Fedora 32/31/30 nVidia Drivers Install Guide

This is guide, howto install nVidia proprietary drivers on Fedora 32/31/30/29/28 and disable Nouveau driver. This guide works with GeForce 6/7/8/9/200/300/400/500/600/700/800/900/10/20 series cards.

• GeForce 20 series cards works with 450.xx nVidia drivers
• GeForce 600/700/800/900/10 series cards works with 390.xx and 450.xx nVidia drivers
• GeForce 400/500 series cards works with 390.xx nVidia drivers
• GeForce 8/9/200/300 series cards works with 340.xx nVidia drivers

This is totally different guide than my earlier guides, like Fedora 20 nVidia driver install. This guide uses nVidia drivers directly from nVidia site and dkms to help on kernel updates. Have to say that I have had and heard strange problems with different repos (like RPMFusion) nVidia drivers. So that’s why I decided go back to old school (and bit ugly) method and install nVidia drivers “manually”. I have tested this guide with 340.xx (patched), 390.xx, 440.xx and 450.xx drivers/cards.

With DKMS, you can just update your kernel and your nVidia drivers are compiled automatically. If you want to upgrade nVidia drivers, then you have to download new installer package from nVidia site.

Let me know, if you have some problems?

Or if you succeed, you could post output of following commands:

nvidia-installer -v |grep version

uname -a

lspci |grep -E "VGA|3D"

Backup first important files before you start installation. And this is of course at your own risk, because graphic cards, components and monitors are different and some combinations might cause totally unexpected results.

1. Before nVidia drivers installation

1.1 Check is your nVidia card supported

lspci |grep -E "VGA|3D"

## Example outputs ##
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation TU106 [GeForce RTX 2060 Rev. A] (rev a1)

List of Supported NVIDIA GPU Products, if your card found before 390.xx section, then use 450.xx drivers. If between 390.xx and 340.xx section, then use 390.xx drivers. If between 340.xx and 304.xx section, then use 340.xx drivers.

If you see multiple VGA controllers, then check next step and sometimes you might see example Intel VGA controller which have nothing to do with Optimus, normally you can go to BIOS and simply disable it.

1.2 NVIDIA Optimus Technology

If your lspci |grep -E “VGA|3D” output looks like following:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2n Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GF106 [GeForce GT 555M SDDR3] (rev a1)

Or

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK107M [GeForce GT 750M] (rev a1)

Or you know that your computer have NVIDIA Optimus Technology, and it is impossible to turn Intel Graphics / NVIDIA Optimus off in the BIOS then this guide might not work for you and it’s not tested. You should check Bumblebee Project.

1.3 Disable UEFI Secure Boot or Check Howto Sign NVIDIA Kernel Module

If you have UEFI Secure Boot enabled, then you have to disable Secure Boot or sign your NVIDIA kernel module.

2. Install nVidia proprietary drivers on Fedora 32/31/30/29/28 and disable the nouveau driver

2.1 Download nVidia Installer Package

Go to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us and find latest version of installer package. When you use browser this is normally downloaded /home/<username>/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-xxxx.run location.

Tested versions:

Fedora 32	Fedora 31	Fedora 30	Fedora 29/28
450.66 (August 18, 2020)	450.66 (August 18, 2020)	450.66 (August 18, 2020)	450.66 (August 18, 2020)
390.138 (June 24, 2020)	390.138 (June 24, 2020)	390.138 (June 24, 2020)	390.138 (June 24, 2020)
340.108 (December 23, 2019)	340.108 (December 23, 2019)	340.108 (December 23, 2019)	340.108 (December 23, 2019)

Note 390.138 users: 390.138 on Fedora 32/31/30 with Kernel 5.8 needs a patched version (Download NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.138 + Kernel 5.8+ patched version).

Note 340.108 users: 340.108 on Fedora 32/31/30 Kernel 5.8 needs a patched version (Download NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.108 + Kernel 5.8 patched version).

