Installing and Troubleshooting NVIDIA Drivers on Ubuntu

This guide walks a new user through safely installing NVIDIA proprietary drivers on Ubuntu (24.04 and similar). Follow the numbered steps exactly. If Secure Boot prompts appear, follow the enrollment steps described below.

1 Detect NVIDIA hardware

Identify PCI devices and driver info:

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 \[03\]:
# or more specifically
lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 nvidia
# show kernel modules and drivers
lspci -vnn | grep -i nvidia -A 12

If output shows an NVIDIA VGA/3D controller, proceed.

2 Recommended automatic install (safe)

Ubuntu provides ubuntu-drivers to recommend tested packages. Run:

sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
sudo reboot

This installs a distribution-tested driver and DKMS modules if needed. Reboot to load the new kernel module.

3 Manual install of a specific driver version

To explicitly install a version (example nvidia-driver-535):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nvidia-driver-535 nvidia-utils-535
sudo reboot

Verify installation after reboot:

nvidia-smi
lsmod | grep nvidia

4 Secure Boot and MOK enrollment

If Secure Boot is enabled, the kernel will refuse unsigned modules. When installing DKMS-based drivers, Ubuntu often triggers a MOK enrollment prompt on next reboot. If you miss it, enroll manually:

Generate a key (run once):

sudo apt install -y mokutil openssl
sudo openssl req -new -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /root/MOK.priv -out /root/MOK.pem -nodes -days 3650 -subj "/CN=Custom MOK/"
sudo mokutil --import /root/MOK.pem

You will be asked to set a password. Reboot, enter the MOK manager, select “Enroll MOK”, and provide the password to complete enrollment.

Alternatively, disable Secure Boot in firmware settings (less recommended for security-aware users).

5 Troubleshooting

If nvidia-smi fails or shows no devices:

1. Check kernel messages: dmesg | grep -i nvidia and journalctl -k | tail.
2. Check DKMS build logs in /var/lib/dkms/<module>/<version>/build/make.log.
3. Confirm nouveau is not blocking: lsmod | grep nouveau. If present, create /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf with blacklist nouveau and options nouveau modeset=0, then run sudo update-initramfs -u and reboot.
4. Check lspci -k to see which kernel driver is in use for the VGA device.
5. If module signing errors appear, review Secure Boot MOK enrollment or sign the module manually (see Secure Boot guide).
6. If X/Wayland fails, check /var/log/Xorg.0.log and journalctl -b for compositor messages.

Driver rollback

To revert to the open driver: sudo apt remove --purge '^nvidia-.*' then reinstall xserver-xorg-video-nouveau or use default packages and reboot.

6 Post-install checks

• nvidia-smi shows GPU status and driver version.
• glxinfo | grep OpenGL or vulkaninfo (if using Vulkan) to verify rendering.

This guide focuses on Ubuntu’s packaged drivers. If you need instructions for installing NVIDIA’s runfile installer, request that explicitly — it requires extra care (kernel headers, stopping display manager, and manual DKMS integration).