Lenovo X1 Gen13 - Ubuntu 25.10 Kernel headers missing

[Andreas Bulling]

Hi,

I understand that you probably cannot answer to every single request - 
on the other hand there is a mailing list for a reason... So I hope that 
maybe I can still get some help with this as this problem has been 
really annoying and I cannot use my laptop on Ubuntu to its full 
potential.

Even after trying for several days now I cannot get the displaylink 
driver to work. The reason is that I don't have the kernel headers for 
the mentioned kernel.

I got to the point where I could at least compile the kernel module (by 
"creating" the expected header directory i.e. symlinking it to the 
generic 6.17 kernel headers) but then there is a mismatch when I try to 
load the module into the kernel (not completely unexpectedly).

As far as I understand, the 1012-oem kernel is hosted in the official 
Lenovo archive for Ubuntu (sutton-dacia on lenovo.archive.canonical.com) 
so shouldn't it be possible to install the official displaylink-driver? 
But how am I supposed to do that if the headers are missing and the 
driver therefore cannot be compiled for this kernel?

Thanks a lot in advance

Andreas

>Andreas Bulling <abu.2026 at posteo.de> [27 Mar 2026 13:14]:
>Hi Timo,
>
>Thanks a lot for your reply.
>
>I am pretty sure it came preinstalled with 25.10 - I didn't do a 
>dist-ugprade or anything. I also didn't fiddle around with the kernel 
>so far...
>
>I followed the instructions on the synaptics website (adding the apt 
>repository):
>
>https://www.synaptics.com/products/displaylink-graphics/downloads/ubuntu
>
>But I see the following error:
>
>---
>
>root at laptop:/home/andreas# apt install displaylink-driver
>Installing:
>  displaylink-driver
>
>Installing dependencies:
>  dkms  evdi
>
>Suggested packages:
>  xmlstarlet  menu
>
>Summary:
>  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 3, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 0
>  Download size: 0 B / 7,128 kB
>  Space needed: 245 kB / 614 GB available
>
>Continue? [Y/n] Y
>Selecting previously unselected package dkms.
>(Reading database ... 315615 files and directories currently installed.)
>Preparing to unpack .../dkms_3.2.0-1ubuntu1_all.deb ...
>Unpacking dkms (3.2.0-1ubuntu1) ...
>Selecting previously unselected package evdi.
>Preparing to unpack .../evdi_1.14.15-181_amd64.deb ...
>Unpacking evdi (1.14.15-181) ...
>Selecting previously unselected package displaylink-driver.
>Preparing to unpack .../displaylink-driver_6.2.0-30_amd64.deb ...
>Unpacking displaylink-driver (6.2.0-30) ...
>Setting up dkms (3.2.0-1ubuntu1) ...
>Setting up evdi (1.14.15-181) ...
>Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/evdi/1.14.15/source -> /usr/src/evdi-1.14.15
>
>
>Error! Your kernel headers for kernel 6.17.0-1012-oem cannot be found at /lib/modules/6.17.0-1012-oem/build or /lib/modules/6.17.0-1012-oem/source.
>Please install the linux-headers-6.17.0-1012-oem package or use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located.
>dpkg: error processing package evdi (--configure):
> installed evdi package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 21
>dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of displaylink-driver:
> displaylink-driver depends on evdi (>= 1.12.0) | evdi-dkms (>= 1.12.0); however:
>  Package evdi is not configured yet.
>  Package evdi-dkms is not installed.
>  Package evdi which provides evdi-dkms is not configured yet.
> displaylink-driver depends on evdi (>= 1.12.0) | libevdi1 (>= 1.12.0); however:
>  Package evdi is not configured yet.
>  Package libevdi1 is not installed.
>  Package evdi which provides libevdi1 is not configured yet.
>
>dpkg: error processing package displaylink-driver (--configure):
> dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
>No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
>                                                                                                          Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.1-1) ...
>Errors were encountered while processing:
> evdi
> displaylink-driver
>Error: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
>