nvidia-xconfig(1) General Commands Manual nvidia-xconfig(1)
NAME
nvidia-xconfig - manipulate X configuration files for the NVIDIA driver
SYNOPSIS
nvidia-xconfig [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
nvidia-xconfig is a tool intended to provide basic control over configu-
ration options available in the NVIDIA X driver.
nvidia-xconfig performs its operations in several steps:
1) The system X configuration file is found and read into memory.
If no configuration file can be found, nvidia-xconfig generates
one from scratch using default settings; in this case, nvidia-
xconfig will write the configuration to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
2) The configuration in memory is modified to support the NVIDIA
driver. This consists of changing the display driver to
"nvidia", removing the commands to load the "GLcore" and "dri"
modules, and adding the command to load the "glx" module.
3) The configuration in memory is modified according to the options
specified on the command line. Please see the NVIDIA README for
a description of the NVIDIA X configuration file options. Note
that nvidia-xconfig does not perform any validation of the X con-
figuration file options requested on the command line; X configu-
ration file option validation is left for the NVIDIA X driver.
4) The configuration is written back to the file from which it was
read. A backup of the original configuration is created with
".backup" appended. For example, if your X configuration is
/etc/X11/xorg.conf then nvidia-xconfig will copy it to
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup before writing the new configuration.
The --post-tree (-T) option can be used to print the new configu-
ration to standard out in tree form instead. This option is use-
ful to see what nvidia-xconfig will do while leaving the original
configuration intact.
The source code to nvidia-xconfig is released under the GPL and avail-
able here:
⟨https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-xconfig/⟩
Patches are welcome.
OPTIONS
-c XCONFIG, --xconfig=XCONFIG
Use XCONFIG as the input X config file; if this option is not
specified, then the same search path used by the X server will be
used to find the X configuration file.
-o OUTPUT-XCONFIG, --output-xconfig=OUTPUT-XCONFIG
Use OUTPUT-XCONFIG as the output X configuration file; if this
option is not specified, then the input X configuration filename
will also be used as the output X configuration filename.
-s, --silent
Run silently; no messages will be printed to stdout, except for
warning and error messages to stderr.
-t, --tree
Read the X configuration file, print to stdout the X configura-
tion data in a tree format, and exit.
-v, --version
Print the nvidia-xconfig version and exit.
-h, --help
Print usage information for the common commandline options and
exit.
-A, --advanced-help
Print usage information for the common commandline options as
well as the advanced options, and then exit.
ADVANCED OPTIONS
--acpid-socket-path=ACPID-SOCKET-PATH, --no-acpid-socket-path
Set this option to specify an alternate path to the Linux ACPI
daemon (acpid)'s socket, which the NVIDIA X driver will use to
connect to acpid.
--add-argb-glx-visuals, --no-add-argb-glx-visuals
Enables or disables support for OpenGL rendering into 32-bit ARGB
windows and pixmaps.
--allow-glx-with-composite, --no-allow-glx-with-composite
Enable or disable the "AllowGLXWithComposite" X configuration op-
tion.
--busid=BUSID, --no-busid
This option writes the specified BusID to the device section of
the X configuration file. If there are multiple device sections,
then it adds the BusID field to each of them. To add the BusID
to only a specific device or screen section, use the '--device'
or '--screen' options.
--preserve-busid, --no-preserve-busid
By default, nvidia-xconfig preserves the existing BusID in the X
configuration file only if there are multiple X screens config-
ured for the X server. Use '--preserve-busid' or '--no-pre-
serve-busid' to force the BusID to be preserved or not preserved,
overriding the default behavior.
--cool-bits=COOL-BITS, --no-cool-bits
Enable or disable the "Coolbits" X configuration option. Setting
this option will enable support in the NV-CONTROL X extension for
manipulating GPU clock and GPU fan control settings. Default
value is 0. For fan control set it to 4. WARNING: this may
cause system damage and void warranties.
--composite, --no-composite
Enable or disable the "Composite" X extension.
--connected-monitor=CONNECTED-MONITOR, --no-connected-monitor
Enable or disable the "ConnectedMonitor" X configuration option;
setting this option forces the X driver to behave as if the spec-
ified display devices are connected to the GPU.
--connect-to-acpid, --no-connect-to-acpid
Enable or disable the "ConnectToAcpid" X configuration option.
If this option is set, the NVIDIA X driver will attempt to con-
nect to the Linux ACPI daemon (acpid). Set this option to off to
prevent the X driver from attempting to connect to acpid.
