Is this page helpful?

Manually Install on Ubuntu (Remote)#

Downloading or installing AI Workbench implies consent to the NVIDIA AI Product Agreement.

By downloading or installing the NVIDIA AI Workbench software, you agree to the terms of the NVIDIA AI Product Agreement (EULA). If you do not agree to the terms of the EULA, you are not authorized to download, install, or use NVIDIA AI Workbench.

Overview#

Remote install supports Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04, as well as NVIDIA Jetson Linux.

Installation on Ubuntu is straightforward, but Jetson Linux requires a few more steps to address how SSH and Docker work.

Interactively install AI Workbench on a remote system or use NVIDIA Sync to bootstrap it for you.

Interactive installation involves opening an SSH terminal to the system and running a few commands. This lets you choose the container runtime and set a few other options.

Using NVIDIA Sync automates the remote install and adds the location to your Desktop App. It’s more streamlined but doesn’t have the optionality of the interactive install.

See how to use NVIDIA Sync here.

Key Concepts#

Interactive Install:

Running commands interactively in an SSH terminal using the CLI TUI, which is a text based interface that runs in a terminal and provides features like drop downs and selections through selector keys.

Non-Interactive Install:

Running a command manually or in a script with the --noninteractive flag. Lets you preset options.

AI Workbench Application Folder:

The destination folder on the remote machine for binaries and program files. The name is fixed as .nvwb, and the default location is in the home directory, ~/.nvwb.

Remote Interactive Install#

Prerequisites: Verify the following prior to installation.

  • A remote Ubuntu 24.04 or 22.04 system

  • SSH access as a non-root user with sudo privileges

  • 500 MB of disk space for the application

  • 40 GB of disk space for project containers

Step One: SSH into the remote machine as non-root user.
For password based access run:
ssh <non-root-username>@<remote-host>
For key based access run:
ssh -i <local-path-to-private-key> <non-root-username>@<remote-host>
Step Two: Copy and paste the installation command in the terminal.
mkdir -p $HOME/.nvwb/bin && \
curl -L https://workbench.download.nvidia.com/stable/workbench-cli/$(curl -L -s https://workbench.download.nvidia.com/stable/workbench-cli/LATEST)/nvwb-cli-$(uname)-$(uname -m) --output $HOME/.nvwb/bin/nvwb-cli && \
chmod +x $HOME/.nvwb/bin/nvwb-cli && \
sudo -E $HOME/.nvwb/bin/nvwb-cli install

to change the application folder path, replace $HOME with the desired path in the above commands.

Step Three: Follow the prompts in the TUI using the arrow keys and Enter to confirm choices.

  1. If prompted, select to install the NVIDIA GPU drivers (will require a reboot)

  2. Choose between Docker or Podman as the container runtime

Success: The TUI tells you that AI Workbench is installed.

Non-Interactive Install#

Prerequisites: Verify the following before the non-interactive install.

  • Same system requirements as the interactive install

  • Passwordless sudo configured on the remote machine

Step One: SSH into the remote as a non-root user and curl the AI Workbench CLI.
We skip explaining the SSH step here but the curl and mod command is below.
mkdir -p $HOME/.nvwb/bin && \
curl -L https://workbench.download.nvidia.com/stable/workbench-cli/$(curl -L -s https://workbench.download.nvidia.com/stable/workbench-cli/LATEST)/nvwb-cli-$(uname)-$(uname -m) --output $HOME/.nvwb/bin/nvwb-cli && \
chmod +x $HOME/.nvwb/bin/nvwb-cli
Step Two: Run the non-interactive installer with required flags.
See the command for an example configuration below.
sudo $HOME/.nvwb/bin/nvwb-cli install \
--noninteractive \
--accept \
--podman \
--drivers \
--uid 1000 \
--gid 1000

The arguments in this command assume that machine has an NVIDIA GPU with no drivers installed. It also selects Podman as the runtime.

The non-interactive install will automatically reboot the remote machine if you elect to have the drivers installed.

Success: AI Workbench is installed on the remote system.