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Smeterlink
Asked: 2018-05-06 02:55:23 +0800 CST

How to switch from nvidia to nouveau drivers on ubuntu 18.04

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Running ubuntu 18.04 with nvidia-driver-390. How can I switch to nouveau and make the change persistent between reboots?

nvidia nouveau 18.04

4 Answers

  1. You can switch drivers by running the GUI Additional Drivers from the Software and Update app.

    Or you can do it from the terminal commandline by running these commands:

    $ ubuntu-drivers devices

    This will show you your available drivers. Then pick the nouveau driver found and switch to it with this command:

    $ sudo apt install [xserver-xorg-video-nouveau]

    The [xserver-xorg-video-nouveau] is an example a nouveau driver that might be found.

    If for some reason you have removed your nouveau drivers, you can reinstall them with (for example):

    $ sudo apt install nouveau-firmware

    You can verify the available nouveau drivers from the repository with this command:

    $ apt search nouveau
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  2. Run

    sudo apt purge nvidia-driver-390
sudo apt autoremove

    and reboot.

    Another way is to do it in "Software & Updates" -> Additional Drivers tab.

    • 7

  3. Answer my own question: ubuntu-drivers and "Software and Update > Additional drivers" are broken on ubuntu 18.04. We'll have to wait until developers fix it. For now just use the proprietary nvidia driver which works ok.

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  4. On Xubuntu 18.04, "Software and Update > Additional drivers" worked for me, but I had to replace the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file by the original one, /etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original, which in my case is just a blank file.

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