Can't make changes to video settings in Ubuntu?

Solution 1:

This is, because the Folder /etx/X11 and all its contents are owned by root. When changing steeings, a backup of xorg.conf should be created and your current user has no rights to do it. Try executing this as a super user, like this:

sudo nvidia-settings

EDIT:
On Gnome you should use

gksudo nvidia-settings

On KDE you should use

kdesudo nvidia-settings