How To Install The NVIDIA Drivers On Linux Mint 21

In this tutorial post, we will show you the method to install the official NVIDIA drivers on Linux Mint 21.

How To Install The NVIDIA Drivers On Linux Mint 21

There are two types of NVIDIA Drivers available for Linux. By default, Linux Mint 21 uses the open-source Nouveau drivers, not the official NVIDIA drivers.

  • Open-Source Nouveau Drivers
  • Official NVIDIA Drivers

Before jumping to the steps to install Nvidia drivers on Linux Mint 21, run the following command to see whether your computer has an NVIDIA GPU installed or not.

lspci | grep VGA

Check the GPU Drivers That Are Currently Used on Linux Mint

Run the following command to check whether Linux Mint is using the open-source Nouveau drivers or the official NVIDIA drivers from the command line.

lsmod | grep nvidia

Command to check whether you’re using the open-source Nouveau drivers:

lsmod | grep nouveau

Install the Official NVIDIA Drivers on Linux Mint via GUI

Open the Driver Manager app on Linux Mint from the Application Menu to graphically install the official NVIDIA drivers on Linux Mint.  To install the latest version of the official NVIDIA drivers on Linux Mint 21, select the latest version of the nvidia-driver package from the list and click on Apply Changes. It takes a while to complete.

Install the Official NVIDIA Drivers on Linux Mint from the Command Line

Run the following command to install the latest version of the official NVIDIA drivers on Linux Mint 21 from the command line.

Command to update the APT package repository cache with the following command:

sudo apt update
 Run the following command to list out the versions of the official NVIDIA drivers available for Linux Mint 21 and press <Tab> a few times. A list of all the available official NVIDIA driver versions should be displayed. At the time of this writing,
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-

Now, Run the following command to install the latest version of the official NVIDIA drivers on Linux Mint 21 from the command line, run the following command:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-525

To confirm the installation, press Y and then press <Enter>.

It takes time to complete as the official NVIDIA drivers and the other required dependency packages are being downloaded.

Now, Restart your computer or laptop:

sudo reboot

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