No CMD output

[Nathan_K]

I’m having an issue lately where my CMD line isn’t resulting in any output. I just get “<n/a>” returned due to no result.

CMD=active:1,interval:5,read-as-csv:1,csv-header:0,file:nvidia-smi.exe,parameters:--query-gpu=utilization.gpu\,temperature.gpu\,memory.used\,memory.total --format=csv\,noheader\,nounits,trim:1,show-window:0,color:22ccee,chart:line2 scale:linear max:100 series1:%1 color1:00ff00,threshold1:1 40 909090,threshold2:1 60 FFBF00,threshold3:1 90 ff0000,text:GPU Usage,display:Usage: %1% Temp: %2C %chart%|Memory: %3 MiB / %4 MiB

Debug logs show the following:

09-04-21 11:01:10:038 DATA  CMD --query-gpu=utilization.gpu,temperature.gpu,memory.used,memory.total --format=csv,noheader,nounits
09-04-21 11:01:10:041 DEBUG CMD run, time: 0ms
09-04-21 11:01:10:042 DEBUG CMD process
09-04-21 11:01:10:043 DATA  CMD () True

If I run the command from CMD.EXE directly I get the following:

C:\>nvidia-smi.exe --query-gpu=utilization.gpu,temperature.gpu,memory.used,memory.total --format=csv,noheader,nounits
2, 44, 1873, 4096

Version: 2.10.2 (was in issue in 2.10.1 as well)

Thanks in advance.

[Glenn]

weird. almost like it can’t find nvidia-smi.exe.

[Nathan_K]

Agreed. I’ve tried it using “CMD.EXE” and “/C nvidia-smi.exe ……” for the parameters as well. I get the same result. Are you able to replicate the issue at all?

This snippet works fine though and I get the expected output. Perhaps something in the CSV output?

CMD=active:1,interval:3,file:cmd.exe,parameters:/C hostname,trim:1,text:Test CMD,display:%4

[Nathan_K]

So I just tested my CSV theory with the following snippet, which, if I’m reading your manual correctly, should output the exact thing as the prior snippet (previous reply).

CMD=active:1,interval:3,read-as-csv:1,csv-header:0,file:cmd.exe,parameters:/C hostname,trim:1,text:Test CMD,display:%1

Instead, I get the output of “<n/a>”.

[Glenn]

The trim option might be messing up the csv parser. Try setting it to 0.

[Nathan_K]

Tried with Trim set to 0. Same result.

[Nathan_K]

Allow me to clarify on that. Same result of “<n/a>” for the nvidia-smi.exe line, but it does fix the display issue when used with the hostname test I performed.

[Nathan_K]

So I tried changing my nvidia-smi.exe line to use cmd.exe with “/C nvidia-smi.exe” instead and the command causes DTI to hang while trying to display the output. Almost like the command isn’t finishing it’s execution.

[Glenn]

I’m hamstrung because I don’t have a box with an nvidia card to test on.

Try running nvidia-smi.exe with no parameters so that it returns it’s standard error message.

CMD=interval:5,file:”C:\Program Files\Nvidia Corporation\NVSMI\nvidia-smi.exe”

Try adding the full path as above.

I notice nvidia-smi wants to be run as Administrator.

[Nathan_K]

Since NVIDIA also installs the .exe into the Windows\System32 path, you can run it without a path on it. Below are the commands I executed, and their output. Also, it does not require Administrator level permissions to be executed.

