I would like to run two instances of BOINC, one as a service (for CPU work only) and the second as a non-service to allow for GPU projects. Is that possible?

My limited attempts thus far indicate that any subsequent installation simply uninstalls the first one, which doesn't get me very far.

No, this cannot be done. And honestly, I wouldn't know why you'd want to do so either, as you can set up BOINC to run either just CPU, or GPU, or both.

Hint: Project preferences. There you can stipulate what hardware to use. There you can set up which venue to use. Make combos.

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No, this cannot be done. And honestly, I wouldn't know why you'd want to do so either, as you can set up BOINC to run either just CPU, or GPU, or both.

(1) Sometimes BOINC seems to cause minor problems on the desktop when running in the non-service mode (icons disappearing, LAN player crashing). They seem to be largely avoided when just running CPU projects in Service mode. Whether mixed-mode would solve that I don't know, but it is worth a try.

(2) I need to run the CPU project (CEP2) on a Ramdisk due to the large number of writes. I would like to run the GPU projects off the SSD directly. I just had a system freeze-up and lost a fair amount of GPU work because it was on the Ramdisk too.

If I can't have service/non-service, then just two non-service installations would help so that I can select two different BOINC data directories. That is said to be possible, but I can't find any instructions for it that seem to reliably work (preferably on 7.2.5 64-bit).

It can be done, but reliably? Not sure.

You'd need two directories, one for each data directory.
Both BOINC need their own GUI RPC port if you want to manage either with a BOINC Manager.

Run the following in order from a command line, or add them into a batch file. Do add the quotes, Windows will want them.
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boinc.exe" --gui_rpc_port 31416 --dir C:\BOINC_data_1 --detach
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /m /n localhost /g 31416 /p xxxxxxxxxx

"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boinc.exe" --gui_rpc_port 31417 --dir C:\BOINC_data_2 --detach
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /m /n localhost /g 31417 /p xxxxxxxxxx

The above starts one client on RPC 31416 and Data directory 1, the other on RPC 31417 and Data directory 2. The --detach will close the command line window.
The BOINC Managers will start according to port number. Although it's all possible that BM won't start twice anymore since changes were added to how it should treat the start of a second BM from within the Advanced menu. I never tried.

The password can be found in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and if you never touched it, will be a 32 character hexadecimal password. I'm also not sure if the second BM needs a separate (new) password or not. Also never tried.

Arguments can be found when running boincmgr.exe -h from the command line.

Usage: boincmgr [/h] [--verbose] [/a] [/s] [/n <str>] [/g <str>] [/p <str>] [/b <str>] [/i] [/c] [/m]
/h --help --> show this help message.
--verbose --> generate verbose log messages.
/a --autostart --> BOINC Manager was started by the operating system automatically.
/s --systray --> Startup BOINC Manager so only the system tray icon is visible.
/n --namehost=<str> --> Host name or IP address.
/g --gui_rpc_port=<str> --> GUI RPC port number.
/p --password=<str> --> Password.
/b --boincargs=<str> --> Startup BOINC with these optional arguments.
/i --insecure --> Disable BOINC security users and permissions.
/c --checkskins --> Set skin debugging mode to enable skin manager error messages.
/m --multiple --> multiple instances of BOINC Manager allowed.

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Thanks. That is a good start.

Although it's all possible that BM won't start twice anymore since changes were added to how it should treat the start of a second BM from within the Advanced menu. I never tried.

The password can be found in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and if you never touched it, will be a 32 character hexadecimal password. I'm also not sure if the second BM needs a separate (new) password or not. Also never tried.

Having thought about these, I think the following will all work:

In every BOINC Data directory edit the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and add in a password from 1 to 4. So e.g. the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file in BOINC_data_1 will contain 1 as the password. Add only '1' (without the quotes), do not add an Enter at the end of the line. E.g. in BOINC_data_4 gui_rpc_auth.cfg will contain 4 as the password.

Then the next lines, run from a batch file, will work:

"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boinc.exe" --gui_rpc_port 31416 --dir C:\BOINC_data_1 --detach
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /m /n localhost /g 31416 /p 1

"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boinc.exe" --gui_rpc_port 31417 --dir C:\BOINC_data_2 --detach
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /m /n localhost /g 31417 /p 2

"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boinc.exe" --gui_rpc_port 31418 --dir C:\BOINC_data_3 --detach
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /m /n localhost /g 31418 /p 3

"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boinc.exe" --gui_rpc_port 31419 --dir C:\BOINC_data_4 --detach
"C:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /m /n localhost /g 31419 /p 4

This will run 4 clients, all from their own data directory, all with their own BOINC Manager.

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In every BOINC Data directory edit the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and add in a password from 1 to 4. So e.g. the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file in BOINC_data_1 will contain 1 as the password. Add only '1' (without the quotes), do not add an Enter at the end of the line. E.g. in BOINC_data_4 gui_rpc_auth.cfg will contain 4 as the password.

That looks good to me. However, it so happens that I do most of my BOINC work on remote machine over the LAN, and use the full 32-bit password to monitor them with BoincTasks (all set to the same password for convenience). I suppose it would be possible to do what you suggest just by substituting 1 to 4 (for example) in the least significant bit of the password?

For that matter, I don't really need 32-bits at all, since it is a secure LAN, and can just use 1 to 4 (for example). Is there any reason that wouldn't work over the LAN with BoincTasks?

Is there any reason that wouldn't work over the LAN with BoincTasks?

I have no experience with BOINCTasks. You'd have to ask Fred about that. It's his puppy.

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Is there any reason that wouldn't work over the LAN with BoincTasks?

I have no experience with BOINCTasks. You'd have to ask Fred about that. It's his puppy.

I have no direct experience with this either, but I was told by a reliable tester who tried it:

Running two BOINC core clients at once worked fine.
BOINC's own Manager always connected to the first instance of the client, no matter how hard she tried to get it to use the second RPC port.
BOINC Tasks was able to connect to, monitor, and manage both client instances at once.

BoincTasks stores the pwd, so you don't need to memorise the 32bit key, but if you are already using it over the LAN with short pwd, no reason to have that second instance deviate from the pattern - from the program point of view, not security.

you may need to start the second BOINC with -allow_multiple_clients - though you might be able to just set that option in cc_config.xml

And it doesn't matter if the password is identical for all BOINC client instances, and for all machines on the LAN.

Is there any reason that wouldn't work over the LAN with BoincTasks?

Not there isn't

See this post: http://www.efmer.eu/forum_tt/index.php?topic=856.0

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TThrottle The way to control your CPU and GPU temperature.
BoincTasks The best view of BOINC.
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See this post: http://www.efmer.eu/forum_tt/index.php?topic=856.0

If you change cc_config.xml make sure to set <allow_multiple_clients>1</allow_multiple_clients>.
Otherwise you can't run more than one client.

Do you need the cc_config.xml at all for this, or is the command line itself enough?

See this post: http://www.efmer.eu/forum_tt/index.php?topic=856.0

If you change cc_config.xml make sure to set <allow_multiple_clients>1</allow_multiple_clients>.
Otherwise you can't run more than one client.

Do you need the cc_config.xml at all for this, or is the command line itself enough?

I don't think so.
But sometimes the cc_config.xml is generated by the client, so I think it applies only when its there.

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TThrottle The way to control your CPU and GPU temperature.
BoincTasks The best view of BOINC.
My other activities