Installing NVIDIA GPU Drivers

Important Notes

Ubuntu 20.04,22.04 & 24.04 GPU images already include NVIDIA drivers
Rocky/AlmaLinux and Windows require manual or guided installation

2.1 Ubuntu 20.04,22.04,24.04-GPU (Drivers Pre-Installed)

Validate Driver using below command:

nvidia-smi

Expected:
–GPU Name: NVIDIA L4
–Driver Version: Displayed
-No errors (e.g., No devices were found, NVIDIA-SMI has failed)

If Driver Is Not Installed or Reinstall Is Needed

Step 1: Remove Existing NVIDIA Drivers

sudo apt purge '^nvidia.*' -y
sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo apt autoclean -y

Step 2: Install Recommended NVIDIA Driver

sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall 

This installs the recommended stable driver for Ubuntu 20.04,22.04 & 24.04 (commonly nvidia-driver-535 or 550, depending on repository support).

Step 3: Reboot

sudo reboot

Step 4: Post-Reboot Validation

nvidia-smi

Optional: Install Specific Driver Version (Manual)

If a specific version is required:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-550 -y
sudo reboot

2.3 Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux 8 & 9

Step 1: Update System

sudo dnf update -y
sudo reboot

Step 2: Install NVIDIA Drivers

sudo dnf install epel-release -y
sudo dnf install cuda-drivers -y
sudo reboot

Validation

nvidia-smi

Reinstall / Rollback

sudo dnf remove 'nvidia*' 'cuda*' -y
sudo reboot
sudo dnf install cuda-drivers -y

2.4 Windows Server (2019 / 2022 / 2025)

Driver Installation

Download NVIDIA Driver for L4
Run installer
Reboot VM

One-line GPU verification command (PowerShell)

Option1: Open Powershell and run command nvidia-smi

Option 2: 
$gpu = Get-CimInstance Win32_VideoController | Where-Object { $_.Name -match "NVIDIA" }

if ($gpu) {
    $gpu | Select-Object Name, DriverVersion
} else {
    "No NVIDIA GPU detected"
}

Expected output (example):

Name        DriverVersion
----        -------------
NVIDIA L4  32.0.15.9159

Check GPU from Device Manager (GUI)

Steps

Press Win + R → type devmgmt.msc → press Enter
Expand Display adapters

Expected result

You should see:

NVIDIA L4

No warning icons (⚠️ / ❌) should be present

NOTE: Why GPU metrics do not appear in Windows Task Manager for NVIDIA L4

NVIDIA L4 GPU metrics are not displayed in Windows Task Manager because the L4 operates as a compute-only data-center accelerator and does not expose the WDDM performance telemetry required by Windows Task Manager. This is expected behavior. GPU utilization and health metrics should be monitored using NVIDIA-provided tools such as nvidia-smi or NVIDIA DCGM.

WDDM can be enabled for Data-Center GPUS i.e l4 gpu but for this vGPU (Virtual GPU) Drivers
NVIDIA’s vGPU software drivers (GRID, vWS, etc.) allow data-center GPUs to be presented to Windows as virtual display devices.
This enables WDDM functionality on GPUs that normally default to TCC/compute mode.
To install and use NVIDIA vGPU drivers on Windows, you must have a valid vGPU license (e.g., vWS, vPC, vApps).

NVIDIA Driver Installation Guide for CloudPe L4 GPU Virtual Machines