CMD=interval:5,file:nvidia-smi.exe

Output: Command <n/a>

From a CMD.EXE prompt:

C:\>nvidia-smi.exe
Tue Apr 13 21:47:23 2021
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 461.40       Driver Version: 461.40       CUDA Version: 11.2     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name            TCC/WDDM | Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                               |                      |               MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  GeForce GTX 105... WDDM  | 00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
|  0%   49C    P8    N/A /  72W |    807MiB /  4096MiB |      2%      Default |
|                               |                      |                  N/A |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                  |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                  GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                   Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A      1568    C+G   ...zilla Firefox\firefox.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A      1676    C+G   Insufficient Permissions        N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A      2040    C+G   ...zilla Firefox\firefox.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A      5260    C+G   ...root\Office16\OUTLOOK.EXE    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A      7480    C+G   C:\Windows\explorer.exe         N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     10184    C+G   Insufficient Permissions        N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     11268    C+G   ...Battle.net\Battle.net.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     13036    C+G   ...s (x86)\Origin\Origin.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     13064    C+G   Insufficient Permissions        N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     13644    C+G   ...5n1h2txyewy\SearchApp.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     14228    C+G   ...y\ShellExperienceHost.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     14324    C+G   ...ekyb3d8bbwe\YourPhone.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     14828    C+G   ...Battle.net\Battle.net.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     14928    C+G   ...nputApp\TextInputHost.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     15492    C+G   ...d\app-0.0.309\Discord.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     15736    C+G   ...ram Files\LGHUB\lghub.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     16704    C+G   ...les\reWASD\reWASDTray.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     16892    C+G   ...86)\Overwolf\Overwolf.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     18012    C+G   ...qxf38zg5c\Skype\Skype.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     18100    C+G   ...ropbox\Client\Dropbox.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     18808    C+G   ...qxf38zg5c\Skype\Skype.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     19376    C+G   ....0.12\OverwolfBrowser.exe    N/A      |
|    0   N/A  N/A     20888    C+G   ...lPanel\SystemSettings.exe    N/A      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Glenn]

if you were to redirect that output to a text file from the command line:

C:\>nvidia-smi.exe >nvidia.txt

and open it in notepad.exe what would the text encoding be?

is 461.40 the version of the executable?

[Nathan_K]

The txt file is formatted UTF-16LE.

As far as the version, 461.40 is the current driver version, but NVIDIA updates the nvidia-smi.exe with each driver update. The file version is 8.17.14.6140, of which you will not the last 5-digits of the file version match the driver version.

[Glenn]

try adding code page to the DTI options:

CMD=interval:5,file:nvidia-smi.exe,code-page:437

[Nathan_K]

Didn’t seem to help. I did some additional testing and this part makes no sense what so ever.

CMD=active:1,interval:3,read-as-csv:0,csv-header:0,file:cmd.exe,parameters:/C "C:\Windows\System32\nvidia-smi.exe",trim:1,code-page:437,text:Test CMD,display:%4'

Results in the following:

‘C:\Windows\System32\nvidia-smi.exe’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.`

But, running the same from the CMD prompt (non-elevated) results with:

Wed Apr 14 20:51:42 2021
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 461.40       Driver Version: 461.40       CUDA Version: 11.2     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name            TCC/WDDM | Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                               |                      |               MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  GeForce GTX 105... WDDM  | 00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
|  0%   54C    P8    N/A /  72W |   1534MiB /  4096MiB |     35%      Default |
|                               |                      |                  N/A |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
........

[Glenn]

directory option?

maybe run it via a batch file? I’m clutching at straws now trying to think of ways to understand what’s going on.

[Nathan_K]

Ok, so I created a batch file to test this as you recommended.

Batch file:

@Echo Off
If Exist "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\NVIDIA-SMI.EXE" Goto STATUS

:: Exit with error code
Echo Unable to locate executable.
Exit

:STATUS
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\NVIDIA-SMI.EXE --query-gpu=utilization.gpu,temperature.gpu,memory.used,memory.total --format=csv,noheader,nounits
Exit

Output when run from CMD directly:

C:\Users\nxxxxxxxxxxx\AppData\Local\DesktopInfo\scripts>gpu-status.bat
4, 58, 1569, 4096

Config line:
CMD=active:1,interval:3,read-as-csv:0,csv-header:0,file:cmd.exe,parameters:/C .\scripts\gpu-status.bat,trim:1,text:Test CMD,display:%4

Output from DTI:
Unable to locate executable.