--constant-dpi, --no-constant-dpi
Enable or disable the "ConstantDPI" X configuration option, which
controls whether the NVIDIA X driver maintains a constant dots
per inch (DPI) value by recomputing the reported size in millime-
ters of the X screen when XRandR changes the size in pixels of
the X screen.
--custom-edid=CUSTOM-EDID, --no-custom-edid
Enable or disable the "CustomEDID" X configuration option; set-
ting this option forces the X driver to use the EDID speci-
fied.This option is a semicolon-separated list of pairs of dis-
play device names and filename pairs; e.g "CRT-0:mp\did.bin".
Note that a display device name must always be specified even if
only one EDID is specified.
--dac-8bit, --no-dac-8bit
Most Quadro parts by default use a 10 bit color look up table
(LUT) by default; setting this option to TRUE forces these graph-
ics chips to use an 8 bit (LUT).
-d DEPTH, --depth=DEPTH
Set the default depth to DEPTH ; valid values for DEPTH are 8,
15, 16, 24, and 30.
--device=DEVICE
The nvidia-xconfig utility operates on one or more devices in the
X configuration file. If this option is specified, the device
named DEVICE in the X configuration file will be used. If this
option is not specified, all the devices within the X configura-
tion file will be used.
--disable-glx-root-clipping, --no-disable-glx-root-clipping
Disable or enable clipping OpenGL rendering to the root window
via the "DisableGLXRootClipping" X configuration option.
--damage-events, --no-damage-events
Use OS-level events to notify the X server when a direct-render-
ing client has performed rendering that needs to be composited to
the screen. Improves performance when using GLX with the compos-
ite extension.
--preserve-driver-name
By default nvidia-xconfig changes the display driver to
"nvidia" for all configured X screens; this option preserves the
existing driver name of each X screen.
--egpu, --no-egpu
Enable or disable the "AllowExternalGpus" X configuration option.
-a, --enable-all-gpus
Delete all existing X screens in the current configuration, then
configure an X screen on every GPU in your system.
--exact-mode-timings-dvi, --no-exact-mode-timings-dvi
Forces the initialization of the X server with the exact timings
specified in the ModeLine.
-E FILE, --extract-edids-from-file=FILE
Extract any raw EDID byte blocks contained in the specified X log
file LOG ; raw EDID bytes are printed by the NVIDIA X driver to
the X log as hexadecimal when verbose logging is enabled with the
"-logverbose 6" X server commandline option. Any extracted EDIDs
are then written as binary data to individual files. These files
can later be used by the NVIDIA X driver through the "CustomEDID"
X configuration option.
--extract-edids-output-file=FILENAME
When the '--extract-edids-from-file' option is used, nvidia-xcon-
fig writes any extracted EDID to a file, typically "edid.bin" in
the current directory. Use this option to specify an alternate
filename. Note that nvidia-xconfig, if necessary, will append a
unique number to the EDID filename, to avoid overwriting existing
files (e.g., "edid.bin.1" if "edid.bin" already exists).
--flatpanel-properties=FLATPANEL-PROPERTIES, --no-flatpanel-properties
Set the flat panel properties. The supported properties are
'dithering' and 'ditheringmode'. Please see the NVIDIA README
'Appendix B. X Config Options' for more details on the possible
values and syntax.
--flip, --no-flip
Enable or disable OpenGL flipping
--force-generate
Force generation of a new X config file, ignoring any existing
system X config file. This is not typically recommended, as
things like the mouse protocol, keyboard layout, font paths, etc,
are setup by your Unix distribution. While nvidia-xconfig can
attempt to infer these values, it is best to use your Unix dis-
tribution's X config file for the basis of anything that
nvidia-xconfig creates.
--force-stereo-flipping, --no-force-stereo-flipping
Normally, stereo flipping is only performed when a stereo draw-
able is visible. This option forces stereo flipping even when no
stereo drawables are visible.
--handle-special-keys=WHEN, --no-handle-special-keys
Specify when the X server should use the builtin keyboard handler
to process special key combinations (such as Ctrl+Alt+Backspace);
see the X configuration man page for details. The value of WHEN
can be 'Always', 'Never', or 'WhenNeeded'.
--include-implicit-metamodes, --no-include-implicit-metamodes
Enable or disable the "IncludeImplicitMetaModes" X configuration
option.
