Fix NVIDIA Driver Package Conflict | Generated by AI
Question: How do I fix the conflict between nvidia-compute-utils-535 and nvidia-persistenced during NVIDIA driver installation on Ubuntu?
Answer:
Root Cause
nvidia-compute-utils-535 includes nvidia-persistenced functionality built-in, but there is also a separate standalone nvidia-persistenced package installed on your system. They conflict because they both provide the same binary/service.
nvidia-compute-utils-535 ← ships nvidia-persistenced binary internally
nvidia-persistenced ← standalone package, same binary = CONFLICT
Fix: Remove the conflicting package first
Step 1: Remove nvidia-persistenced
sudo apt remove --purge nvidia-persistenced
sudo apt remove --purge nvidia-persistenced:i386
Step 2: Fix broken state
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt --fix-broken install
Step 3: Now retry the installation
sudo apt install nvidia-compute-utils-535
If Step 1 Fails (dependency holds it)
Force-remove it via dpkg directly:
sudo dpkg --remove --force-depends nvidia-persistenced
Then clean up:
sudo apt --fix-broken install
sudo apt autoremove --purge
If You Still Have Held Packages
Check what is held:
sudo apt-mark showhold
dpkg -l | grep ^h
Unhold everything NVIDIA-related:
sudo apt-mark unhold nvidia-* libnvidia-* cuda-*
Then retry:
sudo apt --fix-broken install
sudo apt upgrade
Full Picture of Your Current Situation
Based on all the errors you’ve hit so far, your system has accumulated conflicts from 3 sources mixed together:
| Package Source | Version Suffix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu official repo | -0ubuntu1 |
535.288.01-0ubuntu1 |
| NVIDIA CUDA repo | -0ubuntu0.22.04.1 |
535.288.01-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 |
| Standalone old packages | varies | nvidia-persistenced |
The cleanest long-term fix remains a full purge and reinstall from a single source once you clear this conflict:
# Nuclear option - only if above steps fail
sudo apt purge nvidia-* libnvidia-* cuda-* --allow-remove-essential
sudo apt autoremove --purge
sudo apt clean
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-535
References: