How to Fix the NVIDIA Installer Failed Error

October 29, 2021 / Shayne Sherman

There are many reasons why an NVIDIA installation may fail, the most common being when you’re upgrading the Operating System to Windows 10. During that time, Windows Update simultaneously tries to download GPU drivers in the background, a process that takes about 10 minutes. If you attempt to launch a driver installation within those 10 minutes, it’s highly likely you’ll get the error.

It also happens when an incorrect driver for the respective GPU is installed. The error shows which elements of the driver package failed the installation and it gives an option of closing that installer dialogue.

The error is common with Windows 10 PCs, but thankfully, there are ways of efficiently dealing with the problem. We will outline those methods below so that you can resume your smooth Windows experience.

If you’re having an issue with opening Geforce experience after you’ve installed it, check out our detailed guide here.

Fix #1: Update the Graphic Drivers

If the reason for the error is incompatible drivers, the best solution would be to update the Graphics Driver to the newest version. You can accomplish this by either updating manually or automatically.

To update manually;

Step #1

Open the “Device Manager” and locate the “Display Adapters.” Expand the tab.

Step #2

Right-click the “NVIDIA Drivers” and select “Update driver software.”

Step #3

On the window that appears, choose search automatically for updated driver software.

The system will search online for any available driver updates. If they are available, the driver installation will commence automatically.

For automatic installation;

Step #1

Go to the official NVIDIA Corporation website. Once there, the website will automatically begin scanning your system. After scanning is complete, any drivers available for installation will be provided, or they will automatically be installed.

Optional

You can download and install the NVIDIA GeForce Experience on your computer to notify you of any latest driver updates. GeForce Experience is one of many NVIDIA programs that you can use to download and install new graphics card drivers. Do not get GeForce Experience confused with the NVIDIA Studio driver as it is a totally different NVIDIA software.

The installation process is quite easy and it will not only install drivers for your graphics card, but it will also let you use the GeForce Experience to record and stream your gameplay, optimize your games and more. Follow these steps to install GeForce Experience:

Step #1

Visit the NVIDIA Corporation official website and download a fresh copy of the GeForce Experience installer file.

Step #2

After downloading a fresh copy of GeForce Experience, double click the executable file to install GeForce Experience. Follow the installation wizard as per usual and confirm if the problem has been fixed.

Step #3

Once GeForce Experience has been successfully installed on your computer, open the application click on “Drivers” on the upper left corner of the window and click on “Check for Updates”. The program will then scan for any new updates for the drivers installed on your computer and if it finds one, you will be notified. However, if there are no updates for you then it will give the message “You have the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver”.

If you are experiencing the same problem, then move on to the next method.

Fix #2: Disable your anti-virus software

It is possible that your system’s antivirus might have interpreted the Graphics driver packages as a foreign entity. If that’s the case, the installer will be blocked. It’s a good thing to have a reliable antivirus, but if it’s sensitive enough, it will stop any action that it cannot logically comprehend. To solve this problem, close the software before beginning the installation.

Step #1

Open “Task Manager” by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.

Step #2

Under the “Process” tab, locate all the running processes initiated by the antivirus and close them one by one.

Step #3

Close them by clicking End Task.

Step #4

Reboot the PC.

Fix #3: Stopping all NVIDIA processes

NVIDIA Graphic driver error can be brought on by many different factors. A DLL error could easily be the culprit, but it could also be another. Additionally, unnecessary files in the system could be the cause of the problem. Therefore a sensible solution would be to remove any redundant files and to kill all processes running in the background.

Step #1

Open “Task Manager” by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC.

Step #2

Navigate to the “Processes” tab, in the task manager.

Step #3

Select all processes related to NVIDIA.

Step #4

On each, right-click and select end task.

Step #5

Go to C drive and remove the following NVIDIA files;

C:WindowsSystem32DriverStoreFileRepositorynvdsp.inf file

C:WindowsSystem32DriverStoreFileRepositorynv_lh file

C:WindowsSystem32DriverStoreFileRepositorynvoclock file

C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation

C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation

Step #6

Restart the system, and install the driver again.

Step #7

Select “Custom” installation and click Next.

Step #8

Ensure all driver components are selected, and check “Perform a clean installation” and click on Next.

Fix #4: Reinstall Your Graphics Card Drivers

If you are using GeForce Experience to handle the updates of your graphics card, then we suggest you remove the current version of the program from your computer and install a fresh new copy.

Step #1

Hold down the “Windows” and “R” keys at the same time then type “appwiz.cpl” in the command line and click “OK”. The Programs and Features window will come up.

Step #2

Look for the “NVIDIA GeForce Experience” and click “Uninstall/Change”. Follow the prompts to completely remove the program from your computer.

Step #3

Once you uninstalled GeForce Experience from your computer, you can go to their official website and download a fresh copy of their installer file and install it as per usual.

Fix #5: Clean Windows Installation

Windows reinstallation should be the last attempt you make, after all, methods have been unsuccessful. If there any damaged Windows files in the system, they could be preventing NVIDIA from installing. Be sure to backup all important data and files before reinstalling the Operating System.

Step #1

After, install the driver again and restart the PC.

Step #2

Download the latest compatible version of the NVIDIA driver, and install it.

Step #3

Temporarily disable all other programs including the anti-virus (you may also perform these steps through Safe Mode.

Step #4

Save the driver on the desktop only, and nowhere else.

Step #5

Run as Administrator.

Step #6

Choose the destination location and click OK.

Step #7

Check “Agree and Continue” to accept terms and conditions.

Step #8

Under “installation options,” select “Custom” option and click Next.

Step #9

On the list of components, check “Perform a Clean Installation”. With a clean install, it will remove the previous version of the driver in your computer that may have gone missing or corrupt.