Choosing an Installation Path

This document explains how to choose the appropriate installation procedure for Intel GPU drivers, performance libraries, compilers, and utilities. The correct installation path depends on your GPU and intended use case. The following installation paths are available:

  • Installing Packages from Ubuntu PPA: Use this path for all supported Intel GPUs except Intel Max and Flex Series. It provides the latest package versions, including early access to new features.

  • Installing Intel® Open Middleware Xe: Use this path for Intel® Arc™ Pro B-Series Graphics when you need additional compute components optimized for AI and HPC workloads beyond the PPA-based installation path. It is supported only on Intel® Arc™ Pro B50 Graphics, Intel® Arc™ Pro B60 Graphics, Intel® Arc™ Pro B65 Graphics, and Intel® Arc™ Pro B70 Graphics.

  • Installing Packages on Intel Max and Flex Series: Use this path for Intel® Data Center GPU Max Series and Intel® Data Center GPU Flex Series systems. It does not apply to any other GPUs.

Before you begin

Before proceeding with installation, ensure that your operating system version supports your GPU hardware and that your system can detect the GPU.

Determining Ubuntu version compatibility

Intel actively collaborates with upstream projects to enable the best possible experience with the software and drivers provided by Linux operating system distributions. For optimal support of Intel graphics products on Linux, we recommend using the kernel, drivers, and packages supplied by your operating system vendor. As new hardware platforms enter the market, updating to the latest Ubuntu version may be necessary. For Panther Lake, Battlemage, and Lunar Lake, Ubuntu 25.10 and later versions provide full support out of the box.

To determine the minimum supported Ubuntu version for your specific GPU:

  1. Refer to the Supported Hardware and locate your PCI device ID.

  2. Identify the minimum kernel version required for your GPU.

  3. Use the following recommendations to select the appropriate Ubuntu version:

    • Kernel 6.17 or newer required: Use Ubuntu 25.10 or newer

    • Kernel 6.8 or newer required: Use Ubuntu 24.04 or newer

For more information on kernel versions provided by each Ubuntu release, refer to Ubuntu Kernel Lifecycle.

Verifying GPU detection

Before installation, verify that your operating system can detect the GPU and that the required kernel interfaces are available:

  1. List GPUs detected by the operating system.

    lspci -nn | grep -Ei 'VGA|DISPLAY'

    Verify that the reported PCI device ID matches your GPU. For example, the following output shows devices with the e211 PCI device ID, which corresponds to Intel® Arc™ Pro B60 Graphics:

    0000:18:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Battlemage G31 [Intel Graphics] [8086:e211]
0000:ae:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Battlemage G31 [Intel Graphics] [8086:e211]

  2. Check your kernel version.

    uname -r

  3. Verify that DRI render nodes are available. Look for entries named renderD*, for example, renderD128.

    ls /dev/dri