How do I disable the "Nouveau Kernel Driver"?
All links above are correct, however you must run sudo update-initramfs -u so the initramfs can be purged of nouveau
Just a quick question: Why are you downloading the drivers from Nvidia directly? The packages available through jockey (the Additional Drivers application) should be fine for most people and if you don't fit into "most people", using the X-SWAT PPA should give you the latest version of the nvidia driver.
Anyway, what you want is simple. Firstly you have to get out of X before you can install. You can do that by switching to a virtual terminal (tty) by pressing ctrl+alt+ F1 logging on and then running sudo stop lightdm. Now run the installer. If it's still moaning about nouveau continue:
Run sudoedit /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf and fill it with this:
# This file was installed by nvidia-current-updates
# Do not edit this file manually
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
blacklist nvidia-173
blacklist nvidia-96
blacklist nvidia-current
blacklist nvidia-173-updates
blacklist nvidia-96-updates
alias nvidia nvidia_current_updates
alias nouveau off
alias lbm-nouveau off
The driver will create that file when it's installed, but you just want to speed things along. You'll need to reboot and kill X again now.
Then run the installer and all should be fine.
Add string nomodeset to your /etc/default/grub file at line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=line, or your nvidia driver won't work.
After the modifications, run:
sudo update-grub
Pass a kernel argument (nouveau.blacklist=1) at boot to blacklist the driver by editing your /etc/default/grub file:
sudo sed -i 's/GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="/GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nouveau.blacklist=1 /g' /etc/default/grub
sudo update-grub
reboot
I was stuck with this issue for a long time. After installing a fresh copy of Ubuntu 16.04, I installed cuda 8.0 using the deb(local):
sudo dpkg -i cuda-repo-ubuntu1604-8-0-local-ga2_8.0.61-1_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cuda
Nvidia driver is working well on my computer now. Prior to that, I was trying to install Nvidia driver using the *.run file without any luck. Give it a shot it will save your valuable time.