How to run Nx Desktop in limited GPU environments

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Affected Roles: System Owner • System Administrator
Related Nx VMS Apps: Nx Desktop
Complexity: Medium
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The Problem: Nx Desktop will not run on my machine

Nx Desktop requires a computer (real or virtual) with support for OpenGL 2.1 or higher.

Typically this is not an issue but in some cases, a need arises to launch Nx Desktop on computers with limited graphics options. A virtual machine (VMWare, VirtualBox) or a Server PC with limited graphics capabilities are typical examples where OpenGL 2.1 may not be supported.

The Solution: Emulate the GPU using the CPU

To resolve this issue the Nx team has introduced a way to emulate necessary graphics functions over CPU which allows running the client on any hardware set if the Server application is installed on any Windows x64 OS version.

Things to consider:

• When using this method what you are really doing is transferring the computing load that would normally be done by a GPU to the CPU. This will cause your CPU usage to go up significantly.
• We do not recommend using this method unless it is absolutely required.
• Remember to close the Client application as soon as you are finished to return your CPU load to normal.

How to emulate the GPU using your CPU

1. Download the OpenGL 2.1 emulation library (via Google Drive)
   
   
2. Copy and paste the downloaded opengl32.dll file to the folder/directory where the Nx Desktop executable is located.
   

   C:\Program Files\Network Optix\Nx Witness\Client\<version_number>

   version_number = your Nx Desktop version number
   
   
3. Run Nx Desktop