Installing the nvidia graphics driver in Lubuntu 11.10

I just installed the latest Lubuntu 11.10 and as I have a very new video card, I also needed to install the latest official nvidia driver from nvidia.com. I thought I might share the instructions with you, as some people might find the process difficult.


DOWNLOADING THE DRIVER
Download the latest driver from the nvidia site. Save it somewhere on the HDD. In this guide I'll be using the following:

~/Downloads/filename.run

Which stands for:

/home/username/Downloads/filename.run

INSTALLING THE DRIVER
The following process will require you to exit your desktop environment and restart the computer multiple times and may be very difficult to follow if read from this guide. To make the process easier, open this guide on another device, or print the important parts out.


1) Install the required dependencies for the installer to work by typing the following:

sudo apt-get install gcc make

2) Exit X and switch to tty1 by pressing:

CTRL + ALT + F1

3) Kill X (you need to do this for the driver to install) by:

sudo service lxdm stop

4) Locate to the directory with the driver by typing:

cd ~/Downloads/

5) Run the driver installer:

sudo sh ./filename.run

Now, be aware of the following:

• The nvidia driver will defaultly print a warning that a pre-install script has failed - ignore it. This doesn't really do anything.

During the installation, the installer will tell you that you need to disable a certain module for the installer to continue. Just answer with "yes", then restart the PC by:

sudo restart

After restart, again repeat with steps 2), 3), 4) and 5). After you complete, the driver should be successfully installed.