Problem with Nvidia (Optimus Manager) after recent system update

Support Graphics & Display
1

Howdy folks!

As I understand, the recent system update no longer supports Optimus Manager as GUI apps no longer launch automatically with NVIDIA by default. Am I correct or is there still a way around to make it work?

The Optimus Manager is still active and still showing Nvidia as primary in my system.

mhwd -li returns

> Installed PCI configs:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME VERSION FREEDRIVER TYPE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
video-modesetting 2020.01.13 true PCI
video-hybrid-intel-nvidia-prime 2025.09.29 false PCI

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer" returns

OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics (TGL GT1)

prime-run glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer" returns

OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU/PCIe/SSE2

Command line execution of prime-run phoronix-test-suite benchmark unigine-heaven activates the Nvidia video card to run the test successfully.

The problem is that any GUI app I want to launch with NVIDIA, I need to execute the app in command line and use prime-run ...

2

For as far as I know - this has always been the case.

You can however - use KDE Menu Editor to add prime-run to individual applications you want to run using the dGPU.

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3

I understand what you’re saying and your response is appreciated. My concern is just a bit different. Since the latest system update, Optimus Manager doesn’t seem to behave the way it used to, and GUI apps no longer launch with NVIDIA by default. I’m just trying to figure out if there’s a way to restore that previous behavior. Any guidance would be really helpful.

4

I am not sure what you mean as the combo driver default to use hybrid mode.

If you want to change the default - use Nvidia for everything there is two utilities

  • envycontrol
  • supergfxctl

Not both - it is either one or the other

If you test both - be sure you reset the configuraton

Example - using envycontrol

See what you can do, run without arguments

envycontrol

Check current mode

 $ envycontrol -q
hybrid

To switch mode to nvidia

sudo envycontrol nvidia

Reset configuration

sudo envycontrol --reset
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