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At the moment, my Dell XPS 15 9560 which runs Ubuntu 17 is using the intel CPU's built in GPU. I have made many attempts to change this, so that it uses the GTX 1050.

I gather I need nivida-settings to work. Right now, after installation, I get the following error when trying to run it:

ERROR: Unable to find display on any available system

Apparently this is because certain changes in Ubuntu 17 (involving Wayland) no longer allow nvidia-settings to run.

A solution to this was to try logging in to my account as "Xorg Ubuntu", this just froze my computer, requiring reboot.

I have also tried installing nvidia drivers from online, and using bumblebee. In both these cases, it broke my OS. After installation, I would reboot, and get a console output that was essentially inescapable (many lines of this kind of thing: [ OK ] starting network manager). Other people have experienced this, with no known solution (no reboot/startup bios tricks). I had to reinstall Ubuntu completely. I am now extremely reluctant to install any driver related programs online or through apt-get, considering all attempts resulted in breaking the OS.

I have also looked at the Additional Drivers section of Software & Updates which contained two rows:

Using NVIDIA binary driver - version 384 from nvidia-384 (proprietary)
(selected) Using X.Org X server -- Nouveau display driver from xserver...etc

Having tried both, neither made a difference to nvidia-settings working, or changing the GPU.

There must be a simple, intuitive way to switch GPU on Ubuntu 17, but I keep hitting dead ends. Any help would be appreciated.

Caspar Wylie
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  • You're using 17.10, correct? Maybe look into https://askubuntu.com/a/747429/231142 for nomodeset when using XOrg. – Terrance May 29 '18 at 23:52
  • Ubuntu 17.04 is off-topic because it is EOL (End of Life). Ubuntu 17.10 will also be EOL soon (July). You would be better served by Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or possibly 18.04 LTS. – WinEunuuchs2Unix May 30 '18 at 01:51

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after fresh installation i added repo: http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/ubuntu1704/x86_64

Than in synaptic (because i forgot which 2 I installed) select nvidia-cuda, nvidia-dkms-390, nvidia-compute-utils-390, nvidia-utils-390, nvidia-driver-390 nvidia-prime, nvidia-setting, xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-390.

(now is 06/2018)

  • now 2 important remarks :)
    1. Is NV listed in system ? (not disabled in Bios or disable intel vga, make NV primary)
    1. Wayland not support current nvdrivers drivers so don't use WYL.
Tomas Gouzi
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  • installing nvidia-driver-390 is exactly what broke my system. 1. Yes, the graphics card is listed in the system. 2. As I described, the alternative to Wayland does not work (Xorg) – Caspar Wylie May 29 '18 at 23:05