Can't install nvidia driver. How to install the NVIDIA video card driver without unnecessary components

There are 3 ways to install a driver for a GeForce Nvidia video card: manual, automatic and the easiest. Let's start, of course, with something simple.

If you have a different video card installed, then go straight to the next article -.

A few words about why you need to install the GeForce Nvidia graphics driver. Especially for those who are not satisfied with the phrases “this is necessary” and “this is required for the normal operation of the video card.”

There are at least 3 reasons why you should definitely install the Nvidia driver:

  1. You will not be able to set the native resolution on a monitor or laptop screen (it will be “soapy” 800x600 or 1024x768 pixels).
  2. Windows 7, 8 or 10 will work without cool gadgets like transparency effect, Aero, etc. That is, your desktop will look like a C minus.
  3. You won't be able to play games. There is nothing to say here. You won't even start the game because it will immediately ask you to install the Nvidia driver.

How to install Nvidia driver from disk?

The easiest way is to install the Nvidia driver from the disk. When you buy a computer, it always comes with a set of disks, including one for the video card.

How to install Nvidia driver from disk? Elementary! Insert it into the drive and start the installation. If there are several items in the menu, then find the corresponding one - for example, “Install Driver”.

The advantages of this method:

  • The disk contains native drivers;
  • you don’t need to know what video card you have;
  • no need to search for a suitable driver on the Internet and download it.

If for some reason this option does not suit you (no disk drive, damaged disk, etc.), then move on to the next one.

How to install GeForce Nvidia driver manually?

Manual installation of the Nvidia graphics driver is also easy. In this case, you just need to download it from the Internet and install it.

Important! You need to download drivers only from the official website of the developer. Otherwise, you risk catching viruses and other nasty things.

So, to install drivers for an Nvidia video card, do the following:

Run the file and follow the instructions. Installing the GeForce Nvidia driver is easy, so you won't have any difficulties with it.

Tip #2: The screen may flicker or turn off during installation. It's okay, that's how it should be.

After installation is complete, the program will ask you to restart your computer (or laptop). You can not reboot immediately, but at any other time (in case you have work files open, something is being downloaded or recorded). But the Nvidia driver will only work fully after a reboot.

Tip #3: How to find out your Windows version? To do this, right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties”. A new window will open, where the version of Windows and its bit depth (32 or 64 bits) will be indicated.


Automatic driver installation for Nvidia video card

Automatic driver installation on an Nvidia video card is carried out using a special GeForce Experience utility. This option is much easier and faster than the manual method and is great for:

  • those who do not know the model of their video card;
  • those who find it difficult or simply too lazy to search for a driver on the Internet;
  • gamers (the program optimizes game settings, can record video, etc.).

First you need to download this utility. For this:

In the future, GeForce Experience will always notify you when new drivers are released and ask you whether to install them or not. Gamers are advised to always update them as they are released, and all other users - at their own discretion.

Now you know how to correctly install the driver on an Nvidia video card. After restarting your PC (or laptop), set the screen to its native resolution and select a more beautiful Windows theme (for example, Aero). And if you are a gamer, then you can install games and play with your friends online.

When installing absolutely any software, various errors may occur. There is no template answer or advice for such cases. The occurrence of such problems depends on many different factors: software category, OS version, bit depth, availability, and so on. Quite often, errors occur when installing software for nVidia video cards. It is nVidia driver errors that we will talk about today. In this article we will look at the most popular of them and tell you about effective troubleshooting methods.

If you're having trouble installing drivers for your nVidia graphics card, don't despair. Perhaps our lesson will help you get rid of the error. So let's get started.

Error 1: nVidia installer failed


This error is the most common problem with installing nVidia software. Please note that the example shows four items, but you may have more or less. The essence in all cases will be the same - a software failure. There are several ways to try to fix the error.

Installing official drivers.

Do not under any circumstances try to install software that was downloaded from dubious and unverified sites. For these purposes there is. If you downloaded drivers from other sources, then visit the nVidia website and download the software from there. It is best to download and install the latest drivers.

Cleaning the system from old versions of drivers.

To do this, it is better to use specialized programs that will remove old drivers from absolutely everywhere. We recommend using the Display Driver Uninstaller or DDU utility to do this.

Virus software and antivirus.

In rare cases, the above error may be caused by a virus that “lives” on your computer. Conduct a system scan to identify such pests. Sometimes, it is not the virus itself that can interfere, but the antivirus software. Therefore, if you did not find any viruses after scanning, try disabling your antivirus while installing the nVidia drivers. Sometimes it helps.

Error 2: Wrong bit depth and system version


Such an error often means that when choosing a driver, you simply made a mistake in the version of your operating system and/or its bitness. If you do not know these parameters, then you need to do the following.

