NVIDIA Graphics on Omarchy / Arch: Daily-Driver Setup Guide

This is the NVIDIA daily-driver guide I wish I had when Omarchy finally gave me a desktop and the GPU still felt half-installed. The live USB may have needed a Safe Graphics entry. The installed system needs a real module, matching userspace, and a compositor that is allowed to talk to the card. This page is that path.

If the Omarchy ISO never drew a picture, stop here and use How to install the Omarchy ISO with nomodeset. That article rebuilds the live image. It is not how you leave a finished workstation. If you are still in week one on Quattro, the first-week install guide covers Limine, omarchy update, and scale. This post assumes you can reach a shell and you want the GPU to behave like a daily driver, not like a recovery framebuffer.

I am not pasting fake encoder FPS or synthetic scores. If nvidia-smi is healthy and Hyprland stays up after a suspend, you are winning. Apps that lean on the GPU, Resolve included, get a pointer at the end. Their install steps stay on their own pages.

What this post is for

Use it when:

Omarchy or Arch is installed and you need proprietary or open NVIDIA kernel modules for Turing and newer, or the classic proprietary package for older cards.
You can log in, but nvidia-smi is missing, wrong, or angry about a kernel mismatch.
Hyprland starts, then a browser, game, or editor makes the session feel soft, stuttery, or one refresh rate behind the panel.
You left nomodeset on the installed cmdline “just in case” and now wonder why nothing GPU-heavy works well.

Do not use it when the live USB is the broken part. Do not use it as a second copy of the DaVinci Resolve on Omarchy zip dance. Do not use it as a from-scratch pacstrap tutorial. The older Arch NVIDIA workstation post is still the long from-scratch command list if you are building vanilla Arch by hand.

Proprietary modules versus open kernel modules

NVIDIA’s Linux story now has two kernel-module families that share the same userspace tools. Confusing them is how people install the “wrong nvidia” and then blame Hyprland.

Proprietary kernel modules are the classic closed driver path. On Arch they usually arrive as the nvidia package (or nvidia-lts / nvidia-dkms when your kernel is not the default linux package). This is still the path many older cards and many how-tos assume. If your GPU is pre-Turing, start here and read the ArchWiki NVIDIA page before you copy a Turing-era open-module tip.

Open kernel modules are NVIDIA’s open-source kernel module set for Turing and newer. On Arch the package is typically nvidia-open (with nvidia-open-dkms when you need DKMS against a custom or uncommon kernel). Userspace is still the proprietary nvidia-utils stack. “Open modules” does not mean Nouveau, and it does not mean you suddenly get a fully libre graphics stack. It means the kernel side is the open module tree NVIDIA publishes, while the firmware and userspace pieces you actually need for a desktop still come from the usual NVIDIA packages.

Practical rule I use on Omarchy desks:

Turing, Ampere, Ada, and newer: prefer the open module package that matches your running kernel, unless a specific app or laptop quirk forces you back to the proprietary module package.
Older than Turing: proprietary module package, or accept that Nouveau is a compromise for a light desktop and a non-starter for CUDA-style workloads.
Never mix module packages. Do not leave both nvidia and nvidia-open half-installed and hope pacman sorts the conflict after a few reboots.

Nouveau is the reverse-engineered kernel driver in the mainline tree. It can give you a picture on some cards. It is not the daily-driver path I want for Resolve, NVENC in OBS, or a high-refresh Hyprland session. If lsmod shows Nouveau and you wanted NVIDIA’s stack, blacklist Nouveau and install the real packages before you tune anything else.

Install path on Omarchy and Arch

Omarchy is Arch under the hood. Packages come from pacman. The difference is how you update the system around the driver.

1. Know which kernel is running

uname -r
pacman -Q linux linux-lts linux-zen 2>/dev/null

Match the NVIDIA package to that kernel. Default Omarchy installs that use the standard linux package want nvidia or nvidia-open, not a random DKMS build aimed at a kernel you are not booting. If Limine still offers an older kernel after an update, boot the one you intend to keep, then install modules for that one.

2. Update the system the Omarchy way first

On Omarchy, prefer the menu path Update > Omarchy, or:

omarchy update

That path does more than a raw pacman -Syu. It keeps Omarchy’s migrations and snapshots in the loop. A driver install on top of a half-updated userland is a classic way to get a module that loads for yesterday’s kernel. On vanilla Arch, sudo pacman -Syu and a reboot into the new kernel is the equivalent discipline.

Reboot once after a kernel bump, then continue. Installing NVIDIA packages against a kernel you have not booted yet is how nvidia-smi starts talking about version mismatches.

3. Install the module and userspace

Desktop GPU on the default linux kernel, open modules (Turing+):

sudo pacman -S nvidia-open nvidia-utils nvidia-settings

Same machine, proprietary modules instead:

sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-utils nvidia-settings

If you game or run 32-bit helpers, enable [multilib] in /etc/pacman.conf if it is not already, then add:

sudo pacman -S lib32-nvidia-utils

Laptops with hybrid graphics are a longer wiki read. Do not copy a desktop-only package list onto an Optimus box and call it done. Confirm whether you need PRIME offload, a special early KMS setup, or vendor-specific quirks before you chase Hyprland config.

After the packages land:

sudo mkinitcpio -P

Then reboot. Omarchy’s Limine menu should still list your normal entry. Do not add nomodeset to that entry just because the live USB needed it. The installed system is supposed to load the NVIDIA module and speak KMS.

4. Confirm Nouveau is out of the way

lsmod | grep -E 'nouveau|nvidia'

You want nvidia (and friends) present, and Nouveau absent, when you are on the proprietary or open NVIDIA stack. If Nouveau is still loaded, fix the blacklist / initramfs story before you blame Wayland.

