nvidia-modprobe(1)

💖 nvidia-modprobe — NAME 💖

okay so bestie, meet nvidia-modprobe: the little utility from the nvidia-modprobe(1) manual that loads the NVIDIA kernel module and creates NVIDIA character device files. that's the whole job. she's a loader and a maker. queen behavior. 👑

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nvidia-modprobe [options]
nvidia-modprobe [options] --create-nvidia-device-file=MINOR-NUMBER
nvidia-modprobe [options] --module-instance=MODULE-INSTANCE

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea. nvidia-modprobe is used by user-space NVIDIA driver components to make sure three things happen:

• the NVIDIA kernel module is loaded
• the NVIDIA character device files are present
• certain runtime settings in the kernel get configured

those three facilities are normally the Linux distribution's job, handled by config systems like udev. and listen — when possible, it is recommended that you use your Linux distribution's native mechanisms for managing kernel module loading, device file creation and kernel runtime config settings. like, genuinely. that's the blessed path. 🙏

this utility is provided as a fallback, so things work out-of-the-box in a distribution-independent way. she's the backup dancer who knows every single step. 💅

when installed by nvidia-installer, nvidia-modprobe is installed setuid root. yes, really. that's the vibe.

ngl bestie, users should not normally need to run nvidia-modprobe by hand — the NVIDIA user-space driver components will fork(2)/exec(3) it when needed. she gets summoned. you don't summon her. ✨

now the behavior rundown, no cap:

• with no options at all, nvidia-modprobe will load the NVIDIA kernel module and then exit.
• when the --module-instance option is specified on systems with multiple NVIDIA kernel modules, nvidia-modprobe will load the corresponding NVIDIA kernel module and then exit.
• when the --create-nvidia-device-file option is specified, nvidia-modprobe will also create the requested device file.

the source code to nvidia-modprobe is available here: https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nvidia-modprobe/ 🫶

---

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -v, --version — print the utility version and exit. short and iconic.
• -h, --help — print usage information for the command line options and exit. she's helping!
• -c MINOR-NUMBER, --create-nvidia-device-file=MINOR-NUMBER — create the NVIDIA device file with the given minor number; this option can be specified multiple times to create multiple NVIDIA device files. stack her. 🍓

---

🔥 ADVANCED OPTIONS 🔥

these are the deep cuts, iykyk.

• -u, --unified-memory — load the NVIDIA Unified Memory kernel module or create device files for it, instead of the NVIDIA kernel module.
• -m, --modeset — load the NVIDIA modeset kernel module and create its device file.
• -s, --nvswitch — load the NVIDIA kernel module and create the NVSwitch device files for each minor number specified using the -c flag.
• -l, --nvlink — load the NVIDIA kernel module and create the NVLink control device file.
• -f NVIDIA-CAPABILITY-DEVICE-FILE, --nvidia-capability-device-file=NVIDIA-CAPABILITY-DEVICE-FILE — create the NVIDIA capability device files with the given capability /proc file path. this option can be specified multiple times to create multiple NVIDIA capability device files. ✨
• -a, --auto-online-movable — enable the online_movable auto onlining kernel setting for platforms (like Grace Hopper) that add and online GPU memory to the kernel.

---

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

okay live demonstration time, watch and learn:

• nvidia-modprobe — run /sbin/modprobe nvidia
• nvidia-modprobe -c 0 -c 1 — run /sbin/modprobe nvidia and create /dev/nvidia0 and /dev/nvidia1
• nvidia-modprobe -i 0 — run /sbin/modprobe nvidia0

---

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Andy Ritger
NVIDIA Corporation

---

💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

Copyright © 2013 NVIDIA Corporation.

---

and that's the whole page, bestie — you ate that reading thing fr fr. go forth and let the driver fork(2)/exec(3) her for you like she's meant to be. slay. 💅✨

this glorious manual was brought to you by nvidia-modprobe 610.57.04, dated 2026-08-09, on the nvidia-modprobe(1) manual page — mwah, no notes, periodt. 🎀🦋💖