Running the gpumodeswitch tool on GRID M60/M6 cards on VMware ESXi returns an error: “Error: NO NVIDIA display adapters found"

Workaround / Solution

Customers should check for the presence of a previously installed vib and remove it to allow the mode switching tool to be installed and run correctly by following the advice in the latest version of the GPUMODESWITCH tool documentation (in May 2016 this was http://images.nvidia.com/content/pdf/grid/guides/GRID-gpumodeswitch-UserGuide-Apr2016.pdf), the documentation is included in the product download.

0) Customers should ensure that VMwareDirectPath I/O (direct I/O mode) is not configured. There is more information here:

https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1010789

1) Customers should ensure the host is in maintenance mode .e.g. to put the ESXi host into maintenance mode.

# vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

2) If an NVIDIA driver is already installed on the ESXi host, remove the driver.

a) Get the name of the VIB package that contains the NVIDIA driver.

# esxcli software vib list | grep -i nvidia

b) Remove the VIB package that contains the NVIDIA driver.

# esxcli software vib remove -n NVIDIA-driver-package

NVIDIA-driver-package is the VIB package name that you got in the previous step.

Reboot the ESXi host.

3) Run the esxcli command to install the VIB.

# esxcli software vib install -v /NVIDIA-GpuModeSwitch-1OEM.600.0.0.2494585.x86_64.vib

NOTE:

Add the following at the end of the command line:
--no-sig-check

The above command line fails because NVIDIA does not use a public certificate authority with which we sign this ViB file.

4) Take the host out of maintenance mode.

# vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

5.Reboot the ESXi host.

# reboot