Error 3: Incorrect video card model selected


The error highlighted in the screenshot with a red frame occurs quite often. It means that the driver you are trying to install does not support your video card. If you just made a mistake, then you just need to go to and carefully fill out all the points. Then download the software and install it. But what if you don’t actually know the model of your video adapter? In this case, you need to do the following.

During software installation, various types of problems may arise. Some can be resolved fairly quickly on your own, but there are others that will require some effort to resolve. Graphics accelerators Nvidia Due to their popularity, a large number of users install them on their computers, and sometimes crashes occur during the installation of drivers for them. What to do in this case?

The easiest way: use to update all drivers automatically and get rid of the problem.

Today we will look at:

Driver installation fails

When installing drivers for Nvidia video cards, the startup process may fail and the process may stop. In this case, a window warning about the failure that has occurred is displayed on the screen:


There may be several reasons for this situation. This may include driver and device incompatibility, or the software may not be designed to work with the existing operating system. How to proceed? You need to start by uninstalling the driver version that is already installed.

Uninstalling an old driver version

To clear the system of the driver used, you need to perform a few simple steps:

    • through the menu " Start" go to " Control Panel»;

find the “System and Security” section there and enter it;

  • in point " System» open « device Manager»;
  • in the list of video cards, find the one whose driver caused the error;
  • remove the driver by going to the device menu with the right mouse button.


Now you can continue the process

One of the reasons for the download error may be the inoperability of the driver file itself, or its outdated version. On the Nvidia website you need to download the new version by selecting your device and the system in which it will be used according to the following algorithm:

  • model selection;
  • « Search»
  • « Download now».


If deleting the old version does not help

When the old version of the driver is removed, but the downloaded current release still does not install, we recommend taking the following steps:

  • manually unpack the archive with the driver using any archiver;
  • Install the driver using the device manager (go to the device properties as indicated above, and in the “ Driver» press « Update"); First of all you need to select a folder Display Driver, then HDAudio;
  • To restart a computer.


In some cases it may help disabling antivirus before installation. You must remember to turn it on again after a successful update.
Another method involves interfering with driver files: in the properties of the video adapter (in the " device Manager") in the "Details" tab, find the second line with Equipment ID and copy it.


Find the nvamn.inf file in the folder where the driver is installed and open it using Notepad. Scroll the text to the line and paste the copied fragment immediately after it. You must remember to bring the appearance of the inserted line to the standard form; to do this, you need to insert the first part of the next line before the comma before it.
The next step is to copy the newly created line and paste it in two places after this text later in the file:

When visiting forums on the topic of installing software and configuring software, you can find the leader of the discussions: “Why are nvidia drivers not installed after installing the OS.” There is an algorithm for solving this problem, we will consider it below.

If we are talking about the first launch of the system with a new video card, then after connecting to the network, the OS will begin to automatically search for drivers. There is no need to interrupt this process. If, however, the driver is not installed automatically, then download it from the official website.

First of all, you need to make sure that the downloaded driver supports the operating system on a specific computer; the card model must be included in the “supported” list. If everything is in order here, before installation you need:

  • make sure the card is installed correctly, the cable is tightly seated, and there is no dust in the connector;
  • disable all programs for downloading files from the network;
  • remove old drivers. We go to the computer control panel, select the “Add/Remove Programs” utility, remove everything related to nvidia, reboot the system in more detail: ;
  • deactivate anti-virus software;

An equally popular question is “Why are nvidia drivers not installed on my laptop?” All of the above also applies to laptops, with one exception - you will need to install an additional Intel driver.

Is the driver up? - Great! If the installation was unsuccessful, download Driver Swepper. A program for thoroughly cleaning directories from previous drivers. We select a language convenient for working, scan for files of interest, clean and try installation again.

The error “the graphics driver did not detect compatible hardware” by default indicates the absence of a video adapter, but in reality it can be solved like this:

  • open device manager → video adapters → VGA graphics editor, which is a video card without a driver installed;
  • open the VGA editor window, the “Information” tab, in the “Property” menu select the equipment ID;
  • From the lines that appear, select the top one and copy it to the clipboard;
  • open the folder that autorun created when trying to install the driver. The path for a standard installation is C:Program Files;
  • follow the path Display.Driver → nvaa.inf and open the file with Notepad;
  • We are looking for two lines “NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTx00.0.0” and “NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTx00.0.0”. Instead of zeros, OS identification data will be indicated;
  • paste the previously copied identifier under the lines using Enter and save the changes in notepad;
  • run setup.

The instructions are complicated only at first glance; in fact, the “fixing” process takes 5-10 minutes.

