How to run headless sunshine on ArchLinux (Nvidia+IntelGPU)

[awcator]

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Hi everyone, I'm trying to run Sunshine in headless mode. I'm a Sunshine beginner and have purchased a dummy HDMI plug, which I want Sunshine to use. My current setup is Arch Linux with i3—no external display manager, just starting X directly to launch i3.

xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1200, maximum 16384 x 16384                                                                                                                         
eDP-1 connected primary 1920x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 215mm                                                                                                  
   1920x1200     60.10*+  59.88    59.95    40.06                                                                                                                                               
   1920x1080     60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93                                                        
..
...
HDMI-1-0 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   3840x2160     59.98 +  59.94    50.00    29.97    25.00    23.98  
   4096x2160     59.94    50.00    29.97    25.00    24.00    23.98  
   1920x1080    120.00   100.00    60.00    60.00    59.94    50.00    29.97    25.00    23.98  

sunshine start logs ( i don't have any config, starting with defaults)

[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968436] [0x00007ff741659000] [info]    config: 'wan_encryption_mode' = 0                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968461] [0x00007ff741659000] [info]    config: 'output_name' = 8                                                                                                           
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968464] [0x00007ff741659000] [info]    config: 'adapter_name' = /dev/dri/card1                                                                                             
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: Sunshine version: 2025.628.4510                                                                                                                                
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: Package Publisher: Third Party Publisher                                                                                                                       
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: Publisher Website:                                                                                                                                             
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: Get support: https://app.lizardbyte.dev/support                                                                                                                
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: config: 'adapter_name' = /dev/dri/card1                                                                                                                        
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: config: 'output_name' = 8                                                                                                                                      
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.968]: Info: config: 'wan_encryption_mode' = 0                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                                                                
(sunshine:14252): libayatana-appindicator-WARNING **: 19:57:06.972: libayatana-appindicator is deprecated. Please use libayatana-appindicator-glib in newly written code.                       
[2025-09-09 19:57:06.999]: Info: System tray created                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                                
(sunshine:14252): Gdk-CRITICAL **: 19:57:07.120: gdk_window_thaw_toplevel_updates: assertion 'window->update_and_descendants_freeze_count > 0' failed                                           
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.164]: Error: Failed to get NvFBC status: Unable to get X driver status                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.190]: Error: Couldn't release NvFBC context from current thread: Unable to get X driver status                                                                             
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.190]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.190]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.190]: Error: Environment variable WAYLAND_DISPLAY has not been defined                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.190]: Info: Detecting displays                                                                                                                                             
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: eDP-1 (id: 0)eDP-1 connected: true                                                                                                           
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-4 (id: 1)DP-4 connected: false                                                                                                            
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-5 (id: 2)DP-5 connected: false                                                                                                            
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-6 (id: 3)DP-6 connected: false                                                                                                            
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: HDMI-2 (id: 4)HDMI-2 connected: false                                                                                                        
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: HDMI-3 (id: 5)HDMI-3 connected: false
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-1-0 (id: 6)DP-1-0 connected: false
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-1-1 (id: 7)DP-1-1 connected: false
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: HDMI-1-0 (id: 8)HDMI-1-0 connected: true
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-1-2 (id: 9)DP-1-2 connected: false
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.294]: Info: Detected display: DP-1-3 (id: 10)DP-1-3 connected: false
[2025-09-09 19:57:07.320]: Warning: Gamepad ds5 is disabled due to Permission denied

It clearly shows that HDMI with ID 8 was detected, but when I try to connect from Moonlight, I get the following error:

[2025-09-09 19:58:09.442]: Info: // Testing for available encoders, this may generate errors. You can safely ignore those errors. //                                                            
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.442]: Info: Trying encoder [nvenc]                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.442]: Info: Screencasting with KMS                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.442]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.443]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.443]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.443]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.443]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.443]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.643]: Info: Screencasting with KMS                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.643]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.643]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.644]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.644]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.644]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.644]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.844]: Info: Encoder [nvenc] failed                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.844]: Info: Trying encoder [vaapi]                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.844]: Info: Screencasting with KMS                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.844]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.845]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.845]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.845]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.845]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:09.845]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.046]: Info: Screencasting with KMS                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.046]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.046]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.046]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.046]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.047]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm                                                                                                                                   
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.047]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]                                                                                                                                     
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.247]: Info: Encoder [vaapi] failed                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.247]: Info: Trying encoder [software]                                                                                                                                      
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.247]: Info: Screencasting with KMS                                                                                                                                         
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.247]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.248]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.248]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.448]: Info: Screencasting with KMS
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.448]: Info: /dev/dri/card2 -> i915
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.449]: Info: /dev/dri/card1 -> nvidia-drm
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.449]: Error: Couldn't find monitor [8]
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.649]: Info: Encoder [software] failed
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.649]: Fatal: Unable to find display or encoder during startup.
[2025-09-09 19:58:10.649]: Fatal: Please ensure your manually chosen GPU and monitor are connected and powered on.
[2025-09-09 19:58:13.730]: Info: // Testing for available encoders, this may generate errors. You can safely ignore those errors. //
[2025-09-09 19:58:13.730]: Info: Trying encoder [nvenc]

If I set the display number to 0, it works, but it just streams my main laptop screen. What I want is to hide my laptop’s primary screen and run Sunshine on a separate virtual display.

[MrAwesome]

What do you mean by headless? Two things:

1. It sounds like you might be actually having a driver issue? Did you build the package with CUDA? There's some issue with sunshine on nvidia where you need to manually specify that you want cuda, iirc. If you already did - I was able to solve a similar issue by switching my laptop to dGPU-only mode and setting my X11 config to just launch X with the nvidia driver.

2. I did keep having issues with having the dummy plug on during normal operation, so I switched to something more bespoke. I run a separate X server on another vt (so doing Ctrl+Alt+F3, logging in, running startx) using an X11 config that specifically just starts on the dummy plug and uses just the nvidia driver. The real caveat is that you need to Ctrl+Alt+F3 before you can successfully use the stream, and then Ctrl+Alt+F1 or whatever to get back to your usable window manager on your screen, which may be a dealbreaker if you're trying to use both at the same time. Since switching to this setup, I've had far fewer problems (and better performance). It's as close to truly headless as you're likely to get, as far as I can tell. Just more headache to set up and use.

[LizardByte-bot]

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