Check your monitor is back at its full refresh rate after a clean install. Driver resets can quietly drop it to 60 Hz.
On this page
- Game Ready or Studio: which NVIDIA driver do you need?
- How to update NVIDIA drivers with the NVIDIA App
- How to update NVIDIA drivers without the NVIDIA App
- How to do a clean install of an NVIDIA driver
- When to use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)
- How to roll back an NVIDIA driver that broke something
- Does your GPU or Windows version still get new drivers?
- What happened to GeForce Experience and the NVIDIA Control Panel?
- Common NVIDIA driver problems and what to try
- FAQ
Most NVIDIA driver updates take five minutes and a restart. The trouble starts when one fails, or when a new driver brings flicker, crashes or a black screen with it. This guide covers the normal update, the clean install NVIDIA itself recommends, DDU for the stubborn cases, rolling back, and which cards and Windows versions still get new drivers in late 2026. Steps come from NVIDIA’s support pages and the DDU developer’s own guide, linked as we go.
Game Ready or Studio: which NVIDIA driver do you need?
GeForce cards get two driver flavors from the same NVIDIA driver page:
- Game Ready drivers carry day-one tweaks for new game launches.
- Studio drivers are tuned for creative apps, and NVIDIA pitches them on reliability for artists and designers, per its NVIDIA App page.
Mostly gaming? Game Ready. Mostly editing, 3D or streaming work where a crash costs you hours? Studio. You can switch between them later in the same dropdown. If you’re unsure, Game Ready is the normal pick.
How to update NVIDIA drivers with the NVIDIA App
The NVIDIA App is NVIDIA’s current driver and settings tool. It replaced GeForce Experience, and since May 2026 the old NVIDIA Control Panel too (more on that below).
- Open the NVIDIA App and click Drivers in the left menu.
- Use the dropdown at the top right to pick Game Ready or Studio.
- Click Download, then Install when it finishes.
- Pick Express for a normal update. Pick Custom if you want the clean installation option.
- Restart when it asks. The screen may go black or flicker during install. That’s normal.
No new driver but something’s still off? The three-dot menu next to the current driver has a Reinstall option. That’s handy when an update half-worked.
How to update NVIDIA drivers without the NVIDIA App
You don’t need the app at all. NVIDIA still offers standalone installers.
- Go to nvidia.com/drivers and pick your card, Windows version and driver type, or let the page detect it.
- Download the installer.
- Right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
- The installer asks which parts to install. Leave the NVIDIA App ticked if you want it, or install just the graphics driver.
- Choose Express, or Custom (Advanced) for a clean installation, then restart.
To check what you’re running afterwards: right-click Start, open Device Manager, expand Display adapters, open your NVIDIA card and look at the Driver tab. The NVIDIA App’s Drivers page shows the version too.
How to do a clean install of an NVIDIA driver
A clean installation wipes the old driver and its settings before the new one goes in. It’s NVIDIA’s own first fix when an install fails, and in our view it sorts out more strange driver problems than people expect. These steps follow NVIDIA’s clean install article:
- Download the latest Game Ready driver for your card.
- Close everything first, including GPU tools like MSI Afterburner or Corsair iCUE, browsers and video players. NVIDIA also says installs can fail while Windows Update is running in the background, so let that finish.
- Right-click the installer, choose Run as administrator, and click Yes on the Windows prompt.
- Keep the default folder for the temporary files and click OK.
- Select NVIDIA Graphics Driver and NVIDIA App, then Agree and Continue.
- Choose Custom (Advanced), then Next.
- Tick Perform a clean installation, then Next.
- Restart when it’s done.
A clean install resets your driver settings. Custom resolutions, color tweaks and per-game profiles go back to default, so note anything you’ll want to set again.
When to use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller)
DDU is a free tool from Wagnardsoft that strips every trace of a graphics driver, including registry entries and leftover files. Use it when a normal clean install didn’t fix things, or when you’re switching from an AMD card to NVIDIA (or the other way). For a routine update, skip it.
The short version of the developer’s guide:
- Download the new NVIDIA driver first, and get DDU only from Wagnardsoft’s site.
- Back up anything important, and have your BitLocker recovery key handy if your PC uses BitLocker.
- Disconnect from the internet so Windows Update doesn’t install its own driver halfway through.
- Run DDU in Safe Mode. The guide calls Safe Mode optional but highly recommended. In normal mode, it says to run the clean twice.
- Select GPU and NVIDIA, then Clean and restart. Use Clean and shutdown instead if you’re about to swap the card.
- Install the driver you downloaded, restart, then reconnect to the internet.
The guide’s own warning is worth repeating: try booting into Safe Mode the normal way once before you tick DDU’s Safe Mode option, or you can end up stuck there.
How to roll back an NVIDIA driver that broke something
New driver, new crashes? Go back to the last one that worked.
- Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
- Expand Display adapters, right-click your NVIDIA card and choose Properties.
- On the Driver tab, click Roll Back Driver, pick a reason, and confirm.
Roll Back Driver is often grayed out, because a clean install doesn’t keep the old version around. Then download the older driver from NVIDIA’s driver page (it lists past releases too) and install it with Perform a clean installation ticked. If that still fails, use DDU first.