Note: Before starting the installation, make sure that the video card supports the driver you downloaded. For each video card in the series: Geforce Desktop PC, Geforce notebook PC and Quadro Professional use a unique driver. Make sure that your video card supports the driver you downloaded by going to the “Supported Products” tab in the driver download section, as shown in the screenshot below.

Once you have verified that your video card supports the driver you loaded, please close all open programs. If you have an antivirus program or other system monitoring application running in the background, disable it temporarily as it may prevent your driver from installing.

1) Make sure you are logged in with an account that has administrator rights. If you are logged in as a guest or a standard user, Windows will not allow you to install the driver. Download the latest NVIDIA driver from the NVIDIA driver download page. If your browser asks you to “Save” or “Run File,” click “Save.” By selecting the “Run file” option, it will be saved in a temporary folder. If the file is saved in a temporary folder, Windows may delete the file while you are installing the driver, causing the installation to fail. Save the driver to your Windows desktop. Once the driver downloads to your Windows desktop, you will see a new desktop icon similar to the one shown in the screenshot below:

2) If you are installing a new video card on your computer, the Windows Setup Wizard may install drivers separately. If the following message appears in the lower right corner of the taskbar, you need to wait until Windows completes its installation before starting a new one.

3) Right click on the file and select "Run as Administrator" as shown in the screenshot below.

4) After you have run the NVIDIA driver installation file, your first message will ask you where to save the NVIDIA driver files. These files are not used by the NVIDIA installer, and are only important if you install the driver manually. You can leave the default access path and select OK, to continue.


6) If you have agreed to the terms of the license agreement, you will be presented with installation options as shown below. Most users will choose Express installation (recommended). For advanced/experienced users, there is a Custom (Advanced) installation option to view additional installation program options. If you chose Express installation (recommended), click Next. The installer will begin copying the driver files and once it completes, you will be prompted to restart your computer to complete the installation. Restart your computer. Once you are back in Windows, the installation is complete.

When choosing the Custom (Advanced) installation option - Custom (Advanced), go to the section below labeled - Custom (Advanced) - Custom (Advanced) installation option:

Custom (Advanced) installation option

1) If you selected the Custom (Advanced) installation option, click the "Next" button to continue.


2) Custom installation options allow you to select the NVIDIA Graphics driver components that you want to install. We suggest selecting all graphics elements of your video card to use the most features. Older graphics cards may not show all of the components listed below. If the parameters presented to you do not correspond to the screenshot below, this is normal. The only mandatory item that needs to be installed is the graphics driver. If you have previously had installation problems, we suggest "Performing a Clean Install" which will remove all previous NVIDIA drivers and registry entries from your computer. This will help resolve installation issues with inappropriate old drivers. After selecting the graphics you want to install, click Next.


3) The installer will copy all selected graphics to your computer. Once the installation is complete, a window similar to the screenshot below will appear on the screen. To restart your computer, click "Restart now". When you return to Windows, your download will be complete.

When installing a video card driver, users are faced with the error: “failed to install NVIDIA software.” Read this article to learn how to avoid this error and successfully install NVIDIA programs.

Reinstalling the driver

Sometimes something interferes with software installation. These could be third party files or a previous driver. If you encounter such an error while installing NVIDIA software, there are 2 ways to solve the problem: clean installation and manual installation.

Advice! To find out the model of the video card that is installed on the PC, press Win + R and run the dxdiag command

The video card model will be indicated in the “Screen” tab.

Clean installation

Download the driver installation files for your video card from the official NVIDIA website:


Advice! A firewall or antivirus with advanced security controls may be blocking installation files. Restore default security settings or pause them during installation.

Manual installation

If you continue to get the error, try installing the driver manually. For this:

  1. Uninstall the previous version. Go to “Explorer” - “Uninstall or change a program”. Select "NVIDIA Graphics Driver" and click "Uninstall".
  2. Using a standard uninstaller, remove the program.
  3. Restart your PC when the procedure is complete.
  4. The driver can only leave behind an empty folder C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation
  5. Go to Device Manager (you will find it in the context menu caused by right-clicking on Start).
  6. Find “Video adapters” and right-click on the video card - select “Update drivers..”
  7. Click “Search for drivers on this computer” and select the folder where you unpacked it at startup (usually the C:\NVIDIA drive). Click Next.
  8. Wait a few minutes.

When installing absolutely any software, various errors may occur. There is no template answer or advice for such cases. The occurrence of such problems depends on many different factors: software category, OS version, bit depth, presence of malware, and so on. Quite often, errors occur when installing software for nVidia video cards. It is nVidia driver errors that we will talk about today. In this article we will look at the most popular of them and tell you about effective troubleshooting methods.

If you're having trouble installing drivers for your nVidia graphics card, don't despair. Perhaps our lesson will help you get rid of the error. So let's get started.