--keyboard=KEYBOARD
When generating a new X configuration file (which happens when no
system X configuration file can be found, or the '--force-gener-
ate' option is specified), use KEYBOARD as the keyboard type,
rather than attempting to probe the system for the keyboard type.
For a list of possible keyboard types, see the '--keyboard-list'
option.
--keyboard-driver=DRIVER
In most cases nvidia-xconfig can automatically determine the cor-
rect keyboard driver to use (either 'kbd' or 'keyboard'). Use
this option to override what nvidia-xconfig detects. Typically,
if you are using an X.Org X server, use 'kdb'; if you are using
an XFree86 X server, use 'keyboard'.
--keyboard-list
Print to stdout the available keyboard types recognized by the
'--keyboard' option, and then exit.
--layout=LAYOUT
The nvidia-xconfig utility operates on a Server Layout within the
X configuration file. If this option is specified, the layout
named LAYOUT in the X configuration file will be used. If this
option is not specified, the first Server Layout in the X config-
uration file is used.
--mode=MODE
Add the specified mode to the mode list.
--mode-debug, --no-mode-debug
Enable or disable the "ModeDebug" X configuration option; when
enabled, this option causes the X driver to print verbose details
about mode validation to the X log file.
--mode-list=MODELIST
Remove all existing modes from the X configuration's modelist and
add the one(s) specified in the MODELIST string.
--remove-mode=MODE
Remove the specified mode from the mode list.
--metamodes=METAMODES
Add the MetaMode X configuration option with the value METAMODES
which will replace any existing MetaMode option already in the X
configuration file.
--mouse=MOUSE
When generating a new X configuration file (which happens when no
system X configuration file can be found, or the '--force-gener-
ate' option is specified), use MOUSE as the mouse type, rather
than attempting to probe the system for the mouse type. For a
list of possible mouse types, see the '--mouse-list' option.
--mouse-list
Print to stdout the available mouse types recognized by the
'--mouse' option, and then exit.
--multisample-compatibility, --no-multisample-compatibility
Enable or disable the use of separate front and back multisample
buffers.
--nvidia-cfg-path=PATH
The nvidia-cfg library is used to communicate with the NVIDIA
kernel module to query basic properties of every GPU in the sys-
tem. This library is typically only used by nvidia-xconfig when
configuring multiple X screens. This option tells nvidia-xconfig
where to look for this library (in case it cannot find it on its
own). This option should normally not be needed.
--only-one-x-screen
Disable all but one X screen.
--overlay, --no-overlay
Enable or disable the "Overlay" X configuration option.
--cioverlay, --no-cioverlay
Enable or disable the color index overlay.
--overlay-default-visual, --no-overlay-default-visual
Enable or disable the "OverlayDefaultVisual" X configuration op-
tion.
--transparent-index=INDEX, --no-transparent-index
Pixel to use as transparent when using color index overlays.
Valid values for TRANSPARENT-INDEX are 0-255.
-T, --post-tree
Like the '--tree' option, but goes through the full process of
applying any user requested updates to the X configuration, be-
fore printing the final configuration to stdout in a tree format.
Effectively, this option just causes the configuration to be
printed to stdout as a tree instead of writing the results to
file.
--power-connector-check, --no-power-connector-check
Disable or enable the "NoPowerConnectorCheck" X configuration op-
tion.
--probe-all-gpus, --no-probe-all-gpus
Disable or enable the "ProbeAllGpus" X configuration option.
--query-gpu-info
Print information about all recognized NVIDIA GPUs in the system.
--registry-dwords=REGISTRY-DWORDS, --no-registry-dwords
Enable or disable the "RegistryDwords" X configuration option.
--render-accel, --no-render-accel
Enable or disable the "RenderAccel" X configuration option.
--render-extension, --no-render-extension
Disable or enable the "NoRenderExtension" X configuration option.
--screen=SCREEN
The nvidia-xconfig utility operates on one or more screens within
a Server Layout in the X configuration file. If this option is
specified, the screen named SCREEN in the X configuration file
will be used. If this option is not specified, all screens
within the selected Server Layout in the X configuration file
will be used used.
--separate-x-screens, --no-separate-x-screens
A GPU that supports multiple simultaneous display devices can ei-
ther drive these display devices in a single X screen, or as sep-
arate X screens. When the '--separate-x-screens' option is spec-
ified, each GPU on which an X screen is currently configured will
be updated to have two or more (depending on the capabilities of
that GPU) X screens configured. The '--no-separate-x-screens'
option will remove any extra configured X screens on each GPU.
