# Anki not starting on Linux ("Error loading '⁨software' graphics driver.")

**URL:** <https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [January 17, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603 "2021-01-17T13:17:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@tsa](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/tsa)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603/1 "2021-01-17T13:17:21Z")

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Same problem as [here](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/error-loading-software-graphics-driver-on-ubuntu/6414), but I’ll provide a bit more information:

I’m on Ubuntu 18.04 and suddenly ran into this issue with my 2.1.x version of Anki. Tried switching to 2.1.38 but the problem persists.

When I run ./Anki I get “Error loading ‘⁨auto⁩’ graphics driver. Please start Anki again to try next driver.”

Running  
$ QT\_DEBUG\_PLUGINS=1 ./Anki  
I get the following output:  
[https://pastebin.com/raw/aKu8HjrV](https://pastebin.com/raw/aKu8HjrV)

Also tried putting ‘auto’ / ‘software’ into ~/.local/share/Anki2/gldriver. But this had no effect.

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**Author:** ![dae](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/forums.ankiweb.net/dae/32/65_2.png) [@dae](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/dae)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2021, 1:57am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603/2 "2021-01-18T01:57:27Z")

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What does the following report?

~/anki-2.1.38-linux$ ldd bin/PyQt5/Qt/plugins/xcbglintegrations/libqxcb-glx-integration.so

and what about the other file in that folder?

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**Author:** ![tsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@tsa](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/tsa)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 8:55am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603/3 "2021-01-23T08:55:20Z")

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this probably won’t help anyone, but here’s what I did:

- _didn’t_ try if the problem still exists
- ran `ldd` on libqxcb-glx-integration.so ([output](https://pastebin.com/raw/PYrQBSbp))
- ran an `apt grade` ([list of packages upgraded](https://pastebin.com/raw/QqgztrNx)) and restarted system
- ran `ldd` on libqxcb-glx-integration.so again ([output](https://pastebin.com/raw/EMuxxRpk))
- tried to start Anki, worked

So, no clue what the problem was. No clue whether or not some package upgrade did something. But it works now.

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**Author:** ![Suuniil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Suuniil](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/Suuniil)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603/4 "2021-01-29T20:45:56Z")

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I also just had a fun time running down that error. Remember to reboot after kernel or graphics driver updates 😉

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/anki2/original/1X/8f1279ababc5879d54e4838989f606cfe55af8c7.jpeg) [@system](https://forums.ankiweb.net/u/system)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 5:15am UTC](https://forums.ankiweb.net/t/anki-not-starting-on-linux-error-loading-software-graphics-driver/6603/5 "2023-05-01T05:15:45Z")

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Closed on May 1, 2023, 5:15am UTC