Installing NVIDIA Drivers on Kali Linux 2022

1. Checking the Graphics Card

Check which graphics card is being used

lspci | grep -E "VGA|3D"

2. Disable the NOEVEAU Proprietary Driver

To disable NOEVEAU, it needs to be blacklisted, update the configuration, and reboot the machine

sudo echo -e "blacklist nouveau\noptions nouveau modeset=0\nalias nouveau off" | sudo tee --append /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u
sudo reboot

3. Checking the NOEVEAU Driver

After rebooting, check if the NOEVEAU driver is working

lsmod | grep -i nouveau

4. Installing NVIDIA Drivers

After disabling NOEVEAU, you can install the NVIDIA drivers Most likely, the drivers installed will not be the latest, but they will be stable

sudo apt-get install nvidia-driver nvidia-xconfig nvidia-prime

5. Checking the Graphics Card Bus

Check which bus the discrete graphics card is on, in order to record these values in the configuration (next step)

nvidia-xconfig --query-gpu-info | grep 'BusID'

Remember the BusID values, for example PCI:3:0:0

6. Creating 'Xconfig'

Xconfig is needed for the system to understand how to work with the graphics card; the following example makes the system work with the discrete graphics card.

• The configuration should be stored at the following path: /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• Replace PCI:x:x:x with your own value taken from the previous step.

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout"
    Screen 0 "nvidia"
    Inactive "intel"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Driver "nvidia"
    BusID "PCI:x:x:x"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Device "nvidia"
    Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "intel"
    Driver "modesetting"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "intel"
    Device "intel"
EndSection

If you are not satisfied with this configuration, you can customize it following this instruction.

Alternatively, you can try generating the correct /etc/X11/xorg.conf using the nvidia-xconfig command.

nvidia-xconfig --enable-all-gpus
nvidia-xconfig --cool-bits=4

7. Creating DisplayManager Script

The script should fit your desktop environment. All scripts for desktop environments can be found here.

Check which DisplayManager you have

cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager

7.1 Script for LightDM

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/display_setup.sh

# Script:
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource modesetting NVIDIA-0
xrandr --auto

7.2 Script for SDDM (Default for KDE)

sudo nano /usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup

# Script:
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource modesetting NVIDIA-0
xrandr --auto

7.3 Script for GDM

sudo nano /usr/share/gdm/greeter/autostart/optimus.desktop
sudo nano /etc/xdg/autostart/optimus.desktop

# Script:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Optimus
Exec=sh -c "xrandr --setprovideroutputsource modesetting NVIDIA-0; xrandr --auto"
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-Phase=DisplayServer

8. Reboot the System

After creating the scripts and configurations, reboot the system

sudo reboot -h now

9. Checking NVIDIA Driver Usage

If your system is using NVIDIA drivers, the output of the following command will be direct rendering: Yes.

glxinfo | grep -i "direct rendering"

10. Installing CUDA Toolkit

Now you can install CUDA

sudo apt-get install ocl-icd-libopencl1 nvidia-cuda-toolkit

11. Updating GRUB

If you have multiple operating systems on one machine, you need to update GRUB.

11.1 Checking PRIME NVIDIA Usage

All values should be "1" (Example: PRIME Synchronization: 1)

xrandr --verbose | grep PRIME

11.2 Updating GRUB

The GRUB configuration is located at: /etc/default/grub

You need to change the following field to the code below:

....
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet nvidia-drm.modeset=1"
...

After saving, update GRUB

sudo update-grub
sudo reboot -h now

After rebooting, check if PRIME NVIDIA is being used

xrandr --verbose|grep PRIME

The output should be the following:

PRIME Synchronization: 1
PRIME Synchronization: 1

Potential Issues

1. Black Screen

If you see a black screen after rebooting, you need to:

1. Switch to a pseudo-graphical terminal (ALT+CTRL+F2 or ALT+CTRL+F3 and so on).
2. Remove the previously created configurations; they were likely created incorrectly and are causing the display not to work.

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia*
sudo rm -rf /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# For LightDM
sudo rm -rf /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

# For SDDM
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/sddm/scripts/Xsetup

# For GDM
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/gdm/greeter/autostart/optimus.desktop
sudo rm -rf /etc/xdg/autostart/optimus.desktop

3. Reboot the system

sudo reboot -h now

2. NVIDIA Driver Installation Failure

1. Check if NOUVEAU is actually in use

lsmod | grep -i nouveau

2. If it is in use, disable it by proceeding to step 2

sudo echo -e "blacklist nouveau\noptions nouveau modeset=0\nalias nouveau off" > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

3. Reboot the system

sudo reboot -h now