Hardware and drivers

Most hardware works with no setup: the installer chooses graphics drivers for you, and firmware for most Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and graphics chips is included. This page covers the exceptions.

Graphics

Intel and AMD graphics use the drivers built into Linux and need nothing installed.

NVIDIA

The installer picks a driver based on the card's age:

On computers that use SakuraOS's tuned kernel, the NVIDIA driver is built for that kernel when it is installed, and again after each kernel update. That adds a few minutes to those updates.

The NVIDIA drivers are not on the USB stick, so they are downloaded during the install. If you install without an internet connection, the computer starts with Nouveau, and the NVIDIA driver is installed by the first update once it is online. To do that straight away, open the Update Center and press Install now, then restart.

Which driver am I using?

In a terminal:

lspci -k -d 10de:

The line Kernel driver in use says nvidia for NVIDIA's driver or nouveau for Nouveau.

Laptops with two GPUs

Many laptops have Intel or AMD graphics for everyday use and an NVIDIA chip for heavier work. The desktop runs on the Intel or AMD chip, and the NVIDIA driver is installed for the other one.

To run a program on the NVIDIA chip, right-click it in the application menu and choose Run using dedicated graphics card. A few programs ask for the faster chip by themselves; most, Steam included, do not. To run a Steam game on the NVIDIA chip, put this line in the game's Properties → Launch Options:

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia %command%

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Most Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware works as soon as SakuraOS starts. Connect from the network icon in the panel.

If Wi-Fi does not appear at all, see No Wi-Fi. Some older Broadcom chips need a separate driver: sudo pacman -S broadcom-wl-dkms, then restart.

Printers and scanners

Add a printer in System Settings → Printers. Drivers for most printers are included. HP printers often work better with HP's own driver: sudo pacman -S hplip.

Scanners work with Skanpage, which is installed.

Other drives

See Other drives and USB sticks.

Laptops

The battery icon in the panel switches between power modes: power saving, balanced and performance. Automatic updates wait until the laptop is plugged in.

Sleep and resume use Linux's standard support, and have not been tested on a wide range of laptops yet. If yours does not wake properly, please report it with the laptop's model.

Firmware updates

Many computers can update their own firmware from Linux through the Linux Vendor Firmware Service. SakuraOS does not include the tool for this; to use it:

sudo pacman -S fwupd
fwupdmgr refresh
fwupdmgr get-updates
fwupdmgr update

Only update firmware while plugged in, and do not turn the computer off during an update.

Last checked against the SakuraOS release of 3 October 2026. If your system behaves differently from this page, the page is wrong: please report it.