Wayland not starting or black screen at login

If your Wayland session does not start after entering your password, or you see a black screen, the issue is usually related to NVIDIA DRM KMS configuration.

Common causes

• nvidia_drm.modeset=1 is not enabled
• In some setups, nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 is not enabled
• Old/unstable NVIDIA driver

What to check

sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset
sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/fbdev
nvidia-smi

If modeset is not Y, add the parameter in GRUB and reboot.

If the file is missing or the value is not `Y`

Files under /sys/module/... are created automatically by the kernel when a module is loaded, and are not edited manually. If a file is missing, nvidia_drm is usually not loaded. To get Y, set nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 (via GRUB or modprobe), then reboot.

How to enable parameters in GRUB

In /etc/default/grub, add to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT:

nvidia_drm.modeset=1 nvidia_drm.fbdev=1

Then run:

sudo update-grub
sudo reboot

Alternative via modprobe

If you prefer setting parameters outside GRUB, create /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-kms.conf:

options nvidia_drm modeset=1 fbdev=1

Then rebuild initramfs and reboot:

sudo mkinitcpio -P
sudo reboot

Important

For Wayland on NVIDIA, modeset=1 is an official requirement in NVIDIA documentation.

If Wayland still does not start

1. Log into an X11 session
2. Check for NVIDIA driver updates
3. Re-test Wayland after reboot

Source

• NVIDIA README: Direct Rendering Manager Kernel Modesetting
• NVIDIA README: Wayland Known Issues