I’m at a complete loss.

[Glenn]

so that tells me that DTI is running the batch file successfully but the process that is running the batch file doesn’t have access to c:\windows\system32.

a couple of things to try:

1. replace nvidia-smi.exe with some other command line tool in system32, say diskperf.exe, driverquery.exe etc. anything that produces a command line output.

2. when running nvidia-smi.exe directly from the DTI CMD item, I would be interested to see the error codes:

CMD=file:c:\windows\system32\nvidia-smi.exe, display:%1 %2 %3 %4

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 6 days ago by Glenn.

[Nathan_K]

Output when run using your snippet above are as follows: 0 2 0

As for putting DISKPERF.EXE into the batch file instead? The output is below:

Both Logical and Physical Disk Performance counters on this system
        are automatically enabled on demand.
For legacy applications using IOCTL_DISK_PERFORMANCE to retrieve raw counters,
you can use -Y or -N to forcibly enable or disable. No restart is required.

Works perfect. This is making less and less sense as we go along.

[Nathan_K]

So I’ve got it working, thought it isn’t pretty. While I couldn’t get it to find or read the file in the C:\Windows\System32 path, I managed to get it to read the one in the DriverStore sub-folder. But since that folder name can change, I had to jump through some ugly hoops to get it to work right. My line of config code is below.

CMD=active:1,interval:5,hide-no-result:1,read-as-csv:1,csv-header:0,file:powershell.exe,parameters:-Command "& $($(Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore' -Include nvidia-smi.exe -Recurse -File).FullName) --query-gpu=utilization.gpu\,temperature.gpu\,memory.used\,memory.total --format=csv\,noheader\,nounits",trim:0,show-window:0,color:22ccee,chart:line2 scale:linear max:100 series1:%1 color1:00ff00,threshold1:1 40 909090,threshold2:1 60 FFBF00,threshold3:1 90 ff0000,text:GPU Usage,display:Usage: %1% Temp: %2C %chart%|Memory: %3 MiB / %4 MiB

I’m getting the output I’m looking for and it’s working fine, but that was not fun.

Attachments:

1. 

   DTI-GPU-Status.png
   

[Glenn]

wow! nice work.

according to the manual the error codes are:

0 = CreateProcess failed.
2 = Error Code 2 = ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND

I don’t know exactly what that means in this case but for some reason the system is blocking you from accessing that exe file in the system32 directory.

• This reply was modified 1 week, 4 days ago by Glenn.

[JoeJr]

Hi!
Desktop Info is a wonderful tool, but I have the same problem as the OP.
So, I did some testing, and there is a couple of strange things happening.

1. DesktopInfo.exe never tries to read C:\Windows\System32 when looking for the EXE-file.
You can test this by pointing directly to the file (C:\Windows\System32\nvidia-smi.exe) and use a tool, f.ex Process Monitor by Sysinternals to verify this.

2. The parameters option does not work in this context.
Using the option just triggers the default screen in nvidia-smi.

I copied the file to another directory, and renamed it to be sure, n-smi.exe.

This now works as expected:
CMD=text:GPUtest,interval:5,read-as-csv:1,csv-header:0,file:F:\Test\n-smi.exe --query-gpu=utilization.gpu\,temperature.gpu\,memory.used\,memory.total\,power.draw --format=csv\,noheader\,nounits,display:Usage: %1% Temp: %2C |Memory: %3 MiB / %4 MiB|PowerUse: %5 W,chart:line2 scale:linear max:100 series1:%2 color1:%Green%,threshold1:1 40 909090,threshold2:1 60 FFBF00,threshold3:1 90 ff0000

I also copied the renamed file back to System32, and the same thing happens. DesktopInfo.exe never reads that directory

Kind Regards,
JoeJr

[Author]

Posts