How to Install ZED SDK on Linux

Download and Install the ZED SDK

The ZED SDK for Linux contains all the drivers and libraries that power your camera along with tools that let you test its features and settings.

• Download the ZED SDK for Linux.

• Go to the folder where the installer has been downloaded.

  cd path/to/download/folder

• If you don’t have it installed already, install zstd. It will be needed for the installer to run.

  sudo apt install zstd

• Add execution permission to the installer using the chmod +x command. Make sure to replace the installer name with the version you downloaded.

  chmod +x ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run

• Run the ZED SDK installer.

  ./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run

• At the beginning of the installation, the Software License will be displayed, hit q after reading it.

• During the installation, you might have to answer some questions about installing dependencies, tools, and samples. Type y for yes or n for no, then hit Enter. Hit Enter to pick the default option.

Once the installer finishes, the ZED SDK is installed in /usr/local/zed. If you plan to use Python, install the Python API next: the installer offers to do it for you, and you can also run the get_python_api.py script from /usr/local/zed at any time.

Installing in silent mode

The silent-mode installation allows you to install specific configurations of the ZED SDK. It removes any display or manual configuration options during the installation process.

The installer can be launched in silent mode with the -- silent option (with a space between -- and silent).

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent

Installing Runtime version only

To install the ZED SDK without any static libraries, headers, tools, or samples, add the runtime_only option.

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent runtime_only

Installing SDK without checking CUDA

To install the ZED SDK without checking that CUDA is installed, add the skip_cuda option.

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent skip_cuda

Installing SDK without Object Detection

To install the ZED SDK without the AI module (required for Object Detection, Body Tracking, and Neural Depth), add the skip_od_module option.

Without the AI module, image capture, SVO recording, and DEPTH_MODE::NONE remain available, while the NEURAL, NEURAL_LIGHT, and NEURAL_PLUS depth modes are not. Because SVO files store only raw images, depth can be computed later from these recordings on a system that has the AI module installed.

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent skip_od_module

Installing SDK without Python Wrapper

To install the ZED SDK without the Python wrapper, add the skip_python option.

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent skip_python

Installing SDK without sl_hub

To install the ZED SDK without sl_hub, add the skip_hub option.

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent skip_hub

Installing SDK without Tools

To install the ZED SDK without any tools or samples, add the skip_tools option.

./ZED_SDK_UbuntuXX_cudaYY.Y_vZ.Z.Z.zstd.run -- silent skip_tools

Setup CUDA

CUDA is an NVIDIA® library used by the ZED SDK to run fast AI and computer vision tasks on your graphics card. During the ZED SDK installation, if CUDA is not detected on your computer, the installer offers to download and install it for you.

Follow the steps below if you are installing CUDA manually.

• Download and install CUDA from the CUDA Toolkit archive.

• On the CUDA download page, select the following options. We recommend downloading a deb (network) version:

  • Linux
  • x86_64
  • Ubuntu
  • your Ubuntu version (for example 24.04 or 22.04)
  • deb (network)

• Find out what Ubuntu release you are running by reading /etc/lsb-release.

  source /etc/lsb-release
  UBUNTU_VERSION=ubuntu${DISTRIB_RELEASE/./}

• Add the CUDA apt repository.

  wget https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/${UBUNTU_VERSION}/x86_64/cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb
  sudo dpkg -i cuda-keyring_1.1-1_all.deb

• Update the apt repository cache.

  sudo apt-get update

• Install CUDA. We recommend specifying the exact CUDA version you’re installing. The required CUDA version depends on the ZED SDK installer you downloaded, as recent releases are available for both CUDA 12 and CUDA 13; check the release page for the exact pairing.

  # Example for a ZED SDK installer built for CUDA 12.8
  sudo apt-get -y install cuda-12-8

Restart your computer

At the end of the installation, restart your system to make sure your paths are updated.

Upgrade the ZED SDK

To upgrade the ZED SDK, download the latest installer from the ZED SDK Download page and run it, as described in Download and Install the ZED SDK. There is no need to uninstall the previous version first: the installer replaces the installed version with the new one.

Uninstall the ZED SDK

The ZED SDK installer does not provide an uninstall script. To remove it, delete the installation folder:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/zed

If you installed the Python API, you can also remove it with:

python3 -m pip uninstall pyzed