How to install Torch on windows 8.1?

Question

Torch is a scientific computing framework with wide support for machine learning algorithms. It is easy to use and efficient, thanks to an easy and fast scripting language, LuaJIT, and an underlying C/CUDA implementation.

Q:

Is there a way to install torch on MS Windows 8.1?

Assail

This seems to work OK: github.com/diz-vara/luajit-rocks - I want to have NeuralTalk2 on top of it, but there is still some work to do with that (loadcaffe module dependent on protobuf library, etc.; cjson was easy) I'm not talking about compiling cutorch yet... – Retread

Answer 1

I got it installed and running on Windows (although not 8.1, but I don't expect the process to be different) following instructions in this repository; it's now deprecated, but wasn't deprecated few months ago when I built it. The new instructions point to torch/torch7 repository, but it has a different structure and I haven't been able to build it on Windows yet.

There are instructions on how to install Torch7 from luarocks, but you may run into issues on windows as well; I haven't tried this process. It seems like there is no official support for Windows yet, but some work is being done by contributors (there is a link to a pull request in that thread).

Based on my experience, compiling that deprecated repo may be your best option on Windows at the moment.

Update (7/9/2015): I've recently submitted several changes that fix compilation issues with mingw, so you may try the most recent version of torch7 and follow the build instructions in the ticket. Note that the changes only apply to the core lib and additional libraries may need similar changes.

Wham

Answer 2

This webpage hosted by New York University recommends installing a Linux virtual machine in order to run Torch7 on Windows through Linux. Another option would off course be to install a Linux dist in parallel with Windows 8.

Otherwise, if you don't mind running an older version of Torch, there is a Windows installer for Torch5 at SourceForge.

Karttikeya

What hardware/software/config is necessary to use a GPU from inside the virtual machine? – Salutary

@Aleksandr: Honestly, I don't know exactly. Although I did install VIrtualBox on Windows 7 and then successfully installed Torch 7 on Linux Mint Cinnamon 64 bit on that virtual machine (VM). I later installed Linux Mint on my computer (not on any VM) and Torch 7 on that. I believe I had to install some extra software on the VM that I didn't have to install on the Linux Mint installation that I did outside of the VM to get Torch working, but I don't remember what software. That may have been because I never install Linux Mint on the VM (I don't remember if I installed it or ran it live). – Karttikeya

@AleksandrDubinsky: Furthermore, I have only tried launching Torch 7 but not actually done anything in it yet, so I don't know whether it really works. So extra software configuration may be necessary, and I guess I will never find out if VirtaulBox emulates the hardware that Torch 7 requires to be able to do everything, because after installing Linux Mint on my computer I have kind of abandoned Windows :) – Karttikeya

Answer 3

I think to use a GPU from inside the virtual machine, the processor and the motherboard should not only support VT-x , but VT-d should be supported too.

But the question is, if I use a CPU with VT-d supported, do you think there will be a significant loss in PCIe connections efficiency?

From what I understand, VT-d is important if I want to give the virtual machines direct access to my hardware components (like PCI Express cards). Like directly attach graphics card to vm instead of host machine. Isn't that mean that the PCIe connections efficiency will be the same just like if it was the host?

Outlook