cuda initialization_error ai_generated true

CUDA error: shared object initialization failed (cudaErrorSharedObjectInitFailed)

ID: cuda/shared-object-init-failed

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
85%Fix Rate
88%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
12 active — — —

Root Cause

CUDA runtime failed to load or initialize a shared library (.so file). Usually caused by missing or incompatible CUDA libraries, broken symlinks, or LD_LIBRARY_PATH not including the CUDA lib directory.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 88% success Fix library paths: ensure LD_LIBRARY_PATH includes CUDA lib directory 
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH && ldconfig
  2. 85% success Rebuild broken symlinks for CUDA libraries 
    ls -la /usr/local/cuda/lib64/libcud*. Fix broken symlinks with ln -sf to point to actual .so files.
  3. 90% success Clean install CUDA toolkit: remove old installation first 
    apt-get purge 'cuda*' 'libcud*' && apt-get install cuda-toolkit-12-x

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Reinstall the CUDA toolkit over the existing installation 55% fail

    Overlapping installations create conflicting library versions; the old broken symlinks may persist

  2. Copy .so files from another machine 80% fail

    CUDA libraries must match the exact driver and toolkit version on the host; mismatched libraries cause more errors

Error Chain

Leads to:
Preceded by:
Frequently confused with: