System Prerequisites

Minimum System Requirements

Component Minimum Requirements
Operating System Linux (64-bit)
Container Runtime Podman 4.3+ or Docker
RAM 8 GB
Graphics OpenGL 3.1+ compatible (integrated or discrete)
Storage 15 GB of free space

Required Software

Supported Container Runtimes

  • Install by following the Podman install guide
  • Podman 4.3 and earlier do not support --userns=keep-id and will not start correctly. This impacts Ubuntu 22.04 and related builds such as PopOS! 22.04.

Docker

  • Rootless docker is not supported!
  • Install by following the Docker CE install guide
  • Add your user account to the docker group to be able to use docker without requiring sudo sudo usermod -aG docker $USER.

Additional Dependencies for NVIDIA graphics cards

NVIDIA Container Toolkit

  • Install by following the NVIDIA Container Toolkit installation guide
  • Podman
    • Also follow the Container Device Interface guide
    • Container Toolkit version v1.17.9 and earlier do not automatically update the cdi specification file. Regenerate it manually after NVIDIA driver updates by running the command: sudo nvidia-ctk cdi generate --output=/var/run/cdi/nvidia.yaml.
  • Docker
    • If Zwift fails to launch, try setting VGA_DEVICE_FLAG=(--device="nvidia.com/gpu=all"). See this issue for context.

Optional Software

GameMode

  • If GameMode is installed on the host system, it will automatically be used to launch Zwift inside the container. Some benefits are:
    • GameMode prevents the system from going idle (the screensaver won’t activate)
    • GameMode enables extra optimizations
  • Most Linux distributions come with GameMode pre-installed. If it is not installed on your system, it is most likely available through the package manager:
    • To check if GameMode is installed, run: gamemoded --version
    • To install GameMode, run: sudo apt install gamemode, sudo dnf install gamemode, …
  • To benefit from all possible optimizations GameMode has to offer, you can add your user to the GameMode group using sudo usermod -aG gamemode $USER, this is optional.

secret-tool

  • If secret-tool is installed, it can be used to store your Zwift credentials securely
    • secret-tool provides an easy to use interface to store passwords to and retrieve passwords from keyring daemons such as gnome-keyring and KWallet
  • Most Linux distributions come with secret-tool pre-installed. If it is not installed on your system, it is most likely available through the package manager:
    • To check if secret-tool is installed, run: secret-tool
    • To install secret-tool, run: sudo apt install libsecret-tools, sudo dnf install libsecret, …