Automatically install NVIDIA drivers

[subjectification]

Hi,

I'm quite new to Linux. When my new laptop arrived, I wanted to use Mint, but I couldn't install the NVIDIA graphics driver. I switched to ubuntu, turned off the grub splash (the only way I could get anything to show on the screen after pressing ctrl alt f1), exited from the x server, made the driver download executable, and installed it that way. Last night, the ubuntu kernel updated itself and the drivers stopped working - I also lost the ability to login (I think this was a separate issue, as I was still unable to login after booting from the previous kernel). I took this opportunity to reinstall Mint and give it another shot.

There is a lot of information on getting NVIDIA drivers to work, and much of it doesn't work (I assume it's outdated). The above process isn't working for me (I can't see anything after pressing ctrl alt f1 despite removing the splash line from grub and running sudo update-grub2), and in any case, I would prefer not to do it manually so that I don't run into problems whenever my software updates. I would be grateful if someone could explain how I could go about installing the drivers in a way that they are automatically integrated with any software updates (or explain how I would go about it manually).

I'm also new to the command line, so I would also appreciate it if you could explain any non-obvious commands to the terminal (obvious for me would be sudo get-nvidia-driver or something like that - non obvious to me would be e.g. chmod -x -ls -rm /etc/default/grub -xbar.ppa).

I'm running Mint 17.1

Many thanks in advance.

Update: I've managed to install the driver by booting as root and following a similar procedure - but I'm still wondering whether there is a more automatic way that won't end up breaking. During installation I attempted the kernel compatibility option, hoping that would fix the problem, but that install failed.

[kc1di]

Hello subjectification and Welcome to Linux Mint,

You should not have have to install nvidia Drivers from the command line. if your using cinnamon you can go to Administrations > Driver Manager and it should find the correct driver for your card. It takes a few minutes for the app to scan your hardware and then should offer you an alternative. simply click on the recommended one and install.

Good Luck

P.S. the reason that the driver failed when the kerenel was updated is becuase you don't have dkms program istalled , it is normally installed when the driver is installed through the Driver Manager and it rebuilds the correct driver module for the new kernel automatically.

[subjectification]

Hey kc1di, thanks for your reply.

When I open the Driver Manager, it says that no proprietary drivers are in use - even now, after I have installed the drivers manually. dkms is the kernel compatibility option I was talking about (I forgot what it was called), but the installation of that failed.