How to Install NVIDIA Drivers on Linux Command Line

Installing NVIDIA drivers on Linux can be a bit of a challenge, but it's a crucial step for users who want to optimize their graphics performance. In this article, we will walk you through the process of installing NVIDIA drivers on Linux using the command line.

To start with, multiple precompiled driver versions are available for Debian Unstable 'Sid'. The proprietary 'NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Graphics Driver' provides optimized hardware acceleration of OpenGL and Vulkan applications through either Xorg or Wayland. Your card is also supported by the Tesla 418 drivers series and the Tesla 440 drivers series.

To identify the recommended driver package to install, you can use the nvidia-detect script, which is available in the non-free section. The script will check your GPU and recommend a suitable driver package. For example:

```

checking card: NVIDIA Corporation GM206 (rev a1)

```

Once you have installed the necessary driver package, you will still need to choose one of the methods on the NVIDIA Optimus page to activate and make use of your NVIDIA card. Note that if lspci command returns more than one line of output, you have an Optimus (hybrid) graphics chipset.

To verify device support using the PCI ID, you can run the following command:

```

lspci -nn | egrep -i '3d|display|vga'

7:00.0 VGA compatible controller : NVIDIA Corporation GM206 (rev a1)

```

The NVIDIA graphics processing unit (GPU) series/codename of an installed video card can usually be identified using the lspci command.

Some common issues that users may encounter when installing NVIDIA drivers on Linux include:

* GPU isn't functional, even with a compatible driver version installed

* Driver stops working after upgrading Debian

* Installing 32-bit libraries on a 64-bit system

To resolve these issues, you can try installing different versions of the driver package. For example, you can install Version 418.152 (via stretch-backports) or Version 460.73.01 (via buster-backports).

By following these steps and troubleshooting common issues, you should be able to successfully install NVIDIA drivers on your Linux system using the command line.

How to install nvidia drivers on linux command line