Score:2

Remove Gnome desktop after installing Nvidia drivers

us flag

I have just bought and install an RTX 3060 for a headless server running Ubuntu Server 20.04. I wanted to use nvidia-smi to check GPU load/temperature so I followed this post, running

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-drivers-common
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

Since doing this my ssh connection kept dying after several minutes of connection. I soon figured by connecting a monitor that my server no longer displayed a CLI but the Gnome login screen and I was losing connection when the server fell to sleep. I can only assume this was added as a dependency when installing the Nvidia drivers.

How do I remove all traces of Gnome desktop and return to a completely headless server?

How can I install nvidia-smi without Gnome desktop?

Non-essential details:

I plan to use the graphics card for deep learning, installing CUDA in Docker containers only.

sudodus avatar
jp flag
See the answers at [this link](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/164005/non-graphical-boot-with-systemd)
Tim Hargreaves avatar
us flag
That looks great. Thank you. For my understanding only, is this the solution or just a workaround? I assume Gnome will still be installed, it just will be ignored on boot. Is Gnome need for nvidia-smi?
sudodus avatar
jp flag
I don't think gnome or some other desktop or window manager is necessary, but I am not sure. If gnome is not used, it will only occupy some drive space, and not do any [other] harm.
Tim Hargreaves avatar
us flag
Okay, that's good to know. Server is now booting with CLI and sleep issue is gone. Thank you.
sudodus avatar
jp flag
You are welcome :-)
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