The guide walks users through installing the official NVIDIA driver on AlmaLinux 9 so their GPU can deliver full performance. It starts by checking the running kernel to ensure compatibility and then adds RPM Fusion’s free and nonfree repositories, which host the akmod‑nvidia package that compiles the driver for your system. After installing akmod-nvidia, kmod-nvidia, Xorg packages and disabling the conflicting Nouveau driver with a blacklist entry, the user rebuilds the initramfs with dracut and reboots to apply the changes. Finally, running nvidia-smi confirms that the kernel module is loaded and displays the driver version and CUDA support, completing the installation.

Installing NVIDIA Drivers on AlmaLinux 9: A Practical How‑to

If you’ve got an NVIDIA GPU in your AlmaLinux 9 machine and want the full performance boost, this guide walks through installing the official driver stack step by step. We’ll cover repository setup, kernel module handling, and a quick sanity test so you know everything’s wired up properly.

1. Check Your Kernel Version

uname -r

Why it matters: The NVIDIA driver ships a pre‑compiled module for a specific kernel series. If your kernel is older or too new, the module may not load and you’ll end up with a black screen. On AlmaLinux 9 the default kernel is 6.1.x, which the latest drivers support out of the box. If you see something like 4.18 or 5.10, it’s time to update your system first.

2. Enable RPM Fusion Repositories

sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-9.noarch.rpm \
                    https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/el/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-9.noarch.rpm

Why it matters: RPM Fusion hosts the akmod-nvidia package that builds the driver kernel module on your machine. Without these repos you’ll be stuck with an old driver or no NVIDIA support at all. I’ve seen users try to pull drivers from third‑party sites and end up with a broken X session—skip it.

3. Install the Driver Package

sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia xorg-x11-server-Xorg

Why it matters: akmod‑nvidia automatically compiles the driver against your current kernel, while kmod‑nvidia provides precompiled modules for common kernels. Installing both ensures you’re covered if you update or downgrade your kernel later. The X server package is needed to start a graphical session with NVIDIA acceleration.

4. Disable Nouveau and Reboot

Create a file at /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf with the following lines:

blacklist nouveau
options nouveau modeset=0

Then run:

sudo dracut --force
sudo reboot

Why it matters: Nouveau, the open‑source NVIDIA driver, conflicts with the official binary. Leaving it enabled will prevent your new driver from loading and you’ll be stuck on a black screen or Xorg error logs. The dracut step rebuilds the initramfs so the blacklist takes effect before the kernel boots.

5. Verify Installation with nvidia‑smi

nvidia-smi

You should see something like:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 535.86       Driver Version: 535.86       CUDA Version: 12.0     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
...

If you get an error, double‑check that Nouveau is blacklisted and that the kernel module /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/updates/dkms/nvidia.ko exists.

That’s it. Your AlmaLinux 9 machine should now be running the official NVIDIA driver with full acceleration. Give it a whirl and drop me a comment if you hit any hiccups!