Please see the NVIDIA README description of "Separate X Screens
on One GPU" for further details.
--x-screens-per-gpu=X-SCREENS-PER-GPU
A GPU that supports multiple simultaneous display devices can ei-
ther drive these display devices in a single X screen, or as sep-
arate X screens. When the '--x-screens-per-gpu=<quantity>' op-
tion is specified, each GPU on which an X screen is currently
configured will be updated to have <quantity> X screens. <quan-
tity> has to be greater than 0. Setting <quantity> to 1 is equiv-
alent to specifying the '--no-separate-x-screens' option. Please
see the NVIDIA README description of "Separate X Screens on One
GPU" for further details.
--sli=SLI, --no-sli
Enable or disable SLI. Valid values for SLI are 'Off' and 'Mo-
saic'.
--stereo=STEREO, --no-stereo
Enable or disable the stereo mode. Valid values for STEREO are:
0 (Disabled), 1 (DDC glasses), 2 (Blueline glasses), 3 (Onboard
stereo), 4 (multi-display clone mode stereo), 5 (SeeReal digital
flat panel), 6 (Sharp3D digital flat panel), 7 (Ari-
sawa/Hyundai/Zalman/Pavione/Miracube), 8 (3D DLP), 9 (3D DLP
INV), 10 (NVIDIA 3D VISION), 11 (NVIDIA 3D VISION PRO), 12 (HDMI
3D), 13 (Tridelity SL).
--thermal-configuration-check, --no-thermal-configuration-check
Disable or enable the "ThermalConfigurationCheck" X configuration
option.
--metamode-orientation=ORIENTATION, --no-metamode-orientation
Specify the MetaModeOrientation. Valid values for ORIENTATION
are: "RightOf" (the default), "LeftOf", "Above", "Below", or
"Clone".
--nvidia-xinerama-info, --no-nvidia-xinerama-info
Enable or disable providing Xinerama information from the NVIDIA
X driver.
--nvidia-xinerama-info-order=NVIDIA-XINERAMA-INFO-ORDER, --no-nvidia-
xinerama-info-order
Enable or disable the "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" X configuration
option. NVIDIA-XINERAMA-INFO-ORDER is a comma-separated list of
display device names that describe the order in which nvidiaXin-
eramaInfo should be reported. E.g., "CRT, DFP, TV".
--ubb, --no-ubb
Enable or disable the "UBB" X configuration option.
--use-edid, --no-use-edid
Enable or disable use of the EDID (Extended Display Identifica-
tion Data) from your display device(s). The EDID will be used
for driver operations such as building lists of available modes,
determining valid frequency ranges, and computing the DPI (Dots
Per Inch). This option defaults to TRUE (the NVIDIA X driver
will use the EDID, when available). It is NOT recommended that
you use this option to globally disable use of the EDID; instead,
use '--no-use-edid-freqs' or '--no-use-edid-dpi' to disable spe-
cific uses of the EDID.
--use-edid-dpi, --no-use-edid-dpi
Enable or disable use of the physical size information in the
display device's EDID, if any, to compute the DPI (Dots Per Inch)
of the X screen. This option defaults to TRUE (the NVIDIA X dri-
ver uses the EDID's physical size, when available, to compute the
DPI).
--use-edid-freqs, --no-use-edid-freqs
Enable or disable use of the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges
given in a display device's EDID, if any. EDID provided range
information will override the HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges
specified in the Monitor section. This option defaults to TRUE
(the NVIDIA X driver will use frequency information from the
EDID, when available).
--use-display-device=DISPLAY-DEVICE, --no-use-display-device
Force the X driver to use the display device specified.
--use-events, --no-use-events
Enable or disable "UseEvents" X configuration option. Setting
this option will enable the X driver to use the system events in
some cases when it is waiting for the hardware. With this option
X driver sets an event handler and waits for the hardware through
the poll() system call. This option defaults to FALSE.
--virtual=WIDTHxHEIGHT, --no-virtual
Specify the virtual screen resolution.
--x-prefix=X-PREFIX
The X installation prefix; the default is /usr/X11R6/. Only un-
der rare circumstances should this option be needed.
--color-space=COLORSPACE, --no-color-space
Enable or disable the "ColorSpace" X configuration option. Valid
values for "COLORSPACE" are: "RGB" and "YCbCr444".
--color-range=COLORRANGE, --no-color-range
Sets the "ColorRange" X configuration option. Valid values for
"COLORRANGE" are: "Full" and "Limited".
