Arch Linux nvidia drivers installation guide

Important links

• Arch Linux Homepage
• Arch Linux Wiki

Default Prerequisites

This is a quick tutorial on how you can install proprietary nvidia drivers for Arch Linux. Please note if you are using anything other than the regular linux kernel, such as linux-lts, you need to make changes accordingly. All the commands marked with like this are meant to be run on the terminal. Do not reboot before you have finished all the steps below!

Step 1: Installing required packages and enable multilib

1. Update the system: sudo pacman -Syu
2. Install required packages: sudo pacman -S base-devel linux-headers git --needed
3. Install the AUR helper, yay

 cd ~
 git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
 cd yay
 makepkg -si

4. Enable multilib repository sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

• Uncomment lines that have [multilib] and Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist, and then run yay -Syu, to update the system package database. Do not run yay -Syy, as that may cause a partial upgrade.

Step 2: Installing the driver packages

1. This step might be a bit confusing. First find your nvidia card from this list here
2. Check what driver packages you need to install from the list below

Driver name	Base driver	OpenGL	OpenGL (multilib)
Maxwell (NV110) series and newer	nvidia	nvidia-utils	lib32-nvidia-utils
Kepler (NVE0) series	nvidia-470xx-dkms	nvidia-470xx-utils	lib32-nvidia-470xx-utils
GeForce 400/500/600 series cards [NVCx and NVDx]	nvidia-390xx	nvidia-390xx-utils	lib32-nvidia-390xx-utils

3. Install the correct packages, for example yay -S nvidia-470xx-dkms nvidia-470xx-utils lib32-nvidia-470xx-utils
4. I also recommend you to install nvidia-settings via yay -S nvidia-settings

Step 3: Enabling DRM kernel mode setting

1. Add the kernel parameter

• Go to your grub file with sudo nano /etc/default/grub
• Find GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
• Append the line with nvidia-drm.modeset=1
• For example: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nvidia-drm.modeset=1"
• Save the file with CTRL+O
• Finish the grub config with sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

2. Add the early loading

• Go to your mkinitcpio configuration file with sudo nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
• Find MODULES=()
• Edit the line to match MODULES=(nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)
• Save the file with CTRL+O
• Finish the mkinitcpio configuration with sudo mkinitcpio -P

3. Adding the pacman hook

• Find the nvidia.hook in this repository, make a local copy and open the file with your preferred editor
• Find Target=nvidia
• Replace the nvidia with the base driver you installed, e.g. nvidia-470xx-dkms
• Save the file and move it to /etc/pacman.d/hooks/ , for example with sudo mv ./nvidia.hook /etc/pacman.d/hooks/

Step 2: Reboot and enjoy!

You can now safely reboot and enjoy the proprietary nvidia drivers. If you have any problems check the Arch Linux Wiki or the forums for common pitfalls and questions.