Failled CUDA installation Ubunutu 18.04.5

I'm trying to install the CUDA toolkit with Ubuntu 18.04.5 for my GTX 3060 Ti. I've downloaded the file cuda_11.2.1_460.32.03_linux.run from NVidia's site followed the instructions and when then there is the following error

guser@m:~$ sudo ./cuda_11.2.1_460.32.03_linux.run
[sudo] password for guser@m:
Installation failed. See log at /var/log/cuda-installer.log for details.

The cuda-installer log doesn't help much

[INFO]: Driver not installed.
[INFO]: Checking compiler version...
[INFO]: gcc location: /usr/bin/gcc
[INFO]: gcc version: gcc version 7.5.0 (Ubuntu 7.5.0-3ubuntu1~18.04)
[INFO]: Initializing menu
[INFO]: Setup complete
[INFO]: Components to install:
[INFO]: Driver
[INFO]: 460.32.03
[INFO]: Executing NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-460.32.03.run --ui=none --no-questions --accept-license --disable-nouveau --no-cc-version-check --install-libglvnd 2>&1
[INFO]: Finished with code: 36096
[ERROR]: Install of driver component failed.
[ERROR]: Install of 460.32.03 failed, quitting

inspecting the nvidia-installer.log I have

guser@m:~$ tail /var/log/nvidia-installer.log
[ 1539.155133] nvidia-uvm: Unloaded the UVM driver.
[ 1539.187421] nvidia-nvlink: Unregistered the Nvlink Core, major device number 236
WARNING: Unable to find a suitable destination to install 32-bit compatibility libraries. Your system may not be set up for 32-bit compatibility. 32-bit compatibility files will not be installed; if you wish to install them, re-run the installation and set a valid directory with the --compat32-libdir option.
Will install libglvnd libraries.
Will install libEGL vendor library config file to /usr/share/glvnd/egl_vendor.d
-> Searching for conflicting files:
-> done.
-> Installing 'NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Driver for Linux-x86_64' (460.32.03): executing: '/sbin/ldconfig'... executing: '/sbin/depmod -a '...

couldn't figure out what the problem is.

1 Answer

You will most likely get a better start...
if you look into what these apt-packages contain,
and how to use them:

$ lsb_release -d
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS
$ sudo apt install nvidia-cuda-_ # hit TAB with the cursor at _
nvidia-cuda-dev nvidia-cuda-doc nvidia-cuda-gdb nvidia-cuda-toolkit 

Note also that you might have to look into which VERSION of the nvidia drivers you currently have;

This will show installed stuff with nvidia in the name or comment:

$ dpkg --list | grep -E ^ii.*nvidia

... depending on support for your hardware (or not) you might need to update the driver.