Installing Tensorflow GPU + CuDNN + CudaToolkit with Conda

article_installing_tensorflow-gpu_using_conda.md

Install Tensorflow-GPU with Conda

I would suggest you to use conda (Ananconda/Miniconda) to create a separate environment and install tensorflow-gpu, cudnn and cudatoolkit. Miniconda has a much smaller footprint than Anaconda. I would suggest you to install Miniconda if you do not have conda already.

Quick Installtion

# Quick and dirty: with channel specification
conda create -n tfgpu_env python=3.8 
conda activate tfgpu_env
conda install tensorflow-gpu -c anaconda
conda install cudnn -c conda-forge 
conda install cudatoolkit -c anaconda

Easily Reproducible Installation with Environment File: environment.yml

Although you can quickly create a conda (Ananconda/Miniconda) environment as shown earlier, it is much more desirable to make the installation process as reproducible as possible: enters the environment.yml file.

Save the environment file at the root of your repository (or project) and run the following command to install all the packages in an isolated conda environment (here I have named it tfgpu_env) using the environment file. The top part of the environment file contains some useful commands.

conda env create -f environment.yml

Save the following as environment.yml under your repository. And consider pinning the following three libraries:

An example:

• tensorflow-gpu=2.4
• cudnn=8
• cudatoolkit=11

## filename: environment.yml

## Environment File Definition

name: tfgpu_env # tensorflow-gpu environment
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - anaconda
  - default
dependencies:
  - python=3.8
  ## Core Necessities
  - numpy # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - pandas # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - tabulate # -c conda-forge, anaconda  # necessary for df.to_markdown() in pandas
  - scipy # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - matplotlib # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Jupyter Related
  - jupyter # -c anaconda, conda-forge
  - jupyterlab # -c anaconda, conda-forge
  - jupyter_dashboards # -c conda-forge  (see: https://medium.com/plotly/introducing-jupyterdash-811f1f57c02e)
  - jupyter_contrib_nbextensions # -c conda-forge
  ## Progressbar
  - tqdm # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Machine Learning
  - tensorflow-gpu # -c anaconda | version: 2.4.1 (linux), 2.3.0 (windows)
  # - tensorflow # -c anaconda | version: 2.2.0 (linux), 2.1.0 (windows)
  - cudnn # -c conda-forge | version: 8.1.0.77 (linux/windows)
  #       # -c anaconda | version: 7.6.5 (linux/windows)
  - cudatoolkit # -c conda-forge | version: 8.1.0.77 (linux/windows)
  #             # -c anaconda | version: 11.0.221 (linux/windows)
  - scikit-learn # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Hyperparameter Optimization
  - optuna # -c conda-forge # works for pytorch, tf/keras, mxnet, scikit-learn, xgboost, lightgbm
  - keras-tuner # -c conda-forge
  ## Image Processing
  - opencv # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - imageio # -c anaconda, conda-forge
  ## Image Augmentation
  - albumentations # -c conda-forge
  - imgaug # -c conda-forge
  ## Code Linting
  - pylint # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - autopep8 # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Installations with pip
  - pip:
    ## Web App Framework
    # - Flask-Testing
    - streamlit # https://docs.streamlit.io/en/stable/troubleshooting/clean-install.html

Useful Instructions

You might as well copy and paste the following instructions in the environment file itself, to keep them handy.

# Instruction:
#-----------------------------------------------------------
#
## For an environment installed locally (under: ./.venv)
# mkdir -p .venv && cd .venv
# conda env create --prefix . -f ../environment.yml
## For Updating local environment
# cd .venv
# conda env update --prefix . -f ../environment.yml  --prune
#
## For an environment installed globally
## with a name: fav_env 
# NOTE: The env-name is stored inside the 
#       environment.yml file.
# conda env create -f environment.yml
## For Updating global environment from env-file
# conda env update -f ./environment.yml  --prune
#
## Update conda itself
# conda update -n base -c defaults conda
#
## Creating a global environment in one-line: py37, py38
# conda create -n py37 python=3.7
# conda create -n py38 python=3.8
#
### In each of the envs: base, py37, py38
# conda install jupyter jupyterlab numpy scipy pandas matplotlib scikit-learn scikit-image tqdm plotly imageio requests pylint autopep8 tabulate opencv
#
## Export a platform independent copy of an environment
#  conda env export --from-history > path/to/environment.yml
### Make exports directory (if not present already) and export
# $targetDir = conda_exports
# mkdir ./$targetDir
# conda env export --from-history > ./$targetDir/exported_environment.yml

