# Setup Different Fractional Scaling for Different Screens in Ubuntu

**Published:** May 8, 2025
**Tags:** Ubuntu, Display, Fractional Scaling


---

Recently, I needed to configure fractional scaling for two displays: my laptop's 4K screen and my external 2K monitor. I quickly discovered that Ubuntu 24.04 doesn't support different fractional scaling settings across multiple displays. [Reference](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/1er3rs2/nvidiagnomewayland_combo_is_still_unusable_on/).

## Solution:

- **Step 1:** Upgrade to Ubuntu 24.10. This version replaces X11 with Wayland for NVIDIA graphics cards. Using Wayland as the default display server resolves the fractional scaling issue. After upgrading, remove all existing NVIDIA drivers and install version 570:

```shell
sudo apt purge nvidia-\*
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-570
sudo apt install nvidia-cuda-toolkit
sudo apt install nvidia-cudnn
```

Restart your PC.

- **Step 2:** After configuring scaling, you may notice Chrome appears blurry. To fix this:
  - Navigate to `chrome://flags` in your Chrome browser
  - Search for `Preferred Ozone platform`
  - Select `Wayland` option
  - Restart Chrome

![](/posts-data/chrome-ozone-setting-wayland.png)

- **Step 3 (optional):** Fix bug `nvidia-smi` eating all your RAM, then being killed (2025/05/09):
  - This is a very weird bug of `nvidia-smi` that ate all my RAM > [https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-smi-uses-all-of-ram-and-swap/295639](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/nvidia-smi-uses-all-of-ram-and-swap/295639).
  - Fix this: You can use `sudo chmod o-w /var/run/nvidia-persistenced/socket` to fix it temporarily.
  - For persistent workaround:

  ```shell
  sudo mv /usr/bin/nvidia-smi /usr/bin/nvidia-smi-bug
  sudo nano /usr/bin/nvidia-smi
  ```

  then paste:

  ```shell
  #!/bin/bash

  sudo chmod o-w /var/run/nvidia-persistenced/socket
  nvidia-smi-bug
  ```

  Ctrl+x to save, then

  ```shell
  sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/nvidia-smi
  ```

  Now you can run `nvidia-smi` as usual, but it requires root permission.

Done! Enjoy your fractional scaling! :D