USB Persistance + CUDA + VMware + World Of Tanks

Hello guys

Despite iam only beginer in Linux i have to share something with you guys. I have spent quite a time of learning how to get things working in Kali but i have not found any solution to this kind of combination - Live USB running with Nvidia drivers. At the end i found solution on my own and hopefuly it will help to lot of people. Experienced users can share their thoughts about it maybe even improve what is on the table. Lets get started:

1. If you dont know how to make bootable USB with persistence here is nice guide:
https://null-byte.wonderhowto.com/ho...ional-0162253/

2. Once you have that ready boot to your kali persistence and and get synaptic via terminal:
#apt-get install synaptic

3.update your system and reboot, in terminal type this commands: ...it will take time be patient
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y && apt-get dist-upgrade –y
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) –y
reboot

4. Once you are back in GUI open synaptic and search for nouveau packages, mark them for complete removal and apply.

5. blacklist nouveau with this command in terminal:
echo -e "blacklist nouveau\noptions nouveau modeset=0\nalias nouveau off" > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf
and shut down your system

next step can be done in few different ways, i found easiest for me just boot in to the different OS (ex. windows) access USB partition named UUI and locate file grub.cfg and edit it with notepad++ preferably

path: UUI /boot/grub/grub.cfg,

add parameter nouveau.modeset=0 under persistance section at the end of the line, after editation it should look like this:

menuentry "Live system (persistence, check kali.org/prst)" {
linux /live/vmlinuz-4.9.0-kali3-amd64 boot=live components splash username=root hostname=kali persistence nouveau.modeset=0
initrd /live/initrd.img-4.9.0-kali3-amd64

save, exit, reboot to kali


6.now you should see that Kali booted in to low resolution login screen, GOOD. log in and type in terminal:

init 3 (will exit GUI and help nvidia drivers to install correctly)
apt-get install -y ocl-icd-libopencl1 nvidia-driver nvidia-cuda-toolkit

once this is done reboot and you should have USB bootable pendrive with NVIDIA drivers running :)

you can verify that with nvidia-smi command, also i need to mention that this worked for me even without updating initramfs (update-initramfs -u)

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I could not resist to test gaming performance with this kind of setup.

All this was done on laptop Asus ROG 750GW (i7 4700HQ + GTX765M)

My attempts to try World Of Tanks via „playonlinux“ and „portwot94“ failed, so I decided to go via virtualisation for sake of curiosity and install VMware 12.5.6 with 3D acceleration support. I have tested VMs Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10. Best gaming results were on Windows 10 VM where – WOT was running at standard graphic settings 110 fps, iproved graphic setting 60fps and it was suprisingly very playable.

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with 3dmark06

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which leads in to conclusion:
if you have good gaming rig and you want have Kali linux on it you dont have to neccesairly choose painful „passtrough“ configuration.


Be aware that i had to switch off vertical synchronisation in Nvidia X Server Settings and in Virtual Machine itself! (locate your VM *.vmx and add mks.vsync="0" at the end,save,exit)
Also i used powermizer „Prefer Maximum Performance“

For automatisation you can just use simple script example „VGAset.sh“ and edit it like this:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 10s
(DISPLAY=":0.0" nvidia-settings -a [gpu:0]/GPUPowerMizerMode=1) &
timeout 5s nvidia-settings

and implement it to autostart actions. (first command will set powermizer to max, second command will ensure that your configuration is loaded)


This can be also used for your alternative dualboot if you are using something like Sandisk Ultrafit :) ...and without messing with windows partition :D where bios will be your bootlader :P

Enjoy ;)