How to setup Nvidia Drivers and CUDA in Ubuntu

Disabling Nouveau, if required (login loop or low res mode), otherwise skip to next section

  1. Confirm nouveau is loaded

lsmod | grep -i nouveau

You’ll see the text nouveau in the 4th column, if loaded

video XXXX Y nouveau

  1. If nouveau is loaded then blacklist it. Create the file blacklist-nouveau.conf in /etc/modprobe.d/

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf

And add the following text

blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0

  1. Execute sudo update-initramfs -u

  2. Restart

NVIDIA Driver Setup

  1. Download the RUN file from NVidia’s website https://www.geforce.com/drivers You’ll have a file named similarly to NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-XXX.YY.run

  2. Assign execution permissions chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-XXX.YY.run

  3. Move to a virtual console pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 and login

  4. Terminate the X Server executing sudo service lightdm stop

  5. Run the installer sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-XXX.YY.run (If you are running on a laptop run instead sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-XXX.YY.run --no-opengl-files)

  6. Follow the instruction from the wizard. At the end, do not allow the wizard to modify the X configuration.

  7. Once back in the console, execute sudo service lightdm start. The GUI should be displayed. Login.

  8. To confirm everything is set run in a terminal nvidia-smi

CUDA Setup

  1. Download the CUDA Installation RUN File from https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads You’ll have a file named similarly to cuda_X.0.YY.Z_linux.run

  2. Assign execution permissions chmod +x cuda_X.0.YY.Z_linux.run

  3. Run the installer sudo ./cuda_X.0.YY.Z_linux.run

  4. Follow the instructions on screen. DO NOT install the NVIDIA Driver included. Install the CUDA Samples on your home directory.

  5. Once finished, to confirm everything is ok. Go to your home directory and execute cd NVIDIA_CUDA-X.Y_Samples/1_Utilities/deviceQuery Match X, Y to your CUDA version. i.e. CUDA 9.0 cd NVIDIA_CUDA-9.0_Samples/1_Utilities/deviceQuery

  6. Compile the sample running make

  7. Run the sample ./deviceQuery you should see the details about your GPU(s) and CUDA Setup.