# How to install FreeBSD 13.1 Mate with Nvidia 515.57 ?



## Happy Day (Jul 18, 2022)

Hello BSD Community.
I am currently trying to install FreeBSD Mate on a Linux with Virtualbox.
I am currently testing if my wishes can be fulfilled in FreeBSD.
My ultimate goal should be a complete switch from Linux to FreeBSD Mate or KDE.
My priority number one is first the available software drivers for my hardware devices and second the used software under Linux for FreeBSD.
Currently I can install FreeBSD Mate without any problems.
After the FreeBSD ISO is installed here come my Mate Desktop installation routines. I have done these steps in Terminal.
Step by step:

01. $ root login = #
02. # pkg update
03. # pkg install nano sudo htop neofetch
04. # nano /usr/local/etc/sudoers >> user privilege = %wheel All= (All) All
05. # pkg install xorg mate lightdm lightdm-gtk-greeter
06. # pkg install virtualbox-ose-additions
07. # nano /etc/fstab >> proc     /proc       procfs      rw      0       0
08. # nano /etc/rc.conf >> dbus_enable="YES"  hald_enable="YES"  lightdm_enable="YES"  vboxguest_enable="YES"  vboxservice_enable="YES"
09. # exit
10. $ user login = $
11. $ nano .xinitrc >> exec mate-session
12. $ sudo pkg install xdg-user-dirs
13. $ xdg-user-dirs-update
14. $ ls -al
15. $ ls -l
16. $ sudo reboot
17. FreeBSD Mate Desktop
I would appreciate any suggestions for improvement.
Currently I can't install the latest NVidia driver 515.57 x64 from the official Nvidia site for my Nvidia GTX 1060 6G.
In the virtual machine, the Nvidia tar.xz archive with Falkon was downloaded and unpacked on the desktop.
Now I don't know what to do. Where is the executable file in the archive?
I have never installed software outside of the pkg terminal commands.
I would like to install the latest 515.57 or 495.46 Nvidia driver.


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## SirDice (Jul 18, 2022)

Unless the VM is configured to passthrough the NVidia card it won't use that. VMs have a _virtual_ video card, not an actual one. The vboxvideo driver from emulators/virtualbox-ose-additions provides the driver for the _virtual_ video card.

Besides that, use x11/nvidia-driver if you need the latest NVidia driver.


```
hald_enable="YES"
```
Remove it, HAL was removed a long time ago. 


```
vboxservice_enable="YES"
```
This is for running Virtualbox on the host, it's not used in a guest.


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## Happy Day (Jul 18, 2022)

Thanks for the quick reply.
To be honest I took the same steps from a recent Youtube video. (Feb-2022) 



The video also shows how he set his settings in Virtualbox. I also used the same VM settings for my test purposes.
On my native computer I will not go through the above steps with "virtualbox" or "vbox" in the name. That is, at point 6 and point 8.
Point 8 then looks like this for my native computer.

08. # nano /etc/rc.conf >> dbus_enable="YES" lightdm_enable="YES"
Okay I will try native with the x11/nvidia-driver.

pkg install nvidia-driver nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig
The reason for Suyimazu is just because I want to install Steam or are there better ways to install Steam on a FreeBSD?
   In Virtualbox: I needed an up-to-date graphics driver because Suyimazu did not recognize my graphics card.
   In Virtualbox: Every time I want to open the Nvidia server entry in the settings nothing does.
   In Virtualbox: When I run the nvidia-xconfig FreeBSD starts with a black terminal login at the next reboot.
Will the "In Virtualbox" problems be fixed in a native installation?


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## SirDice (Jul 18, 2022)

You don't have access to the host's video card from a VM, so installing the NVidia driver there is pretty useless.


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