CentOS 6.5, nVidia, kernel & VMware Workstation - rharmonson/richtech GitHub Wiki

#CentOS 6.5, nVidia, kernel & VMware Workstation

##Install and Update Complete CentOS 6.5 base operating system installation. Configure repositories, i.e. EPEL. Update everything including kernel using yum update. Install kernel-headers, kernel-devel, gcc, and dependencies.

##VMware Workstation Complete VMware Workstation 10 installation. Reboot, hit escape at the CentOS loading screen, and verify VMware services start without issue. Lauch VMware Workstation to verify it starts without errors and close. Note if you attempt to launch virtual machines (VM)Vusing the 3D display option, VMware Workstation or xorg may crash out. Wait until nVidia is installed to test VMs.

##Display Driver

###Identify Display Before installing nVidia drivers, you need to know your product type by using following command.

# lspci -nn | grep VGA

If you have not already obtained the nVidia driver from the machine's manufacture or nVidia's web site, use the information above to identify and download the driver bundle. Remember where you saved the file.

###Blacklist Nouveau Driver Next, we need to remove the nouveau display driver. Warning! If you do not recompile initramfs, you may not be able to boot. Follow the instructions.

resource:

http://www.tecmint.com/install-nvidia-drivers-in-linux/

Edit blacklist.conf in your favorite editor and blacklist.

# vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Update to include:

blacklist nouveau

###Create New initramfs

Backup initramfs.

# mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img.bak

Create new initramfs.

# dracut -v /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

Reboot the host to init mode 3 by updating inittab or use alt+f4 / alt+f5 during boot.

# reboot

##Install nVidia Driver Once you are at the command line, go to the folder where you’ve downloaded nVidia driver and run the script as show. If missing dependencies are reported, use yum install to meet the requirements.

chmod 700 NVIDIA-*
./NVIDIA-*.run

Complete the installation, including, the creation of a new xorg.conf file. Alternatively, you may execute the following to create the file.

# X -configure
# mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
# cp xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Now switch to X Window as root.

startx

nVidia should now be installed and ready for configuration.

##Exclude Kernel Updates If you yum update and update the kernel, it breaks VMware services.

# vi /etc/yum.conf

Add the following:

exclude=kernel*

In addition, monitor updates for xorg or any update that may make changes to xorg.conf. I am not advising not updating the kernel or xorg, but it may require careful consideration and a bit a planning.

##Done!

##Other Considerations Need to compare the xorg.conf file between VMware Workstation installation and nVidia driver installation. What is the difference?