NPU not detected after installing the driver

[rajasrijan]

I installed 1.23.0 drivers from the release page https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases

when i try to list devices NPU is not available.

>>> import openvino as ov
... 
... core = ov.Core()
... 
... core.available_devices
... 
['CPU', 'GPU']

sudo dmesg | grep "vpu"
[    9.019352] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    9.023673] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Firmware: intel/vpu/vpu_40xx_v0.0.bin, version: Jul 23 2025*NPU40xx*build/ci/npu-fw-ci-main-20250721_233537-27032-2-g52e7ebee50a*52e7ebee50a93a07d14a1f162226cd55ad3999f0
[    9.023676] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Scheduler mode: OS
[    9.047819] [drm] Initialized intel_vpu 1.0.0 for 0000:00:0b.0 on minor 0
[   12.972463] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Firmware: intel/vpu/vpu_40xx_v0.0.bin, version: Mar  6 2025*NPU40xx*ci_tag_ud202512_vpu_rc_20250306_1130*5064b5debc377e1c4b74f69dc14e2e536dba393d
[   12.972473] intel_vpu 0000:00:0b.0: [drm] Scheduler mode: OS
[   13.081734] [drm] Initialized intel_vpu 1.0.0 for 0000:00:0b.0 on minor 0

[jwludzik]

Please, check "Device not detectable" point in docs/overview.md#troubleshooting

[sr99622]

The issue is an error in the installation instructions. Step 4 is shown as

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

It should be

sudo dpkg -i *deb

This will pick up the .ddeb file which is required for operation

[jwludzik]

@sr99622 , if you installed the intel-level-zero-npu_*-dbgsym.ddeb package, then you have to remove it or upgrade all packages in single dpkg command using sudo dpkg -i *deb. intel-level-zero-npu_*-dbgsym.ddeb has the dependency on specific version of intel-level-zero-npu

$ dpkg -I intel-level-zero-npu_1.24.0.20251003-18218973328_ubuntu24.04_amd64-dbgsym.ddeb
....
Depends: intel-level-zero-npu (= 1.24.0.20251003-18218973328)
....

@sr99622 , why have you installed the *-dbgsym.ddeb in the first place?

[sr99622]

In the fog of war, there were several avenues of attack that were attempted in an effort to solve this problem. The *deb install happened to be the last thing tried before the NPU was observed to be working. After your response, it seemed apparent that this may in fact not be the correct path. The process was re-initialized from the very beginning with the goal of discovering the exact path for successful driver installation. The process starts with a clean install of Ubuntu24.04 on a GMKTEC Core Ultra 5 125H. Then following the installation instructions:

    1  sudo apt update
    2  sudo apt upgrade
    3  sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq intel-driver-compiler-npu intel-fw-npu intel-level-zero-npu intel-level-zero-npu-dbgsym
    4  wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.24.0/linux-npu-driver-v1.24.0.20251003-18218973328-ubuntu2404.tar.gz
    5  tar -xf linux-npu-driver-v1.24.0.20251003-18218973328-ubuntu2404.tar.gz
    6  sudo apt update
    7  sudo apt install libtbb12
    8  sudo dpkg -i *.deb
    9  # Check if Level Zero is installed
   10  dpkg -l level-zero
   11  wget https://github.com/oneapi-src/level-zero/releases/download/v1.24.2/level-zero_1.24.2+u24.04_amd64.deb
   12  sudo dpkg -i level-zero*.deb
   13  sudo apt install python3.12-venv
   14  python3 -m venv env
   15  source env/bin/activate
   16  pip install openvino
   17  python -c 'import openvino; print(openvino.Core().available_devices)'

Which produces a negative result. The optional reboot was then tried

   18  reboot
   19  source env/bin/activate
   20  python -c 'import openvino; print(openvino.Core().available_devices)'
   21  ls /dev/accel/accel0

Which again produced a negative result. Looking into Issues, I found this thread, which eventually led me to 'Non-root access to the NPU device'

   22  sudo usermod -a -G render stephen
   23  python -c 'import openvino; print(openvino.Core().available_devices)'

Which again produced a negative result (I missed the log out and log in part). However, a reboot at this point produced a positive result.

   24  reboot
   25  source env/bin/activate
   26  python -c 'import openvino; print(openvino.Core().available_devices)'

So my synopsis would be that the installation instructions should include the usermod command to register the user in the render group followed by a mandatory reboot in order to use the NPU.

[jwludzik]

Added a new steps to installation instruction (point 6):

sudo gpasswd -a ${USER} render
newgrp render

gpasswd allows to set a render group and newgrp command reloads your groups in existing session. This steps do not require to reboot the machine

[vgcantrell]

I also encountered this issue and there were a few items needed to resolve it:

• Enable NPU in BIOS (this allows /dev/accel/accel0 to show up)
• Load the "intel_vpu" module with "sudo modprobe intel_vpu" and add that to /etc/modules_load.d/intel_vpu.conf (with content "intel_vpu") so it loads on boot.
• Change to "sudo dpkg -i deb" instead of ".deb" as mentioned in a previous comment

This info is in various places, suggest adding it here for completeness.