Most modern Linux Desktop systems such as Fedora come with an NVIDIA driver pre-installed in the Nouveau open-source graphics device driver for Nvidia video cards. For the most part, this is acceptable; however, if you are using your Linux system for graphical design or gaming, you may get better drivers.
Historically, the Nouveau proprietary drivers are slower than Nvidia’s, which lacks the latest graphics card hardware’s latest features, software technology, and support. In most situations, upgrading your Nvidia Drivers with proper NVIDIA drivers is more beneficial than not. In some cases, you may see some substantial improvements overall.
In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install the Nvidia Graphic Drivers from the Nvidia Proprietary Repository RPM Fusion, giving you the latest software available on Fedora 35 Workstation.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
- Recommended OS: Fedora Linux 35.
- User account: A user account with sudo or root access.
- Internet Access
- NVIDIA Graphic Cards
The tutorial will utilize the terminal, which can be found in your show applications menu.
Example:
Update Operating System
Update your Fedora operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh -yThe tutorial will be using the sudo command and assuming you have sudo status.
To verify sudo status on your account:
sudo whoamiExample output showing sudo status:
[joshua@fedora ~]$ sudo whoami
rootTo set up an existing or new sudo account, visit our tutorial on Adding a User to Sudoers on Fedora.
Use the following command with the root password to log in to use the root account.
suInstall Dependency Required
Before you proceed to the installation of Nvidia Drivers, run the following command to install or check that the package dnf-plugins-core is installed on your Fedora desktop.
sudo dnf install dnf-plugins-core -yImport RPM Fusion Repository
By default, like most Linux distributions, Fedora does not come with NVIDIA proprietary drivers. The best method to install these on Fedora 35 is to use the RPM fusion repository.
First, open your terminal and add the following repositories
Import RPM Fusion Free:
sudo dnf install \
https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpmImport RPM Fusion Nonfree:
sudo dnf install \
https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpmOnce done, refresh your repository list.
sudo dnf update --refreshInstall NVIDIA Drivers on Fedora
Now that you have imported the RPM Fusion repository execute the following command to install the latest Nvidia drivers on your Fedora system.
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidiaExample output:
Type Y, then press the ENTER KEY to proceed.
Next, install the CUDA drivers support. This should be installed and, if skipped, may lead to issues.
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cudaExample output:
Type Y, then press the ENTER KEY to proceed.
Once everything has been installed, you must restart your Fedora system. By default, this will also disable Nouveau drivers automatically.
rebootVerify NVIDIA Drivers Installation
Once you have logged back into your system, you should now have at the time of this tutorial Nvidia Drivers package 470.74 installed. You can test this in various ways; in your terminal, type the following command:
nvidia-smiExample output:
Alternatively, you can load the Nvidia GUI by navigating to Activities > Show Applications > Nvidia X Server or typing the following command in your terminal.
nvidia-settingsExample if installation successful:
Optional Method – Enable RPM Fusion TESTING Branch
RPM Fusion has a testing branch that contains mostly incoming new release NVIDIA driver series packages or beta packages. This can be useful for those who want to install bleeding-edge NVIDIA drivers.
First, enable the RPM Fusion Testing repository using the following command.
Enable the Free repository, use:
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled rpmfusion-free-updates-testingEnable the Non-Free repository:
sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testingDisable the Free repository, use:
sudo dnf config-manager --set-disabled rpmfusion-free-updates-testingDisable the Non-Free repository:
sudo dnf config-manager --set-disabled rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testingOnce enabled, proceed to install the drivers or run an update.
Optional Method – Install NVIDIA Legacy Drivers
For those that have upgraded Fedora and require older drivers as their graphics card is not supported any more in the newest release driver packages by Nvidia. Below are some option installation drivers, do note these are often not updated as much, and security flaws could exist.
Install GeForce 600/700 NVIDIA series drivers:
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx akmod-nvidia-470xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-cudaInstall GeForce 400/500 NVIDIA series drivers:
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-390xx akmod-nvidia-390xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-390xx-cudaInstall GeForce 8/9/200/300 NVIDIA series drivers:
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-340xx akmod-nvidia-340xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-340xx-cudaHow to Update Nvidia Drivers
All future updates will be in the standard dnf refresh command procedure, and this will check the RPM Fusion repository for updates and the rest of your Fedora packages.
To check for updates:
sudo dnf upgrade --refreshHow to Remove Nvidia Drivers and Roll Back
If you do not want to continue to use the Nvidia official drivers, use the following command:
sudo dnf autoremove akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda -yThis will remove all dependencies installed, and once removed, you must reboot.
rebootDuring the reboot, the process will re-enable the Nouveau drivers. You will see a message stating Nvidia drivers not found re-enabling Nouveau drivers, making it easier to switch back and forth if needed.
Comments and Conclusion
In the tutorial, you have learned how to install the latest Nvidia drivers on your Fedora 35 Workstation using the RPM Fusion repository. Ideally, these beta drivers should only be used if you have an equivalent graphics card that would benefit from the new driver packages on a gaming system. The average desktop user should wait as these drivers could bring instability.