--3dvision-usb-path=3DVISION-USB-PATH
Set this option to specify the sysfs path of the connected USB
dongle.
--3dvisionpro-config-file=3DVISIONPRO-CONFIG-FILE
Set this option to specify the NVIDIA 3DVisionPro configuration
file. Ensure X server has a read and write access permissions to
this file. NVIDIA X driver stores the hub and the pairing config-
uration in this file to re-use across X restarts. If this option
is not provided, 3D VisionPro configuration will not be stored.
--3dvision-display-type=3DVISION-DISPLAY-TYPE, --no-3dvision-display-
type
When NVIDIA 3D Vision is enabled with a non 3D Vision ready dis-
play, use this option to specify the display type. Valid values
are: 0 (Assume it is a CRT), 1 (Assume it is a DLP) and 2 (Assume
it is a DLP TV and enable the checkerboard output).
--base-mosaic, --no-base-mosaic
Enable or disable the "BaseMosaic" X configuration option.
--restore-original-backup
Restore a backup of the X configuration that was made before any
changes were made by nvidia-xconfig, if such a backup is avail-
able. This type of backup is made by nvidia-xconfig before it
modifies an X configuration file that it has not previously
touched; this is assumed to be an X configuration file that pre-
dates the involvement of the NVIDIA X driver. As an example,
nvidia-xconfig will copy an X configuration file at
/etc/X11/xorg.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original
the first time it makes changes to that file.
--allow-empty-initial-configuration, --no-allow-empty-initial-configura-
tion
Allow the X server to start even if no connected display devices
could be detected.
--inband-stereo-signaling, --no-inband-stereo-signaling
Enable or disable the "InbandStereoSignaling" X configuration op-
tion.
--force-yuv-420, --no-force-yuv-420
Enable or disable the "ForceYUV420" X configuration option. If
the current display and GPU both support uncompressed RGB 4:4:4
output and YUV 4:2:0 compressed output with the current mode,
then RGB 4:4:4 output is selected by default. This option forces
the use of YUV 4:2:0 output (where supported) instead.
--force-composition-pipeline=FORCE-COMPOSITION-PIPELINE, --no-force-com-
position-pipeline
Enable or disable the "ForceCompositionPipeline" X configuration
option.
--force-full-composition-pipeline=FORCE-FULL-COMPOSITION-PIPELINE,
--no-force-full-composition-pipeline
Enable or disable the "ForceFullCompositionPipeline" X configura-
tion option.
--allow-hmd=ALLOW-HMD, --no-allow-hmd
Enable or disable the "AllowHMD" X configuration option.
--prime, --no-prime
Enable PRIME for the generated X config file. Cannot be run with
--no-busid or --no-allow-empty-initial-configuration. On a system
with more than 1 GPU, specify the GPU to use for PRIME with
--busid or the first available will be chosen. Note that to en-
able PRIME it is necessary to run "xrandr --setprovideroutput-
source modesetting NVIDIA-0" and "xrandr --auto" after comple-
tion.
EXAMPLES
nvidia-xconfig
Reads an existing X config file and adapts it to use the NVIDIA
driver. If no X config file can be found, a new one is created
at /etc/X11/xorg.conf with default settings.
nvidia-xconfig --post-tree --metamode-orientation=clone
Reads the existing X configuration file, adds the MetaModeOrien-
tation option, and then prints the resulting config file to stan-
dard out in tree form. The configuration file is not modified.
nvidia-xconfig --enable-all-gpus
Examines the system and configures an X screen for each display
device it finds.
nvidia-xconfig --mode=1600x1200
Adds a 1600x1200 mode to an existing X configuration.
nvidia-xconfig --mode-list=1600x1200 1280x1024
Removes any existing modes from the X configuration file, replac-
ing them with "1600x1200" and "1280x1024".
nvidia-xconfig --metamodes=1024x768 +0+0, 1024x768 +1024+0
Adds the MetaMode "1024x768 +0+0, 1024x768 +1024+0" to the exist-
ing X configuration file, replacing any existing MetaModes X con-
figuration option.
nvidia-xconfig --only-one-x-screen --sli=Auto
Configures the X server to have just one X screen that will use
SLI when available.
AUTHOR
Aaron Plattner
NVIDIA Corporation
SEE ALSO
nvidia-settings(1), /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README.txt
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2005-2010 NVIDIA Corporation.
nvidia-xconfig 615.71.09 2026-09-09 nvidia-xconfig(1)
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