This guide provides a step-by-step process for installing NVIDIA drivers on Debian 13 (Trixie), released in August 2025, with Linux kernel 6.12 LTS. It incorporates common issues encountered during installation, such as NVIDIA-SMI communication failures, modprobe causing 100% CPU usage, dependency conflicts in APT, kernel mismatches, and Secure Boot key rejection errors (e.g., "Key was rejected by service"). It also includes successful strategies like using the official NVIDIA .run installer, signing modules with a custom private key, and troubleshooting CPU imbalances.
Assumptions and Prerequisites:
- You have an NVIDIA GPU (check compatibility on NVIDIA's website; e.g., RTX series for modern drivers).
- System is updated:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y. - You're running as root or using
sudo. - Backup your system (e.g., via Timeshift or rsync) before proceeding.
- If Secure Boot is enabled (check with `mokutil --sb-