Solution to NVIDIA Toolkit Installation Error for Ubuntu 12.10 [Driver: Installation Failed]

   Driver: Installation Failed

You may find this error message while trying to set up the NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit in Ubuntu.

I found it when I was installing the toolkit for ArrayFire [1] CUDA Toolkit Installation

1. Download the CUDA Toolkit in the link.

2. Extract the.run file in a location

   sudo sh cuda_5.0.35_linux_64_ubuntu11.10-1.run --extract <location>

3. Exit the X server (press Ctrl+Alt+F1) and stop the display manager by the following command.

   sudo stop lightdm

4. cd to the location and now there are run files named samples*, devdriver* and cudatoolkit*.

5. Install devdriver (*only if NVIDIA Driver is not installed)

   sudo sh devdriver_5.0_linux_64_304.54.run

6. Install cudatoolkit

   sudo sh cudatoolkit-5.0.35_linux_64_ubuntu11.10.run

In the end, when it asks "Would you like to create a symbolic link /usr/local/cuda/ pointing to /usr/local/cuda-x.x?", you must enter (y)es.

If it didn't ask, or you didn't enter (y)es, enter the following command to create a symbolic link.

   ln -s /usr/local/cuda-x.0 ./usr/local/cuda

7. Install sample (*optional)

   sudo sh cuda-samples_5.0.35_linux.run

8. Reboot your machine

   sudo reboot

[2] ArrayFire Installation

1. Create AccelerEyes account to download ArrayFire

2. Unzip arrayfire in /usr/local

   sudo unzip ArrayFire*.zip -d /usr/local

[3] Environmental Variables Setting 1. Open bash setting

   vim ~/.bashrc

2. Add the following lines in the end (probably only need to set LD_LIBRARY_PATH)

   export AF_PATH=/usr/local/arrayfire
   export CUDA=/usr/local/cuda
   export PATH=/usr/local/cuda/bin:$PATH
   export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda/lib:/usr/local/cuda/lib64:/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

3. Reload bash setting

   source ~/.bashrc