How to install Nvidia Drivers on Ubuntu 22.04.5

If you’re running Ubuntu 22.04.5 and need to install Nvidia drivers — whether for CUDA workloads, gaming, or GPU acceleration — this step-by-step guide will walk you through a clean installation using the nvidia:470-server driver.

Step 1: Remove Existing Nvidia Drivers

Before installing new drivers, it’s best to remove any existing Nvidia-related packages to prevent conflicts.

sudo apt-get --purge remove "*nvidia*"
sudo reboot now

This command purges all Nvidia packages from your system. After the reboot, your system should be using the default open-source nouveau driver.

Step 2: Update and Upgrade Your System

Ensure your system is fully up to date before proceeding with the installation.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Step 3: Add the Graphics Drivers PPA

Ubuntu doesn’t always ship with the latest drivers in the default repositories. Adding the graphics-drivers PPA gives you access to more recent and compatible versions.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

Step 4: Install the Nvidia Driver

Now, install the server-grade Nvidia driver. In this guide, we’re using version 470 of the nvidia-server driver.

sudo ubuntu-drivers install --gpgpu nvidia:470-server
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-470-server

The --gpgpu flag ensures that the driver is suitable for general-purpose GPU computing, ideal for workloads like deep learning, simulations, or other GPU-accelerated tasks.

Step 5: Reboot Again

To apply the changes and load the new drivers:

sudo reboot now

Step 6: Verify Installation

Once your system is back up, confirm that the driver is installed and the GPU is recognized by running:

nvidia-smi

You should see a table listing your GPU, driver version, and current status.

Tue Apr 15 15:02:50 2025
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 470.256.02   Driver Version: 470.256.02   CUDA Version: 11.4     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                               |                      |               MIG M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  Quadro M4000        Off  | 00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| 49%   48C    P8    21W / 120W |      1MiB /  8120MiB |      0%      Default |
|                               |                      |                  N/A |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                  |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                  GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                   Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Final Thoughts

That’s it! You’ve now installed the Nvidia 470 server driver on Ubuntu 22.04.5. If you plan to install CUDA or use the GPU for compute-heavy tasks, this setup should provide the stability and performance you need.