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Tutorial

Nvidia Driver Installation

How to install NVIDIA GPU drivers for Ubuntu and Debian — covers disabling Secure Boot, adding the graphics-drivers PPA, installing the driver, and verifying with nvidia-smi.

Hake HardwarePublished Updated ~3 minbeginner

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Contents

Note: Secure Boot must be turned off in your BIOS for the drivers to install successfully. These instructions are for Ubuntu 24.04, if you are running a different version or distro take caution.

Add Nvidia PPA

Ensure your system has the latest packages:

bash
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Add the Nvidia PPA:

bash
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

When prompted hit ENTER to continue. Pull the latest packages:

bash
sudo apt update

Check which drivers are available. I usually go with the 'recommended' version:

bash
ubuntu-drivers devices

Install Drivers

Once you identify the driver you wish to install, use apt to install it:

bash
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-<DRIVER VERSION>

Reboot for the changes to take effect:

bash
sudo reboot now

Confirm Installation

Check nvidia-smi to see if the GPU is detected and the correct driver version is installed:

bash
nvidia-smi

I have the nvidia-driver-560 installed at the time of this guide, and my output reflects that

Terminal output of nvidia-smi command showing NVIDIA-SMI 560.35.03, Driver Version 560.35.03, CUDA Version 12.6, with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 detected

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