# Install Intel® NPU firmware

## Introduction

Intel® NPU device is an AI inference accelerator integrated with Intel client CPUs,
starting from Intel® Core™ Ultra generation of CPUs (formerly known as Meteor Lake).
It enables energy-efficient execution of artificial neural network tasks.

To make sure that your system has an NPU available, please follow
the steps in the [dedicated guide on how to do so](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000097597/processors.html).

The full device name is Neural Processing Unit, but the Linux kernel driver uses
the old name - Versatile Processing Unit (VPU).

## Installation

1. Remove old packages.

   ```bash
   sudo dpkg --purge --force-remove-reinstreq intel-driver-compiler-npu intel-fw-npu intel-level-zero-npu
   ```

2. Download all deb packages.

   ```bash
   wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.13.0/intel-driver-compiler-npu_1.13.0.20250131-13074932693_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb --no-check-certificate
   wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.13.0/intel-fw-npu_1.13.0.20250131-13074932693_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb --no-check-certificate
   wget https://github.com/intel/linux-npu-driver/releases/download/v1.13.0/intel-level-zero-npu_1.13.0.20250131-13074932693_ubuntu22.04_amd64.deb --no-check-certificate
   ```

3. Install `libtbb12` which is a dependency for `intel-driver-compiler-npu`.

   ```bash
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install libtbb12
   ```

4. Install all packages.

   ```bash
   sudo dpkg -i *.deb
   ```

5. Install Level Zero if it is not in the system.

   ```bash
   # Check if Level Zero is installed
   dpkg -l level-zero
   ```

   Download and install package if Level Zero is missing.

   ```bash
   wget https://github.com/oneapi-src/level-zero/releases/download/v1.18.5/level-zero_1.18.5+u22.04_amd64.deb --no-check-certificate
   sudo dpkg -i level-zero*.deb
   ```

6. Reboot.

   ```bash
   reboot
   # if everything works, we should see /dev/accel/accel0 device
   ls /dev/accel/accel0
   /dev/accel/accel0
   # to receive intel_vpu state
   dmesg | grep intel_vpu
   ```

7. User access to the device.

   As a root user, this step can be skipped.

   The new device `/dev/accel/accel0` requires manual setting of permissions access.
   The `accel` devices should be in the "render" group in Ubuntu:

   ```bash
   # set the render group for accel device
   sudo chown root:render /dev/accel/accel0
   sudo chmod g+rw /dev/accel/accel0
   # add user to the render group
   sudo usermod -a -G render <user-name>
   # user needs to restart the session to use the new group (log out and log in)
   ```

   The above steps must be repeated each time the module is reloaded or on every reboot.
   To avoid manual setup of the group for `accel` device, the udev rules can be used:

   ```bash
   sudo bash -c "echo 'SUBSYSTEM==\"accel\", KERNEL==\"accel*\", GROUP=\"render\", MODE=\"0660\"' > /etc/udev/rules.d/10-intel-vpu.rules"
   sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
   sudo udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=accel
   ```

> **Tip:** If the NPU is not visible, check the access to the device with the following command:
>
> ```console
> ls -lah /dev/accel/accel0
> crw-rw---- 1 root render 261, 0 Mar 22 13:22 /dev/accel/accel0
> ```
>
> If render is missing, or `crw-rw----` is not set, please repeat the steps to set the access to the device.