Install Nvidia Driver in Hybrid Graphics Laptop on CentOS, RHEL7,8

This guide will show you how to install Nvidia driver in a hybrid graphics laptop on Linux. For this guide, we have a laptop with dual graphics adapters, or you can say (hybrid graphics), one is (intel integrated GPU), and other is (Nvidia GTX950M), and we are running CentOS 7 Linux on top of it. 

 

This guide requires "Secure Boot" to be turned off from BIOS (if exists) before proceeding with the following, or Nvidia driver loading will fail.

 

 

Add RPMFusion Repository

First, you need to add the RPMFusion repository in your system. To enable access to these repository, execute the following command, depending on what distribution you use and then follow the default options to install.

For CentOS, RHEL 7:

sudo yum -y install epel-release
sudo yum -y install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-7.noarch.rpm
sudo yum -y install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-7.noarch.rpm 

For CentOS, RHEL 8:

sudo dnf -y install epel-release
sudo dnf -y install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-7.noarch.rpm
sudo dnf -y install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-7.noarch.rpm

RHEL 8 requires an additional step:

sudo subscription-manager repos --enable "codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-$(uname -m)-rpms"

CentOS Steam 8 requires an additional step:

sudo dnf config-manager --enable powertools

CentOS 8 (older version) used a case sensitive name for the PowerTools repository:

sudo dnf config-manager --enable PowerTools

Install NVIDIA Driver

Type below command to install latest available Nvidia driver on CentOS, RHEL 7

sudo yum -y install gcc kernel-headers kernel-devel akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.i686 akmods

For CentOS, RHEL 8:

sudo dnf -y install gcc kernel-headers kernel-devel akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.i686 akmods

You must wait 5-10 minutes for the kernel modules to load. Please do not proceed to the next steps immediately.

Execute following command to force the configuration to be read from the updated kernel modules which now have the latest Nvidia driver in them.

sudo akmods --force
sudo dracut --force

Wait for 3-5 minutes for the changes to take effect and then reboot your system.

sudo shutdown -r now

 

Install Bumblebee

Bumblebee providing an elegant and stable means of managing optimus hybrid graphics chipsets. A primary goal of this project is to not only enable use of the discrete GPU for rendering, but also to enable smart power management of the dGPU when it's not in use. 

 

For CentOS, RHEL 7:

sudo yum -y install elrepo-release
sudo yum -y install bumblebee

For CentOS, RHEL 8:

sudo dnf -y install elrepo-release
sudo dnf -y install bumblebee

 Type below command to add your username to bumblebee group:

sudo usermod -aG bumblebee root
sudo usermod -aG bumblebee your_username

Reboot your system to make changes to take effect:

sudo shutdown -r now

Once your system has started, edit bumblebee.conf with any of preferred text editor:

sudo vi /etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf

Make the following highlighted changes:

[bumblebeed]
VirtualDisplay=:8
KeepUnusedXServer=false
ServerGroup=bumblebee
TurnCardOffAtExit=false
NoEcoModeOverride=false
Driver=nvidia
XorgConfDir=/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.d

[optirun]
Bridge=auto
VGLTransport=proxy
PrimusLibraryPath=/usr/lib64/primus:/usr/lib32/primus
AllowFallbackToIGC=false

[driver-nvidia]
KernelDriver=nvidia-drm
PMMethod=auto
LibraryPath=
XorgModulePath=
XorgConfFile=/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nvidia

[driver-nouveau]
KernelDriver=nouveau
PMMethod=auto
XorgConfFile=/etc/bumblebee/xorg.conf.nouveau

Save and close the editor when you are finished.

Edit nvidia-settings.desktop with any of your preferred text editor:

sudo vi /usr/share/applications/nvidia-settings.desktop

Make the following highlighted changes:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=NVIDIA X Server Settings
Comment=Configure NVIDIA X Server Settings
Exec=optirun nvidia-settings -c :8.0
Icon=nvidia-settings
Categories=System;Settings;

Save and close the editor when you are finished.

Reboot your machine to take changes into effect:

sudo shutdown -r now

Once your system has booted, type below command to verify your Nvidia GPU rendering:

optirun glxinfo -display :8.0 | egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"

It should show your NVIDIA GPU like below.

 

Type below command to clone screenfetch script from github:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/KittyKatt/screenFetch.git
cd screenFetch/
chmod +x screenfetch-dev
sudo cp screenfetch-dev /usr/bin/screenfetch

Execute screenfetch

optirun screenfetch

It should show your NVIDIA GPU under the GPU name like below:

 

 

Type below command to open NVIDIA X Server Settings application.

optirun nvidia-settings -c :8.0

You can make other configuration changes using NVIDIA X Server Settings application. Also the GPU would show activity in its utilization percentage to signify that it is actually working.

 

 

Whenever you need to run an application to be rendered using Nvidia GPU, you should run it like example below:

optirun firefox
optirun -display :8.0 firefox

At this stage, your laptop is ready to be used with integrated GPU, and NVIDIA GPU at the same time depending on your applications requirements. If you don't need an application to be rendered using Nvidia GPU, run it without optirun, and it will automatically use intel integrated GPU.

In this guide you learn, how to install latest Nvidia driver on a hybrid graphics laptop running CentOS, RHEL or Oracle Linux on top of it. You also learn how to switch between integrated GPU and Nvidia GPU using bumblebee optirun.

 

 

Conclusion

Now that you have successfully installed latest NVIDIA driver on a CentOS, RHEL machine, you can begin testing your graphic adapter functionality with any of applications, tools, or games of your choice.