Triii Technologies LLC

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What you should know first

• There are two main kinds of NVIDIA driver packages:
  1. Unified Driver Architecture (UDA) — more “general purpose”, used for desktops/gaming.
  2. Enterprise Ready Drivers (ERD) / “-server” suffix — optimized for servers / compute workloads.
• If Secure Boot is enabled, you’ll need signed kernel modules or enroll a Machine Owner Key (MOK).
• Always check which kernel you’re running and make sure kernel headers for that version are installed. Without matching headers, driver modules may fail to compile.

🔧 Installation Methods

Here are the common ways to install, with pros & cons.

Method	Pros	Caveats
Using ubuntu-drivers tool (recommended Route)	Easy, handles dependencies; works well with Secure Boot; automatically picks a compatible driver. (Ubuntu Documentation)	Less control over specific version if you need something non-standard.
Manual install via APT packages (nvidia-driver-..., kernel modules, etc.)	More control; can pick server vs non-server branch; good for fine-tuning.	More steps; risk of mismatch; need kernel headers; Secure Boot handling can be trickier.
run script from NVIDIA website	Sometimes only way to get latest drivers or support for very new/edge hardware.	More risk: clashes with packages; you must manage updates yourself; more manual work; not always recommended.

🛠 Step-by-Step (Ubuntu’s Recommended Route)

Here’s a streamlined version using Ubuntu’s ubuntu-drivers tool and APT.

Update system

sudo apt update

Check current driver version (if any) (if you haven’t installed a driver, you can skip this!)

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version

List drivers available for your hardware (Optional)

For generic desktop/gaming:

sudo ubuntu-drivers list

For server / GPGPU / compute workloads:

sudo ubuntu-drivers list --gpgpu

You’ll see something like nvidia-driver-535, nvidia-driver-535-server, etc.

Install the driver

sudo ubuntu-drivers install

Reboot.

sudo reboot

After the system has rebooted, the drivers should now be installed and running. Try the nvidia-smi command.

Additional steps for power users. (Optional)

1. Install additional utils (optional/if needed)
   Especially for server drivers, you might want things like nvidia-utils-<version>, or for special hardware nvidia-fabricmanager or libnvidia-nscq. (Ubuntu Documentation)
2. Verify installation
   Use commands like: nvidia-smi to check GPU is recognized, see driver version, etc.

Removing / Switching Drivers

If things go wrong, or you want to switch versions:

1. Purge existing NVIDIA drivers ( sudo apt --purge remove '*nvidia*' sudo apt autoremove )
2. Then install the new one via above methods.