Verification: nvidia-smi is the gate

nvidia-smi

Healthy output: a driver version, a GPU name, memory figures, and a process list that may be empty. That is enough to keep going.

Command not found: nvidia-utils is not installed, or your PATH is strange. Fix the package set.

Version mismatch / could not communicate with the driver: the kernel module did not load for this boot, or userspace and module disagree. Check:

uname -r
journalctl -k -b | grep -i nvidia
lsmod | grep nvidia
cat /proc/cmdline

Look for leftover nomodeset, a wrong kernel entry in Limine, or an initramfs that never picked up the new hooks. Fix that before you install Resolve, Steam, or anything that assumes a working ICD.

Optional sanity checks once nvidia-smi is calm:

pacman -Q nvidia-utils nvidia-open nvidia 2>/dev/null
echo "$XDG_SESSION_TYPE"

On Omarchy you should usually see wayland. That is expected. The driver can be fine on Wayland and still need app-specific flags later.

Wayland and Hyprland notes

Omarchy’s desktop is Hyprland on Wayland. NVIDIA on Wayland has been usable for a while on current drivers, and Quattro assumes you are living there. A few habits still save evenings:

Keep the driver current with the kernel. The painful Hyprland bugs I see are often “kernel moved, module did not” rather than a missing decoration tweak.

Do not leave Safe Graphics habits on the installed cmdline. nomodeset disables the mode-setting path the compositor wants. You get a session that “works” in the weakest sense and then falls over under a browser on a high-refresh panel, a game, or an editor that needs real acceleration.

External monitors and docks. If a panel only wakes after a cable dance, confirm nvidia-smi still sees the GPU after suspend, then check Hyprland’s monitor config. Scale problems on Quattro are usually GDK_SCALE and monitors.lua, which the first-week guide already covers. Do not rebuild the NVIDIA stack to fix a 2x scale default.

XWayland apps. Some Linux creative tools still prefer X11. That is an app launch problem, not proof the NVIDIA install failed. If nvidia-smi is healthy and only one GUI is a black rectangle, try launching that app from a terminal and read the error. Force-X11 tricks belong next to the app, not as a permanent KMS cripple.

Suspend and resume. If the session dies on lid open, restart the session once and check journalctl -b | grep -i nvidia before you reinstall packages. Reinstalling the same module does not fix a firmware or power-management quirk by itself.

Black-screen pitfalls (and where that guide lives)

There are three different “black screens,” and they are not the same job.

Live ISO never shows the installer. Patch GRUB on the USB with Safe Graphics. Full procedure: nomodeset / Safe Graphics.
Installed system is black after a driver or kernel update. That is Limine and the on-disk cmdline, plus whether the NVIDIA module built for the kernel you booted. Add nomodeset once only to prove you can reach a TTY or a weak framebuffer, install or repair the matching NVIDIA packages, then remove nomodeset again.
Desktop starts, one app is a black window. Driver is often fine. Read the app’s stderr. For Resolve, that rabbit hole is the Omarchy Resolve post, not another xorriso rebuild.

Common self-owns I want you to avoid:

Flashing a Safe Graphics ISO, installing successfully, then copying nomodeset into the installed Limine entry forever.
Installing nvidia for kernel A while Limine boots kernel B.
Mixing Nouveau and NVIDIA modules across reboots without cleaning initramfs.
Chasing Hyprland dotfiles while nvidia-smi still errors.

If you need the ISO rebuild commands, dd warnings, and xorriso flags, use the nomodeset article. I am not duplicating that procedure here on purpose.

GPU-heavy apps: link out, do not reinstall the guide

A working NVIDIA stack is the prerequisite. It is not the app install.

DaVinci Resolve on Omarchy / Arch still needs Blackmagic’s Linux zip in yay’s cache, then OpenCL on NVIDIA:

sudo pacman -S opencl-nvidia
nvidia-smi

The zip dance, AMD ROCm notes, and “GUI never appears” fixes stay in How to Install DaVinci Resolve on Omarchy. This page only answers “is the GPU stack ready for that post?” If nvidia-smi fails, Resolve will not save you.

OBS. Prefer PipeWire capture on Wayland. Pick NVENC only after nvidia-smi is healthy. Missing NVENC usually means incomplete userspace, not a bad scene collection.

Steam / Proton. Multilib and lib32-nvidia-utils matter. Proton-GE is an app-layer choice once the driver loads. I am not claiming a frame-time winner between Omarchy and Windows here. For the wider OS argument, see Omarchy vs Windows 11.

From-scratch Arch creative stack. The older workstation writeup is still Arch Linux with NVIDIA Drivers. Use it when Omarchy is not in the picture.

A short failure checklist

Work top to bottom:

uname -r matches the NVIDIA package family you installed.
cat /proc/cmdline has no leftover nomodeset on the daily entry.
lsmod | grep nvidia shows the module; Nouveau is gone.
nvidia-smi prints a GPU and a driver version.
Hyprland session type is Wayland, and the panel scale is a config issue if everything is merely huge.
Only then open the Resolve, OBS, or Steam instructions.

If step 4 fails, stay on this page and the nomodeset article. If step 4 passes and only one app misbehaves, go to that app’s post.

Done looks boring

A finished NVIDIA daily driver on Omarchy is quiet. Limine boots the kernel you think it boots. The module matches. nvidia-smi answers without drama. Hyprland survives a normal day of browser, terminal, and whatever GPU-heavy tool you actually use. Safe Graphics stays in the USB drawer.