References

1. How to manage packages using Conda.

2. https://docs.anaconda.com/anaconda/user-guide/tasks/tensorflow/

3. https://www.tensorflow.org/guide/gpu

4. https://www.fastwebhost.in/blog/how-to-find-if-linux-is-running-on-32-bit-or-64-bit/

5. Miniconda installtion: https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html

environment.yml

## filename: environment.yml

# Instruction:
#-----------------------------------------------------------
#
## For an environment installed locally (under: ./.venv)
# mkdir -p .venv && cd .venv
# conda env create --prefix . -f ../environment.yml
## For Updating local environment
# cd .venv
# conda env update --prefix . -f ../environment.yml  --prune
#
## For an environment installed globally
## with a name: fav_env 
# NOTE: The env-name is stored inside the 
#       environment.yml file.
# conda env create -f environment.yml
## For Updating global environment from env-file
# conda env update -f ./environment.yml  --prune
#
## Update conda itself
# conda update -n base -c defaults conda
#
## Creating a global environment in one-line: py37, py38
# conda create -n py37 python=3.7
# conda create -n py38 python=3.8
#
### In each of the envs: base, py37, py38
# conda install jupyter jupyterlab numpy scipy pandas matplotlib scikit-learn scikit-image tqdm plotly imageio requests pylint autopep8 tabulate opencv
#
## Export a platform independent copy of an environment
#  conda env export --from-history > path/to/environment.yml
### Make exports directory (if not present already) and export
# $targetDir = conda_exports
# mkdir ./$targetDir
# conda env export --from-history > ./$targetDir/exported_environment.yml


## Environment File Definition

name: tfgpu_env # tensorflow-gpu environment
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - anaconda
  - default
dependencies:
  - python=3.8
  ## Core Necessities
  - numpy # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - pandas # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - tabulate # -c conda-forge, anaconda  # necessary for df.to_markdown() in pandas
  - scipy # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - matplotlib # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Jupyter Related
  - jupyter # -c anaconda, conda-forge
  - jupyterlab # -c anaconda, conda-forge
  - jupyter_dashboards # -c conda-forge  (see: https://medium.com/plotly/introducing-jupyterdash-811f1f57c02e)
  - jupyter_contrib_nbextensions # -c conda-forge
  ## Progressbar
  - tqdm # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Machine Learning
  - tensorflow-gpu # -c anaconda | version: 2.4.1 (linux), 2.3.0 (windows)
  # - tensorflow # -c anaconda | version: 2.2.0 (linux), 2.1.0 (windows)
  - cudnn # -c conda-forge | version: 8.1.0.77 (linux/windows)
  #       # -c anaconda | version: 7.6.5 (linux/windows)
  - cudatoolkit # -c conda-forge | version: 8.1.0.77 (linux/windows)
  #             # -c anaconda | version: 11.0.221 (linux/windows)
  - scikit-learn # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Hyperparameter Optimization
  - optuna # -c conda-forge # works for pytorch, tf/keras, mxnet, scikit-learn, xgboost, lightgbm
  - keras-tuner # -c conda-forge
  ## Image Processing
  - opencv # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - imageio # -c anaconda, conda-forge
  ## Image Augmentation
  - albumentations # -c conda-forge
  - imgaug # -c conda-forge
  ## Code Linting
  - pylint # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  - autopep8 # -c conda-forge, anaconda
  ## Installations with pip
  - pip:
    ## Web App Framework
    # - Flask-Testing
    - streamlit # https://docs.streamlit.io/en/stable/troubleshooting/clean-install.html

I wrote this as an answer to this stackoverflow question. 🔥