Note Fedora 28 users: You might have problems with GDM (black screen). Looks like there is no fix to this, but you can change Display Manager example to LXDM, LightDM, SDDM or KDM. Or you can upgrade Fedora 28 or upgrade to Fedora 29.

2.2 Make nVidia installer executable

chmod +x /path/to/NVIDIA-Linux-*.run

2.3 Change root user

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

2.4 Make sure that you system is up-to-date and you are running latest kernel

## Fedora 32/31/30/29/28 ##
dnf update

After update reboot your system and boot using latest kernel:

reboot

2.5 Install needed dependencies

## Fedora 32/31/30/29/28 ##
dnf install kernel-devel kernel-headers gcc make dkms acpid libglvnd-glx libglvnd-opengl libglvnd-devel pkgconfig

2.6 Disable nouveau

2.6.1 Create or edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Append ‘blacklist nouveau’

echo "blacklist nouveau" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

2.6.2 Edit /etc/sysconfig/grub

Append ‘rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau’ to end of ‘GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=”…”‘.

## Example row ##
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="rd.lvm.lv=fedora/swap rd.lvm.lv=fedora/root rhgb quiet rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau"

2.6.3 Update grub2 conf

## BIOS ##
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

## UEFI ##
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

2.6.4 Remove xorg-x11-drv-nouveau

## Fedora 32/31/30/29/28 ##
dnf remove xorg-x11-drv-nouveau

2.6.5 Generate initramfs

## Backup old initramfs nouveau image ##
mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img
 
## Create new initramfs image ##
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

2.7 Reboot to runlevel 3

Note: You don’t have Desktop/GUI on runlevel 3. Make sure that you have some access to end of guide. (Print it, use lynx/links/w3m, save it to text file).

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

reboot

OR alternatively you can change the runlevel on GRUB2 adding one additional parameter. Quick guide howto change runlevel on GRUB2. If you use this method, then don’t set multi-user.target and don’t set graphical.target on step 2.9 (just reboot).

2.8 Install nVidia proprietary drivers for GeForce 6/7 & GeForce 8/9/200/300 & GeForce 400/500/600/700/800/900/10/20 series cards

2.8.1 Log in as root user

Or alternatively change root user (you shouldn’t have nouveau and xorg loaded)

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

2.8.2 Run NVIDIA Binary

Following command executes driver install routine. Use full file name command if you have multiple binaries on same directory.

./NVIDIA-Linux-*.run

## OR full path / full file name ##

Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-450.51.run

./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-390.138-patched-kernel-5.8.run

/path/to/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.108-patched-kernel-5.8.run

2.8.3 nVidia Installer Register the Kernel Source Modules with DKMS

2.8.4 nVidia Installer 32-bit Compatibility Libraries

2.8.5 nVidia Installer Installing Drivers and Building kernel module

Note: If you get libglvnd error, then abort installation and try this. Also “Install and overwrite existing files” works, but fixing this error is more clean way to install NVIDIA Drivers.

2.8.6 nVidia Installer Automatic Xorg Config and Backup

2.8.7 nVidia Drivers Installation Complete

2.9 All Is Done and Then Reboot Back to Runlevel 5

systemctl set-default graphical.target

reboot

2.10 VDPAU/VAAPI support

To enable video acceleration support for your player (Note: you need Geforce 8 or later).

## Fedora 32/31/30/29/28 ##
dnf install vdpauinfo libva-vdpau-driver libva-utils

3. Some Screenshots Using Different Cards and Drivers

3.1 nVidia 450.66 drivers on Fedora 32 KDE with Kernel 5.8.4

3.2 nVidia 390.138 drivers on Fedora 32 Gnome 3.36.3 with Kernel 5.8.4

3.3 nVidia 340.108 drivers on Fedora 32 Gnome 3.36.3 with Kernel 5.8.4

Let me know, if you have problems?

Or if you succeed, you could post output of following commands:

nvidia-installer -v |grep version

uname -a

lspci |grep -E "VGA|3D"