Error 1: nVidia installer failed

This error is the most common problem with installing nVidia software. Please note that the example shows four items, but you may have more or less. The essence in all cases will be the same - a software failure. There are several ways to try to fix the error.

Installing official drivers.

Do not under any circumstances try to install software that was downloaded from dubious and unverified sites. For these purposes there is. If you downloaded drivers from other sources, then visit the nVidia website and download the software from there. It is best to download and install the latest drivers.

Cleaning the system from old versions of drivers.

To do this, it is better to use specialized programs that will remove old drivers from absolutely everywhere. We recommend using the Display Driver Uninstaller or DDU utility to do this.


Virus software and antivirus.

In rare cases, the above error may be caused by a virus that “lives” on your computer. Conduct a system scan to identify such pests. Sometimes, it is not the virus itself that can interfere, but the antivirus software. Therefore, if you did not find any viruses after scanning, try disabling your antivirus while installing the nVidia drivers. Sometimes it helps.

Error 2: Wrong bit depth and system version

Such an error often means that when choosing a driver, you simply made a mistake in the version of your operating system and/or its bitness. If you do not know these parameters, then you need to do the following.


Error 3: Incorrect video card model selected

The error highlighted in the screenshot with a red frame occurs quite often. It means that the driver you are trying to install does not support your video card. If you just made a mistake, then you just need to go to and carefully fill out all the points. Then download the software and install it. But what if you don’t actually know the model of your video adapter? In this case, you need to do the following.


If for some reason you are unable to find out the model of your adapter this way, you can always do this using the device ID code. We discussed how to search for software for a video card using an identifier in a separate lesson.

We have shown you the most common errors that you may encounter during the installation of nVidia software. We hope you will be able to resolve the issue. Please note that each error may be specific to your system. Therefore, if you were unable to correct the situation using the methods described above, write in the comments. We will consider each case separately.

There are many reasons for the inability to install the NVIDIA driver. From a banal mismatch between the version of the operating system and the driver to the lack of information about the video adapter in the driver itself. We will dwell on the latter case in more detail.

First of all, you need to be sure that the video driver you are installing is compatible with your operating system and video card. If they are not compatible, you will see a message: “It is impossible to continue installing NVIDIA.”

This warning looks like this:

The installation program signals that the video adapter for which this driver is intended is missing, but this is not always the case.

The sequence of actions will be carried out in the Windows 7 x32 operating system, therefore some differences are possible for Windows XP.


First of all, you need to get into the “Device Manager”. Click “Start” “Control Panel” “Device Manager”.

Without a driver, any video card is defined as “Standard VGA graphics adapter”

Double-click on the inscription “Standard VGA graphics adapter” and in the window that appears, go to the “Information” tab. In the drop-down menu, select the “Hardware ID” item and the top line is the identifier of our video card.

Those. in our case, the video card identifier will be the line: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0407&SUBSYS_30CC103&REV_A1, right-click on this text and select “Copy”, now the line with the device description for the driver is on the clipboard.

After the first installation, the NVIDIA driver is self-extracted by default into the directory C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\301.42 (folder named driver version)\WinVista_Win7\International\Display.Driver\ Next, find the nvaa.inf file located in the Display.Driver folder


Open it using notepad or any other text editor. Using the Ctrl+F key combination, find the line inside the file. Below it is a list of video cards identified by this driver for Windows Vista and Windows 7 and without SP1


Now, you need to add the line copied to the clipboard. The same thing needs to be done under the line. As a result, it should look like the picture below.



Everything is fine, the driver has recognized our video card, and we can begin installation.

An error when installing a video card driver is a common problem that users of computers running Windows OS often encounter. Today we will take a closer look at what to do if drivers for an Nvidia video card are not installed on a computer running Windows.

As a rule, a video card driver installation error occurs for two reasons: either you are trying to install a driver that does not match your video card model, or there is an installation conflict in the system because the computer already has video card drivers installed.

How to resolve Nvidia driver installation error?

Step 1: Download the necessary drivers

First of all, you need to make sure that you have downloaded the correct drivers to your computer that are specific to your video card model. There are several ways to find out which video card model is installed on your computer:

Method 1: Using Device Manager

Open menu "Control Panel" , in the upper right corner, set the setting "Melke icons" and then open the section "System" .

In the left area of ​​the window, navigate to the section "Device Manager" .

Expand item "Video adapters" . At this point you can see the model of your video card.

Method 2: Using Device ID

If in the window "Device Manager" you do not see the name of your video card, for example, instead the standard name “VGA adapter” is displayed, then right-click on the intended video card in the same window and in the window that appears, go to the item "Properties" .

In the pop-up window, go to the tab "Intelligence" . In field "Property" select item "Equipment ID" , and in the field "Meaning" copy the first line.