu

    1. Install the build tools.

      sudo apt update
       
      sudo apt install -y build-essential
       
      sudo apt install -y libvulkan1

    2. If you are using Ubuntu 22.04, update the gcc version for the NVIDIA driver.

      sudo apt install -y gcc-12
       
      sudo apt install -y linux-headers-$(uname -r)
       
      sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-12 12
       
      sudo update-alternatives --config gcc

    SLES

    • SLES 12

      sudo zypper install -t pattern devel_basis
       
      sudo zypper install gcc8

    • SLES 15

      sudo SUSEConnect -p sle-module-development-tools/15/x86_64
       
      sudo zypper install gcc8

  2. For Linux operating systems, install the Linux kernel headers. See Verify the System has the Correct Kernel Headers and Development Packages Installed in the NVIDIA documentation.

  3. For all operating systems, install drivers.

    Linux

    1. Download the driver. For a full list of NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) drivers that you can use on Compute Engine, see Drivers for the NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS).

      For example, to download the NVIDIA 570.148.08 driver, run the following command:

      curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/nvidia-drivers-us-public/GRID/vGPU18.2/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-570.148.08-grid.run

    2. Start the installer.

      For example, to start the NVIDIA 570.148.08 driver, run the following command:

      sudo bash NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-570.148.08-grid.run

    3. During the installation, choose the following options:

      • If you are prompted to install 32-bit binaries, select Yes.
      • If you are prompted to modify the x.org file, select No.

    Windows Server

    1. Depending on your version of Windows Server, download the required NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) drivers.

      For a full list of NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) drivers that you can use on Windows VMs that are running on Compute Engine, see Drivers for the NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS).

    2. Run the installer, and choose the Express installation.

    3. After the installation is complete, restart the VM. When you restart, you are disconnected from your session.

    4. Reconnect to your instance using RDP or a PCoIP client.

  4. This step is only required for Linux-based NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) with attached T4 or L4 GPUs.

    If you installed an NVIDIA 510 or later driver, you need to disable the GSP firmware. See Disabling GSP Firmware in the Nvidia documentation. When completing this step, keep the following in mind:

    • Use sudo to run the commands to create and update the configuration file.
    • To reboot the VM, you can use sudo reboot or stop and start the VM.

Verify that the driver is installed

Linux

Run the following command:

nvidia-smi

The output of the command looks similar to the following:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 570.148.08             Driver Version: 570.148.08     CUDA Version: 12.8     |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  Tesla T4                       On  |   00000000:00:04.0 Off |                    0 |
| N/A   48C    P8             16W /   70W |       0MiB /  15360MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI              PID   Type   Process name                        GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Windows Server

  1. Connect to your Windows instance using RDP or a PCoIP client.

  2. Right-click the desktop, and select NVIDIA Control Panel.

  3. In the NVIDIA Control Panel, from the Help menu, select System Information. The information shows the GPU that the VM is using, and the driver version.

What's next?