231 lines
7.0 KiB
Markdown
231 lines
7.0 KiB
Markdown
# Installing meshnet-node on Windows 11 with WSL2
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This guide covers setting up a meshnet-node on a Windows 11 machine using WSL2 with CUDA passthrough so it can join an existing inference network over LAN.
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## Prerequisites
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- Windows 11 with WSL2 support (most systems with Windows 10 version 2004+ qualify)
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- NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support (driver ≥ 525.x recommended for WSL2 CUDA)
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- At least 8 GB RAM + enough VRAM for the model shard you intend to serve
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- The Linux machine (other node) is reachable on your LAN
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---
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## Step 1 — Enable WSL2 and install Ubuntu
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Open **PowerShell as Administrator** and run:
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```powershell
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wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04
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```
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This installs WSL2 with Ubuntu 24.04. Reboot when prompted.
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After reboot, Ubuntu starts and asks you to create a UNIX username/password. Choose anything convenient.
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Verify WSL version:
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```powershell
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wsl -l -v
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```
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Output should show `VERSION 2`.
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---
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## Step 2 — Install NVIDIA GPU driver on Windows (NOT inside WSL)
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WSL2 CUDA passthrough works through the Windows host driver. **Do not install CUDA inside WSL2.**
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1. Download the latest Game Ready or Studio driver for your GPU from https://www.nvidia.com/drivers
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2. Install on Windows normally (standard installer).
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3. Inside WSL2 (Ubuntu terminal), verify:
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```bash
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nvidia-smi
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```
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Expected output: your GPU name, driver version, CUDA version. If this command fails, the Windows driver is too old — update it.
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> **Note:** The `cuda-toolkit` package inside WSL2 is optional and only needed if you compile CUDA kernels. For inference with `torch`, the Windows host driver is sufficient.
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---
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## Step 3 — Install Python 3.11+ inside WSL2
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Ubuntu 24.04 ships Python 3.12. Confirm:
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```bash
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python3 --version
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```
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If it shows 3.10 or older:
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```bash
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sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
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sudo apt update
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sudo apt install python3.12 python3.12-venv python3.12-dev
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```
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Install pip:
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```bash
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curl -sS https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py | python3
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```
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---
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## Step 4 — Clone the repository
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Inside WSL2:
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```bash
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# Store the repo in the Linux filesystem (faster I/O than /mnt/c)
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cd ~
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git clone https://github.com/YOUR_ORG/d-popov.com.git
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cd d-popov.com/AI
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```
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---
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## Step 5 — Create a virtualenv and install meshnet-node
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```bash
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python3 -m venv .venv
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source .venv/bin/activate
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# Install node + PyTorch (CUDA build)
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pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124
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pip install -e "packages/node[torch]"
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```
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Verify the install:
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```bash
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meshnet-node --help
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python -c "import transformers; print(transformers.__version__)"
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```
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`transformers` must be **≥ 5.12** for Qwen3.5/3.6-MoE models (older versions fail
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with `'Qwen3_5MoeConfig' object has no attribute 'vocab_size'`). If you install
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into an existing conda/miniforge env instead of a fresh venv, run
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`pip install -U transformers` there. The startup warning about
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`flash-linear-attention` / `causal-conv1d` ("fast path is not available") is
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harmless on CPU — those are optional CUDA-only kernels.
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If you run the node from native Windows instead of WSL2, install the Triton shim
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in the same environment:
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```powershell
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python -m pip install triton-windows
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```
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Without it, Qwen3.5/3.6-MoE startup can fail with the misleading message
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`Could not import module 'Qwen3_5MoeForCausalLM'`.
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---
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## Step 6 — Pre-download the model shard
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Download the model before starting the node so the startup process doesn't time out on the tracker side:
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```bash
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python3 - <<'EOF'
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from transformers import AutoConfig
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AutoConfig.from_pretrained("microsoft/Phi-3-medium-128k-instruct")
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EOF
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```
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For the full model weights (needed at runtime), `transformers` downloads them automatically on first `meshnet-node` start. If you want to pre-fetch:
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```bash
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python3 -c "
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from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM
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AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained('microsoft/Phi-3-medium-128k-instruct', device_map='cpu')
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"
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```
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This can take 10–30 minutes on first run.
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---
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## Step 7 — Expose the node port to your LAN
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WSL2 runs behind a NAT with a virtual IP (typically `172.x.x.x`). Your LAN sees the Windows host IP. You need to forward the node port.
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**Option A — Windows port proxy (recommended for simple setups):**
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In **PowerShell as Administrator**:
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```powershell
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# Get the current WSL2 IP (changes on each WSL restart)
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$wslIp = (wsl hostname -I).Trim()
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# Forward Windows host port 8001 → WSL2 port 8001
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netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 `
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listenport=8001 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 `
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connectport=8001 connectaddress=$wslIp
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# Allow inbound on Windows Firewall
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New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "meshnet-node" `
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-Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 8001 -Action Allow
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```
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Verify: from the Linux machine, `curl http://WINDOWS_LAN_IP:8001/v1/health` should return a response once the node is running.
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**Redo this after every WSL2 restart** — the WSL2 IP changes.
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**Option B — P2P relay (US-017, no port forwarding needed):**
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Start a relay node on the Linux machine. The WSL2 node connects outbound through the relay. No firewall rules needed. See `docs/TWO_MACHINE_TEST.md` for details.
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---
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## Step 8 — Start the node
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Replace `192.168.1.10` with the actual LAN IP of the Linux machine running the tracker.
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Replace shard range with the complementary range to what the Linux node is serving.
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```bash
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source .venv/bin/activate
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meshnet-node \
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--model microsoft/Phi-3-medium-128k-instruct \
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--quantization bf16 \
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--shard-start 20 --shard-end 39 \
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--tracker http://192.168.1.10:8080 \
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--port 8001 \
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--host 0.0.0.0 \
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--advertise-host WINDOWS_LAN_IP
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```
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The `--advertise-host` flag tells the tracker what IP the Linux machine should use to reach this node. Use your Windows machine's LAN IP (e.g. `192.168.1.20`), **not** the WSL2 internal IP.
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Expected startup output:
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```
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Detecting hardware...
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GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (10240 MB VRAM)
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Loading wallet...
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Wallet: 5K7r...
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Loading real PyTorch model shard...
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Auto-detected 40 layers → shard 20–39
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================================
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meshnet-node ready
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Model ID: microsoft/Phi-3-medium-128k-instruct
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Shard: layers 20–39; 20 of 40
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Endpoint: http://192.168.1.20:8001
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Hardware: CUDA
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================================
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```
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---
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## Known issues
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- **WSL2 IP changes on restart.** Always re-run the `netsh` port-proxy command after restarting WSL2 or Windows.
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- **CUDA not visible in WSL2.** If `nvidia-smi` fails inside WSL2, update the Windows host GPU driver to ≥ 525.x. Installing CUDA inside WSL2 will not fix it.
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- **Model download is slow.** HuggingFace downloads happen over HTTPS. Pre-fetch the model before a timed test (see Step 6).
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- **Port 8001 already in use.** Change `--port` to another value and update the firewall/portproxy rules accordingly.
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- **`bf16` not supported on older GPUs.** Use `--quantization int8` on Turing (RTX 20xx) cards or earlier if bfloat16 ops fail.
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