published: 26th of December 2024
I am experimenting with local AI tools and want to use my desktop PC as an Ubuntu server for running experiments and labs. This is just a quick post to document the steps to install the Nvidia drivers on an Ubuntu 2404 minimal server.
The following software versions were used in this post.
This article has a good rundown of the options and I suggest reading it before proceeding.
Install the required packages.
sudo ubuntu-drivers --gpgpu install nvidia:550-server
sudo apt install -y nvidia-utils-550-server
sudo apt install -y nvidia-driver-550
sudo apt install -y libnvidia-ml-devVerify that the GPU is detected.
nvidia-smi
# Output
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 550.120 Driver Version: 550.120 CUDA Version: 12.4 |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
| 0 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 ... Off | 00000000:01:00.0 Off | N/A |
| 0% 45C P8 14W / 184W | 4MiB / 8192MiB | 0% Default |
| | | N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=========================================================================================|
| No running processes found |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+For bonus points, if you use BTOP, you can view the GPU usage by pressing 5 on the keyboard.
If the GPU is not detected, use these further troubleshooting commands to help narrow down the problem.
Check which packages are installed.
lsmod | grep nvidia
# Output
ii libnvidia-cfg1-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii libnvidia-common-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 all Shared files used by the NVIDIA libraries
ii libnvidia-compute-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA libcompute package
rc libnvidia-compute-550-server:amd64 550.127.08-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA libcompute package
ii libnvidia-decode-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii libnvidia-egl-wayland1:amd64 1:1.1.13-1build1 amd64 Wayland EGL External Platform library -- shared library
ii libnvidia-encode-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii libnvidia-extra-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 Extra libraries for the NVIDIA driver
ii libnvidia-fbc1-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii libnvidia-gl-550:amd64 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii libnvidia-ml-dev:amd64 12.0.140~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA Management Library (NVML) development files
ii linux-modules-nvidia-550-6.8.0-51-generic 6.8.0-51.52+1 amd64 Linux kernel nvidia modules for version 6.8.0-51
ii linux-modules-nvidia-550-generic 6.8.0-51.52+1 amd64 Extra drivers for nvidia-550 for the generic flavour
ii linux-objects-nvidia-550-6.8.0-51-generic 6.8.0-51.52+1 amd64 Linux kernel nvidia modules for version 6.8.0-51 (objects)
ii linux-signatures-nvidia-6.8.0-51-generic 6.8.0-51.52+1 amd64 Linux kernel signatures for nvidia modules for version 6.8.0-51-generic
ii nvidia-compute-utils-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA compute utilities
ii nvidia-cuda-dev:amd64 12.0.146~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development files
ii nvidia-cuda-gdb 12.0.140~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA Debugger (GDB)
ii nvidia-cuda-toolkit 12.0.140~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA CUDA development toolkit
ii nvidia-cuda-toolkit-doc 12.0.1-4build4 all NVIDIA CUDA and OpenCL documentation
ii nvidia-driver-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA driver metapackage
ii nvidia-firmware-550-550.120 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 Firmware files used by the kernel module
ii nvidia-kernel-common-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 Shared files used with the kernel module
ii nvidia-kernel-source-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA kernel source package
ii nvidia-opencl-dev:amd64 12.0.140~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL development files
ii nvidia-prime 0.8.17.2 all Tools to enable NVIDIAs Prime
ii nvidia-profiler 12.0.146~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii nvidia-settings 510.47.03-0ubuntu4 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii nvidia-utils-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii nvidia-visual-profiler 12.0.146~12.0.1-4build4 amd64 NVIDIA Visual Profiler for CUDA and OpenCL
ii screen-resolution-extra 0.18.3 all Extension for the nvidia-settings control panel
ii xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-550 550.120-0ubuntu0.24.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driverCheck the kernel modules that are loaded.
lsmod | grep nvidia
# Output
nvidia_uvm 4972544 2
nvidia_drm 122880 0
nvidia_modeset 1355776 1 nvidia_drm
nvidia 54308864 7 nvidia_uvm,nvidia_modeset
i2c_nvidia_gpu 12288 0
i2c_ccgx_ucsi 12288 1 i2c_nvidia_gpu
video 73728 2 asus_wmi,nvidia_modesetCheck the driver version.
cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
# Output
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 550.120 Fri Sep 13 10:10:01 UTC 2024
GCC version:
There are some very interesting AI tools that can be run locally.
https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/nvidia-drivers-installation
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-nvidia-drivers-on-ubuntu-24-04