As with all things Linux, your results may vary depending on your hardware setup.

Here's what I did that worked for my situation. If any experts want to weigh in and criticize this approach, feel free to tell me what I could've improved on.

My NVIDIA card is a few years old (GTX 1660), but I got the proprietary driver installed just fine and it's working great with my casual gaming. I'm not playing AAA stuff at max settings or anything, but I haven't run into any issues so far. However, I don't game every single day.

Debian typically includes open-source Nouveau drivers by default, which are fine for basic use but may not provide optimal performance for gaming or other intensive tasks. Before doing any update like this, be sure to create a timeshift of your system so you can easily roll the changes back if your results aren't as expected. Here's how to install the proprietary NVIDIA drivers:

1. Add Non-Free Repositories: Debian's default repositories don't include proprietary drivers, so you'll need to add the non-free repositories. Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file and add non-free to the end of each line. For example, a line in your `sources.list` file might look like this:
   deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free

2. Update Package Lists: After updating your sources.list, run the following command to update your package lists:
   sudo apt update

3. Install Kernel Headers: The NVIDIA drivers require kernel headers to be installed. You can install them with:
   sudo apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

4. Install NVIDIA Drivers: Install the NVIDIA drivers using the following command:
   sudo apt install nvidia-driver

5. Reboot Your System: Once the installation is complete, reboot your system to load the drivers:
   sudo reboot

6. Verify the Installation: After rebooting, you can verify that the NVIDIA drivers are in use with the following command:
   nvidia-smi

7. Troubleshooting: If you encounter any issues, check the logs for any errors related to NVIDIA. Sometimes, issues can arise due to conflicts with the Nouveau driver, in which case you might need to blacklist the Nouveau driver.

After running nvidia-smi to check my version, the NVIDIA driver version on my machine is 525.147.05, released in October 2023: https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/tesla/tesla-release-notes-525-147-05/index.html

(Edited for formatting)

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to install the NVIDIA proprietary drivers on my MSI Vector laptop with an NVIDIA 4070 running Debian 13 Trixie (stable) with GNOME and Wayland, but I haven’t had any success. I’ve tried several methods (repositories, backports, manual installation, etc.) and I always end up with the same problem: black screen on reboot.

So far, the only solution has been to undo all changes to be able to log in with the nouveau driver.

Has anyone successfully installed NVIDIA drivers on this setup (Debian 13 + NVIDIA 4070 + GNOME Wayland)?
If you could share the steps you followed (repos, packages, additional configurations), it would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!