Question about Driver installation

[spilok 1,139]

I have a simple question regarding upgrading my graphics drivers.  I often upgrade my Nvidia video drivers when new ones come out. I really don't have many glitches or problems after upgrading the drivers.  

HOWEVER, should I use DDU to uninstall and reinstall my new drivers OR is the Nvidia tool good enough and does it do an adequate job?  I mean, by just clicking on the new driver, the Nvidia process uninstalls the old driver (you actually see this when the process starts), and installs the new driver.  It's simple and seems flawless.  I would like to know from the I.T. experts out there though, if it's as good as the DDU process.  I almost always get a GLFW type error when using DDU; however, it doesn't seem to affect the driver installation outcome in a negative way.

Hopefully, you will endorse just the Nvidia method and not the DDU method.  I will abide by your rational explanation and decision.

Stan

 

[Dave_YVR 1,000]

The Nvidia installer knows what it's doing, it removes what needs to be removed prior to installing the new drivers. 

 DDU is for if you have serious graphics issues or are changing from AMD to Nvidia or vise versa. You can use DDU if you really feel like going overboard, but there's really no need.

[spilok 1,139]

1 hour ago, Dave_YVR said:

The Nvidia installer knows what it's doing, it removes what needs to be removed prior to installing the new drivers. 

 DDU is for if you have serious graphics issues or are changing from AMD to Nvidia or vise versa. You can use DDU if you really feel like going overboard, but there's really no need.

Thanks.  That's what I wanted to hear.

[Harold_Finch 29]

The NVidia driver usually knows what it's doing, but not always...

Last week I upgraded from a RTX 3090 to a RTX 4090.   I proceeded the same way I always do on NVidia hardware replacements however this time around something went amiss and I am left without the NVidia control panel.  I've tried all the prescribed fixes to no avail. Even DDU  (which I did not use during the replacementm) did not fix the issue. This has happened to me once before on a NVidia GPU upgrade and the fix was a re-install of Windows.

I'm just going to run the system for the time being.

I posted this in the spirit of full disclosure.

 

 

[G-RFRY 1,743]

DDU will remove NCP.

[lownslo 592]

2 hours ago, Harold_Finch said:

...I am left without the NVidia control panel.  I've tried all the prescribed fixes to no avail.

The last driver that included the Nvidia Control Panel was 472.12.  Even if you have to put your 3090 back in to install them (dunno if that driver will install for the 4090) you can install 472.12, navigate to Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation and copy the folder titled "Control Panel Client" to a safe place (you can include the folder "NVProfileUpdater" in the copy as well if you're into having NCP set you app profiles).

Now uninstall the 472.12 driver and install your new driver.  Once the final install is done copy the "Control Panel Client" folder into the Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation folder create by the new driver.  Inside the "Control Panel Client" folder is an exe named "nvcplui"; click on it and a screen to install the Control Panel will pop up.  Just click "Agree" and then the NCP ui will appear and you'll be good to go.

I have plenty of backup copies of the "Control Panel Client" folder saved in various locations. 👍

[Harold_Finch 29]

54 minutes ago, lownslo said:

The last driver that included the Nvidia Control Panel was 472.12.  Even if you have to put your 3090 back in to install them (dunno if that driver will install for the 4090) you can install 472.12, navigate to Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation and copy the folder titled "Control Panel Client" to a safe place (you can include the folder "NVProfileUpdater" in the copy as well if you're into having NCP set you app profiles).

Now uninstall the 472.12 driver and install your new driver.  Once the final install is done copy the "Control Panel Client" folder into the Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation folder create by the new driver.  Inside the "Control Panel Client" folder is an exe named "nvcplui"; click on it and a screen to install the Control Panel will pop up.  Just click "Agree" and then the NCP ui will appear and you'll be good to go.

I have plenty of backup copies of the "Control Panel Client" folder saved in various locations. 👍

 

Thank you for your response.

I'm really well acquainted with the upgrade paths and have the client stored and have already tried that. In addition, you can download the control panel app from the Microsoft Store, just in case you didn't know.

The the Control panel client still exists, it just won't open anymore, or more properly opens but won't display.   In the past when I ran into problems like this a OS reset fixes it but is definitely a brute force fix.  I'm pretty sure it's a "registry thing" because when I've reached out to NVidia tech support in the past they told me that it was because the control panel is tied to the particular hardware ID of the GPU's installed.

 

But once again, thank you.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Harold_Finch

[lownslo 592]

Interesting!!  Sorry it didn't work for you.  Done the same install procedure on several other PC's ever since Nvidia removed the NCP from their driver packages.  Hope you get it sorted.

[Harold_Finch 29]

Yep, I've done the same thing for at least 100 Computers in the last year and it worked just fine.

 

Murphy's law says that when it fails it will be on MY computer, LOL !

 

Just for additional data, I'm running Win11 in Developer HUB of Windows Insider program, so I suspect that there was a mismatch of some sort on either the WIN 11 API or .net as these are not the bog standard components for the Win 11 version most have via Win 11 Update.