Is there a package of Ubuntu drivers as driver pack solution? I tried to search for it, but I did not find it. If there is, how can I easily get it?
3 Answers
The Linux kernel contains a set of well-maintained open source drivers for almost everything1, but it does not contain proprietary drivers which are closed source such as some Wi-Fi drivers, NIC drivers, and GPU drivers. Ubuntu has a built-in ubuntu-drivers program that can decide automatically which proprietary graphics driver to install, and streamlines the installation of Nvidia drivers. Open the terminal and type:
sudo ubuntu-drivers install
sudo reboot
The install
option of ubuntu-drivers
installs drivers that are appropriate for automatic installation including their dependencies. In Ubuntu 20.04 and later running sudo apt upgrade
not only upgrades the versions of the proprietary graphics drivers that were installed by sudo ubuntu-drivers install
. Sometimes sudo apt upgrade
even upgrades the proprietary graphics driver packages to more recent packages, in which case sudo apt autoremove
removes the older packages which were replaced by the newer ones. For most users there's no reason to guess about which proprietary graphics driver to install, because if your system deserves a graphics driver upgrade it will get one.
The devices
option of ubuntu-drivers
lists proprietary drivers that are compatible with your computer's GPU. If your computer has an Intel processor and it doesn't have a discrete graphics processor, the command ubuntu-drivers devices
will not return results that show that a proprietary graphics card driver is available to be installed because the Intel graphics driver is built-in in Ubuntu. Furthermore it is not necessary to uninstall any of the built-in graphics drivers because if a proprietary graphics driver is installed, Ubuntu will select it and use it automatically with the built-in graphics drivers remaining installed for possible use if Ubuntu has a problem running the proprietary graphics driver(s). If there already is a Nvidia proprietary graphics driver installed in Ubuntu you will need to uninstall it before installing a replacement Nvidia proprietary graphics driver.
If you visit the official AMD or NVIDIA websites you will often see that the latest version of the proprietary graphics driver for your GPU is a little bit more up-to-date than the version of the same graphics driver that is available from the default Ubuntu repositories. Don't worry about this, because if the difference between version numbers of the two proprietary graphics drivers is small, then you will get similar performance by using either of the two drivers. If you install a graphics driver from the default Ubuntu repositories, you will also get automatic updates for that driver which are sometimes linked to kernel updates.
-
"No drivers found for installation." Uh oh. I think there's a problem with which repositories to enable first. Oct 31, 2020 at 20:13
-
Most drivers are included in Ubuntu. If you need to install proprietary drivers that can't be included in Ubuntu, then you can get them automatically from the Software & Updates application.
Ubuntu 20.04: (@) -> Preferences -> Software Sources ; password;
if |Additional Drivers| tab area is blank, then:
|Ubuntu Software| tab: check box [x] Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted)
[Close] button. Then [Reload]. System reloads its capabilities. Re-open the Software Sources app again.
go back to |Additional Drivers| tab: "Searching for Available Drivers", takes a few seconds, then it populates.
check radio button (*) Using NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-450 (proprietary, tested)
[Apply Changes] button in lower right
go back to |Ubuntu Software| tab and uncheck box [ ] Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted), if you wish to ensure tight security