Ubuntu 20.04 with kernel 5.15 - How to install NVidia driver?

Question

What is the recommended way to install NVidia drivers with an updated kernel on Ubuntu 20.04? Installing via apt does not work. I get following error at the end of the installation

# sudo apt install nvidia-driver-495 -y
...
...
Building for 5.15.1-051501-generic
Building for architecture x86_64
Building initial module for 5.15.1-051501-generic
ERROR (dkms apport): kernel package linux-headers-5.15.1-051501-generic is not supported
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.15.1-051501-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package nvidia-dkms-495 (--configure):
 installed nvidia-dkms-495 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 10
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of nvidia-driver-495:
 nvidia-driver-495 depends on nvidia-dkms-495 (<= 495.44-1); however:
  Package nvidia-dkms-495 is not configured yet.
 nvidia-driver-495 depends on nvidia-dkms-495 (>= 495.44); however:
  Package nvidia-dkms-495 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing package nvidia-driver-495 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
...

Here's some info on my hardware (laptop is a Lenovo P15S Gen1 AFAIK)

# uname -r
5.15.1-051501-generic
lspci | grep -E "VGA|3D"
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics (rev 02)
2d:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP108GLM [Quadro P520] (rev a1)
lscpu | grep -i model
Model name:                      Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10510U CPU @ 1.80GHz
Model:                           142

Currently I am running with the Intel GPU which is fine, but I would really love to not constantly carry around a dedicated NVidia GPU without using it.

Looking into /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/make.logI have this at the end of the file

/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-dma.c:976: warning: "IMPORT_SGT_STUBS_NEEDED" redefined
  976 | #define IMPORT_SGT_STUBS_NEEDED 0
      | 
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-dma.c:970: note: this is the location of the previous definition
  970 | #define IMPORT_SGT_STUBS_NEEDED 1
      | 
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-mmap.c: In function ‘nv_encode_caching’:
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-mmap.c:334:16: warning: this statement may fall through [-Wimplicit-fallthrough=]
  334 |             if (NV_ALLOW_CACHING(memory_type))
      |                ^
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-mmap.c:337:9: note: here
  337 |         default:
      |         ^~~~~~~
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-cray.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-cray.o'
make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-i2c.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-i2c.o'
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-p2p.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-p2p.o'
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-mmap.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-mmap.o'
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-pci.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-pci.o'
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-dma.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-dma.o'
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-acpi.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv-acpi.o'
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.33' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
scripts/basic/fixdep: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.34' not found (required by scripts/basic/fixdep)
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:277: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** Deleting file '/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build/nvidia/nv.o'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:1874: /var/lib/dkms/nvidia/495.44/build] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.15.1-051501-generic'
make: *** [Makefile:80: modules] Error 2

I had the same issue with older drivers. It seems that the mainline kernel requires glibc to be at least v2.33 which is only available in Ubuntu 21.04 as of now.

This says a different driver for Quadro P520. https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/181278/en-us or 470.82.00 What does this suggest: Install nVidia If you just want default version - recommended one sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall — oldfred, Nov 09 '21 at 19:34
Thanks for the reply! Autoinstall tries to install nvidia-driver-495. When trying sudo apt install nvidia-driver-495 -y results in a similar errors ERROR (dkms apport): kernel package linux-headers-5.15.1-051501-generic is not supported and Package nvidia-dkms-470 is not configured yet. — Alex_M, Nov 09 '21 at 19:49
How did you obtain/install kernel 5.15 and why? If you are using an upstream or mainline kernel, it is not supported. Mainline kernels are for testing only. In that case, please file a bug report and thank you for testing Ubuntu. If you want things to work, use a supported GA or HWE kernel — Nmath, Nov 09 '21 at 20:36
I installed it via Mainline application (https://github.com/bkw777/mainline). I installed it becaue I had to reboot my laptop whenever I connected to the Lenovo dock after updating to the latest Firmware because Mouse and Keyboard were not working when I connected the Thunderbolt/USB-C cable. I will try the NVidia driver installation with latest 5.11 kernel. — Alex_M, Nov 10 '21 at 00:02

Alex_M · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-11T07:37:19.030

Here's the solution. As we can see from my post, the make.log file says that glibc >= 2.33 is required but Ubuntu 20.04 uses glibc 2.31 (ldconfig --version).

Because of Nmath's comment and after sleeping a night over it, I checked on my workstation, which is also running Ubuntu 20.04 with a 1080 Ti GPU, which kernel is working with the Nvidia driver. In my case as of now it is kernel version 5.11.0-40-generic. After booting into this kernel I removed all newer kernels which I had installed via mainline application. After the next reboot I installed the latest NVidia driver via sudo apt install nvidia-driver-495 command. The driver installation worked this time without an issue because the original kernel has been build using glibc 2.31.

After that I had a black screen after booting. I switched to a terminal via Ctrl + Alt + F2. Once in the terminal I backed up my xorg.conf file via sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak and made sure that nvidia drivers were not blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/ and /lib/modprobe.d/. And finally I switched via sudo prime-select intel to the intel driver and via sudo prime-select nvidia back to the nvidia driver. After another reboot it worked.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 14 '22 at 12:42

Although the installation through apt repository fails, it is possible to install through the official driver page

Choose the appropriate driver from here
(If you are using Secure Boot) Use the instructions for installation given here
Reboot the system and enter the password created to register driver to MOK

Ubuntu 20.04 with kernel 5.15 - How to install NVidia driver?

lspci | grep -E "VGA|3D"

lscpu | grep -i model

2 Answers2