Install NVIDIA drivers from proposed pocket for testing

This guide will help you test your workload on NVIDIA drivers available in proposed pocket before they are released.

NVIDIA drivers are not immediately released for Ubuntu after they are available from NVIDIA. They are first available in the proposed pocket, where they undergo extensive testing before release. This process can take up to 11 weeks. NVIDIA drivers in the proposed pocket are unsigned.

Important considerations:

1. Packages in the proposed pocket are intended for testing only. Please do not install NVIDIA drivers from proposed on production systems.

2. If you have customized apt configurations, these instructions may introduce conflicts.

3. Once the proposed pocket is enabled, new drivers will be installed as available in the proposed pocket. To ensure that new unsigned drivers are not installed, the changes must be rolled back.

For more details on installing proposed packages and Stable Release Update (SRU) testing see Enable Proposed.

Enable the proposed pocket

First, enable the proposed pocket in apt configuration.

22.04 and earlier24.04 and later

export $(cat /etc/os-release | grep UBUNTU_CODENAME)

# Add the proposed pocket
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proposed.sources > /dev/null << EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Suites: $UBUNTU_CODENAME-proposed
Components: main restricted universe multiverse
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg
EOF

# Configure apt to allow selective installs of packages from proposed
sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/proposed-updates > /dev/null << EOF
Package: *
Pin: release a=$UBUNTU_CODENAME-proposed
Pin-Priority: 400
EOF

# Update apt cache
sudo apt update

Install NVIDIA drivers from proposed

Set NVIDIA_DRIVER_VERSION to the required driver version.

22.04 and earlier24.04 and later

export NVIDIA_DRIVER_VERSION=570 # Export the NVIDIA driver version you wish to install
export $(cat /etc/os-release | grep UBUNTU_CODENAME)

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-$NVIDIA_DRIVER_VERSION-server-open/$UBUNTU_CODENAME-proposed

Make sure the expected NVIDIA driver is installed.

nvidia-smi

In order to ensure that you update to the signed version of the driver as soon as it is available, it is recommended that you subscribe to the Launchpad bug associated with the SRU of the driver, e.g. this bug.

Rolling back

This section will guide you to replace drivers from proposed to the released version and remove proposed archive configuration from previous steps. Note that this removes all package versions from proposed, not just the NVIDIA drivers, and installs their respective release versions.

Start by removing proposed archive configuration.

22.04 and earlier24.04 and later

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/proposed.sources
sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/proposed-updates
sudo apt update

Setup apt to, where necessary, downgrade to release version of packages on the system. Run apt upgrade to replace proposed package versions with the release versions.

export $(cat /etc/os-release | grep UBUNTU_CODENAME)

# Configure apt to install from the release archive, even if that means downgrading packages
sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/release-pinning-for-downgrades > /dev/null << EOF
Package: *
Pin: release a=$UBUNTU_CODENAME*
Pin-Priority: 1000
EOF

sudo tee /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99-unproposed > /dev/null << EOF
APT::Get::allow-downgrades "true";
EOF

sudo apt update

# Replace proposed package versions with the release versions
# This will also install available package updates
# -y will skip any user prompts
sudo apt upgrade -y

Finally, clean-up to prevent apt from downgrading packages going forward.

sudo rm /etc/apt/preferences.d/release-pinning-for-downgrades
sudo rm /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99-unproposed

sudo apt update