NVIDIA Hybrid Graphics not working on Vostro 5490 - 'prime-run' command is missing

[matata]

Hello,

I need help to get NVIDIA On-Demand (hybrid graphics) working correctly on my Dell Vostro 5490 (GeForce MX250) running Zorin OS.

I am facing a strange issue. I can see the right-click option "Launch using Dedicated Graphics Card" in the application menu. However, when I use this option, the application still runs on the integrated Intel GPU. I have confirmed with nvidia-smi that the GPU utilization stays at 0% and the application process does not appear.

The root cause seems to be that the prime-run command itself is missing from the system.
When I run which prime-run in a terminal, the output is completely empty.

Additionally, the NVIDIA Settings application is missing the "PRIME Profiles" section.

Here is what I have already tried to fix this:

• A full purge and clean install of nvidia-driver-550 and nvidia-prime.
• A full purge and clean install of the long-term support nvidia-driver-535 and nvidia-prime.
• After both attempts, which prime-run remains empty, even after a full reboot.
• I have confirmed that Secure Boot is disabled.
• prime-select query correctly reports that the system is in on-demand mode.

It seems like the nvidia-prime package is only partially installing (providing the desktop menu integration) but failing to install its core executable file at /usr/bin/prime-run.

Has anyone seen this specific issue before on Zorin OS? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Every 10,0s: nvidia-smi                                                                                                                                                                    matata-Vostro-5490: Sat Sep 27 15:24:49 2025

Sat Sep 27 15:24:49 2025
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 535.247.01             Driver Version: 535.247.01   CUDA Version: 12.2     |
|-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                      |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+======================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce MX250           Off | 00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   43C    P8              N/A / ERR! |      4MiB /  2048MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                      |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                            |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                            GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                             Usage      |
|=======================================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A      3858      G   /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg                            4MiB |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Storm]

It's due to that Zorin 18 is completely Wayland now. Nvidia has been hesitating making it work 100% in Wayland that's why you're facing problems now.
You could try switching to Xorg (I don't know if it's supported in 18).

[matata]

I run on xorg. And I am on Zorin 17.3

[Storm]

oh, didn't see that...

[Aravisian]

@matata

I am facing a strange issue. I can see the right-click option "Launch using Dedicated Graphics Card" in the application menu. However, when I use this option, the application still runs on the integrated Intel GPU.

This is a complex issue, where the signs can lead you to think one thing, while another thing is occurring.

What the Prime Select Prime-Run is is a wrapper script that is placed in /usr/bin/ that sets the environment variables for launching applications determining whether to offload or not.

These same variables are what are applied in the desktop integration of having the right click menu offer to "Launch using dedicated card" - the menu option can only be present if those environment variables are also present in the .desktop file in /usr/share/applications.

This would make the wrapper script in /usr/bin redundant - and potentially a conflict - So whether that wrapper is included or not may depend on the desktop environment.

This brings your next point: Is the app offloading?
Nvidia-SMI only displays usage if the app is calling on Cuda/Vulkan - OpenGL.
IF they app does not - then Nvidia-SMI will display a zero percentage.

To test if offloading is occurring properly, you need to get OpenGL running.

prime-run glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"

Or

prime-run glxgears

Nvidia-SMI should show this activity.

[Ponce-De-Leon]

Did You tried the Command sudo prime-select on-demand in the Terminal?

[matata]

Hello everyone, thank you for your help.

--

I tried to switch to performance mode... the card is running.
I don't understand why "off" and "err" are still there?

--
However, if I switch to on-demand, launch the Brave app using the dedicated card and play the same video (4k), then it looks like it's not working.

If I try the command prime-run glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer", it says the command was not found.

[StarTreker]

Sometimes its best to keep things simple. To that end, have you tried going into Nvidia X Server Settings app, and setting your system to use the discreet Nvidia GPU, and setting Prime to High Performance?

I also went into my BIOS, and disabled the integrated GPU, cause thats not an option for a gamer/power user. I paid a lot for this computer, and I only care about the full performance I get, from the Nvidia GPU.

---