How to remove cuda-9.0 and install cuda-8.0 instead?

Question

I've been working on installing CUDA for TensorFlow usage.

I realized that cuda-9.0 has been just released today, and I accidentally downloaded and dpkged it, and installed it on my machine.

I realized that cuda-9.0 is not yet compatible with TensorFlow so I had to uninstall it with:

sudo apt autoremove cuda

Which did remove everything, but now whenever I try to install cuda-8.0, after downloading and dpkging, it prompts me to install cuda-9.0 instead.

Now I know I can work around this with:

sudo apt-get install cuda-8-0

But I also need to install the patch, which can't be done this way.

I've been trying many methods to resolve this issue:

sudo apt-get remove cuda-9-0-blablal
Removing the apt-key of cuda-9 with:
- apt-key del [KEY]

But none of these really worked.

Can someone help me out?

UPDATE

Right after posting this, I figured out the answer, which turned out to be simple.

I'm leaving it for others:

I was able to solve it simply, by removing cuda-9 stuff from /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cuda-9-0-local.list

UPDATE 2 And now I have another problem which is after

sudo dpkg -i cuda-8-0-blabla

none of it appears on sources.list.d anymore.

Actually, I was able to solve it simply, by removing cuda-9 stuff from /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cuda-9-0-local.list — Jay Shin, Sep 27 '17 at 07:58

score 18 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 22 '17 at 16:59

18

I got the exact same issue and managed to fix it. First observation was that the cuda-8 related entries in sources.list.d/ were commented out, but removing these and doing the dpkg --install of the cuda-8 repo did not repopulate the sources.list.d/ entries. What worked was to purge the 'dpkg' install (/var/cuda*) manually and doing the 'dpkg --install' again.

step by step:

dpkg -l | grep cuda- | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -n1 sudo dpkg --purge
dpkg --install cuda-repo-ubuntu*-8.0-local*.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cuda

answered Nov 22 '17 at 16:59

Beef

296

1

I had to first do, sudo apt-get --purge remove cuda and sudo apt autoremove, so as to remove Cuda 9. Then I installed Cuda 8 – PixelPioneer Nov 27 '17 at 19:40
I guess the cuda-repo for all the versions is the same, because when I do "sudo dpkg -i cuda-repo-ubuntu1604_8.0.61-1_amd64.deb" then "sudo apt-get instll cuda" it tries to install version 9 still – dashesy Jun 01 '18 at 17:54
1

had to use "apt-get install cuda-8.0" otherwise cuda-9 was always selected – dashesy Jun 01 '18 at 18:35
saved my life!! – wordsforthewise Mar 14 '19 at 04:12

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 14 '18 at 02:10

6

There's actually a script in /usr/local/cuda-9.x/bin/ which performs the uninstall process for you.

answered Jan 14 '18 at 02:10

Oleg Silkin

161

1

What is the name of the script? – Magick Mar 20 '18 at 11:22
@Magick I believe it should be something like /usr/local/cuda-9.2/bin/uninstall_cuda_9.2.pl. That's what this link says, but I don't have this file myself. – Olivia Stork Jun 13 '18 at 19:23

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 03 '17 at 08:30

3

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1024342/cuda-setup-and-installation/unable-to-uninstall-cuda-9-0-completely-and-install-8-0-instead/

It works for me. It might be helpful for you too.

answered Oct 03 '17 at 08:30

NickVot

31

In the end, I reinstalled Ubuntu. – Jay Shin Oct 03 '17 at 11:59
This should provide with the actual commands in the answer not in a link. No matter how good a solution is it should be fully accessible from within SO. – Eypros Apr 12 '19 at 07:34

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 11 '18 at 12:30

2

I had to add "--force-all" to the purge command:

dpkg -l | grep cuda- | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -n1 sudo dpkg --purge --force-all

answered Feb 11 '18 at 12:30

Yoel

21

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 30 '18 at 12:19

2

The above command

sudo apt-get install cuda-8-0

might have worked but does not any more! You must change it into the following line - it is an almost undetectable difference:

sudo apt-get install cuda-8.0

The ending is not "-0" but ".0"!

answered Mar 30 '18 at 12:19

Agile Bean

311

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered May 07 '18 at 15:27

2

The official way is to run a uninstaller script:

Taken from nVidia documentation:

4.6. Uninstallation

To uninstall the CUDA Toolkit, run the uninstallation script provided in the bin directory of the toolkit. By default, go to /usr/local/cuda-9.1/bin and run

$ sudo ./uninstall_cuda_9.1.pl

answered May 07 '18 at 15:27

Hrvoje

131

I don't have any such file (cuda-10.2). Also I think this is only the official way when you installed cude using a .run file, not when you use a .deb package manager. – Carlo Wood Mar 14 '20 at 21:42

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 04 '18 at 01:43

As answered by @Beef earlier:

dpkg -l | grep cuda- | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -n1 sudo dpkg --purge
dpkg --install cuda-repo-ubuntu*-8.0-local*.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cuda

It doesn't work now. I realized step 1 doesn't remove cuda completely. I still had to do:

sudo apt-get remove cuda-* in order to remove my cuda-9-1 version and others.

Additionally when you are using deb(network) version or the deb(local), on doing:

sudo apt-get install cuda

It lists down cuda-9-1 the latest drivers. Refer to here.

The step 4 in instruction shown by @beef should be instead:

sudo apt-get install cuda-8-0

How to remove cuda-9.0 and install cuda-8.0 instead?

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