The GeForce NOW app does not launch on Linux. What can I do?

GeForce NOW is supported on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and beyond. If you have this version and GeForce NOW does not launch, here are some troubleshooting steps that can be used.

 

Step 1: Confirm there is a valid GPU attached and a kernel driver is in use
Here are the steps to check if your system has a valid GPU and which vendor:

lspci -k | grep -A 2 -E '(VGA|3D)'

 

This command lists all PCI devices, filters for devices categorized as 'VGA' (Video Graphics Array) or '3D' controller, and prints the matching line along with the two following lines. This output should clearly show your graphics card (e.g., NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) and the kernel driver currently in use (e.g., `nvidia`, `amdgpu`, `i915`).

 

sudo apt install vulkan-tools

vulkaninfo | grep 'VK_KHR_video_decode_h265'

vulkaninfo | grep 'VK_KHR_video_decode_h264'

vulkaninfo | grep 'VK_KHR_video_queue'

vulkaninfo | grep 'VK_KHR_video_decode_queue'

vulkaninfo | grep 'VK_EXT_external_memory_dma_buf'

vulkaninfo | grep 'VK_KHR_external_memory'

 

If your GPU supports these extensions, they will be listed in the output. If nothing is returned, the extension is not supported by your current driver and/or hardware. Try upgrading your driver and/or GPU.

 

The presence of a software renderer (like Mesa/X.org - llvmpipe) in the glxinfo output often indicates that your system is not using the dedicated GPU for rendering.

glxinfo | grep 'OpenGL renderer string'

 

If the output contains "llvmpipe" or a similar software renderer, ensure your proper GPU drivers are installed and configured correctly.

 

Expected Output (Example NVIDIA):

 

Not Supported (Example Software Renderer):

 

On Desktop systems, ensure your monitor display cable (e.g., DP or HDMI etc) is connected directly to one of the output ports on your dedicated GPU, not to the motherboard’s integrated graphics port.

 

nvidia-smi

 

Expected Output: This should display a table showing the installed NVIDIA Driver Version (e.g., `580.126.09`) and details about your GPU(s).

 

Instead, if this command returns `command not found` or an error, the NVIDIA proprietary driver is either not installed or not configured correctly, and you should proceed to install the recommended driver version (580.126.09+).

 

Command: nvidia-smi --version | grep -i driver

 

Output: DRIVER version      : 580.126.09

 

Command: flatpak list --runtime | grep nvidia

 

Output: nvidia-580-126-09

org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.nvidia-580-126-09

 

The NVIDIA driver installed on the host is version 580.126.09, which matches the Flatpak runtime NVIDIA driver nvidia-580-126.09.

 

If the host has a valid NVIDIA driver but the Flatpak runtime NVIDIA driver is missing or does not match, follow the steps below to set up the Flatpak runtime NVIDIA driver. Alternatively, simply reinstall the GeForce NOW application.

 

Command: flatpak update com.nvidia.geforcenow

 

or

 

Command: flatpak update org.freedesktop.Platform//24.08

 

cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset
 

 

2. If you get an N above, check the NVIDIA driver options:
The driver might be loading with modeset disabled via a configuration file (e.g., in /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers-kms.conf).

 

grep -r modeset /etc/modprobe.d/

 

Look for lines like:

 

3. If the grep -r modeset /etc/modprobe.d/ command returns no output (meaning it found 0 results), or modeset is set to  0, then explicitly enable the modeset option for the NVIDIA driver using the method below. Note that this has to be run as root.

 

4. However, if grep -r modeset /etc/modprobe.d/ returns a file with modeset set to 0, edit that file to set it to 1 and then run below commands. Note that this also has to be run as root.

 

5. After rebooting, repeat step 3 Check if DRM Modesetting is enabled. If the output is now Y, the issue is resolved.