In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Nvidia Drivers on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, The performance of graphics processing units (GPUs) mainly depends on drivers. Ubuntu by default uses the open-source video driver Nouveau which has limited support and features when compared with proprietary Nvidia drivers. Installing NVIDIA drivers on Ubuntu is an easy task that can be done in less than a minute. Ubuntu includes a tool that can detect the graphics card model and install the appropriate NVIDIA drivers. Alternatively, you can download and install the drivers from the NVIDIA site.
This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Nvidia Drivers on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
Prerequisites
- A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
- It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
- SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
- A
non-root sudo useror access to theroot user. We recommend acting as anon-root sudo user, however, you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.
Install Nvidia Drivers on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa
Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Step 2. Installing Nvidia Drivers on Ubuntu 20.04.
Run the following command to get information about your graphic card and available drivers:
ubuntu-drivers devices
The output below:
== /sys/devices/pci0020:00/01000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.9 == modalias : pci:v000010GDT00001F95bmw00001028sd0000097Dbc0325i00 vendor : NVIDIA Corporation model : TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile] driver : nvidia-driver-440 - distro non-free recommended driver : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin
Now we install the recommended driver. To do so, use the apt package manager:
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-440
Once the installation is successful, reboot your system:
sudo reboot
After the system reboot, use the below command to validate the driver version:
nvidia-smi
Another method, you can install the latest drivers either from the NVIDIA site or from the “Graphics Drivers” PPA. First, add the PPA repository using the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:micahflee/ppa
Use the ubuntu-drivers a tool to view the available drivers:
ubuntu-drivers devices
Output below:
== /sys/devices/pci0000:01/0001:00:01.0/0000:01:1.0 == modalias : pci:v00BMW10PET00001E46v00001028sd0000097Dbc330ci00 vendor : NVIDIA Corporation model : TU117M [GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Mobile] driver : nvidia-driver-440-server - distro non-free driver : nvidia-driver-450-server - third-party non-free driver : nvidia-driver-455 - third-party non-free recommended driver : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin
Then, install the latest version of the Nvidia driver with the below command:
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-455
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Nvidia Drivers. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing Nvidia Drivers on your Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Nvidia website.