Something we’d tell a friend: before you blame the driver, check the cheap stuff. A loose cable or a monitor stuck at 60 Hz looks a lot like a driver problem. Our monitor flickering fix guide covers that order of checks.
Does your GPU or Windows version still get new drivers?
This is the part that changed most in the last year. Two NVIDIA support plans decide whether you’ll see new Game Ready drivers:
| Your setup | What NVIDIA says |
|---|---|
| Maxwell, Pascal or Volta cards (GTX 750 Ti, GTX 900 series, GTX 10 series, Titan V) | Security fixes only, from October 2025 through October 2028. No new game optimizations or features. (NVIDIA) |
| Any GeForce card on Windows 10 | The last Game Ready and Studio drivers that support Windows 10 were due in October 2026. From November 2026, new drivers drop Windows 10. Quarterly security updates continue through October 2029. (NVIDIA) |
| GTX 16 series or RTX 20, 30, 40 or 50 series on Windows 11 | Full Game Ready and Studio driver support. |
Your games won’t stop working on the day support ends. The installed driver keeps running. What you lose is fixes and tuning for new releases. So if you’re on Windows 10 with an RTX card, the upgrade to Windows 11 is now the way to keep getting Game Ready drivers.
What happened to GeForce Experience and the NVIDIA Control Panel?
Both are on their way out.
- GeForce Experience stopped getting support when NVIDIA App 1.0 launched in November 2024. NVIDIA told Tom’s Hardware it would get no new features or bug fixes. NVIDIA has since warned remaining users that it will switch off key GeForce Experience web servers, and asks them to move to the NVIDIA App.
- The NVIDIA Control Panel was retired for Game Ready and Studio drivers in May 2026, The Verge reports, after its settings moved into the NVIDIA App. It stays on your PC until you do a clean install, and NVIDIA keeps it in the Microsoft Store without updates. RTX PRO workstation users keep Control Panel support for now.
Old guides that say “open NVIDIA Control Panel and set Power Management to Prefer Maximum Performance” now mean the Graphics section of the NVIDIA App. The Control Panel isn’t gone from your PC yet. It just isn’t getting any younger.
Still seeing GeForce Experience error 0x0003 or “Something went wrong”? Don’t spend an evening on it. Uninstall GeForce Experience, install the NVIDIA App (or use the manual installer above), and the error has nothing left to come from.
Common NVIDIA driver problems and what to try
| What you see | Try this first |
|---|---|
| Install fails or stops partway | Close GPU tools and browsers, let Windows Update finish, then do the clean install above. |
| Crashes or stutter right after an update | Roll back to the previous driver, then wait for the next release. |
| Screen flickers or goes black after install | Reinstall with a clean installation. Then check the cable and refresh rate. |
| Monitor stuck at 60 Hz after a clean install | Set the refresh rate again in Windows display settings. A clean install resets it. |
| Card missing from Device Manager | That’s usually not a driver problem. See our GPU not detected fix guide. |
Crashes that started after an overclock or a hot summer? Check temperatures before you blame the driver. Our GPU stress test and normal temperature guide shows what’s normal.
FAQ
How do I update my NVIDIA drivers?
Open the NVIDIA App, go to Drivers and click Download, then Install. Or download the installer from nvidia.com/drivers and run it as administrator. Restart when it finishes.
Can I update NVIDIA drivers without GeForce Experience or the NVIDIA App?
Yes. Download the standalone driver from nvidia.com/drivers and install just the graphics driver. You don’t need an NVIDIA account for that.
Should I use DDU every time I update?
No. A normal update or NVIDIA’s clean installation option is enough for most people. Use DDU when a clean install didn’t fix the problem or when you switch GPU brands.
Is my GTX 1060 or GTX 1080 still supported?
Pascal cards like the GTX 10 series moved to security-only updates in October 2025, and NVIDIA says those continue through October 2028. They don’t get new Game Ready optimizations.
Do NVIDIA drivers still support Windows 10?
NVIDIA’s last Game Ready and Studio drivers with Windows 10 support were due in October 2026. After that, Windows 10 gets quarterly security updates through October 2029.
Where did the NVIDIA Control Panel go?
NVIDIA retired it for Game Ready and Studio drivers in May 2026 and moved its settings into the NVIDIA App’s Graphics section. It stays installed until a clean install and is still in the Microsoft Store without updates.
Sources
We haven’t run these steps on our own test PC for this guide. The steps and support dates come from NVIDIA’s support pages, the DDU developer’s guide and the reports linked here.
- NVIDIA: NVIDIA App, checked 2026-10-26.
- NVIDIA: Driver downloads, checked 2026-10-26.
- NVIDIA: How to manually clean install the NVIDIA driver (updated 26 May 2026), checked 2026-10-26.
- NVIDIA: GeForce support plan for Windows 10, checked 2026-10-26.
- NVIDIA: Support plan for Maxwell, Pascal and Volta GeForce GPUs, checked 2026-10-26.
- Wagnardsoft: How to use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), checked 2026-10-26.
- Tom’s Hardware: NVIDIA App 1.0 exits beta, GeForce Experience deprecated (November 2024), checked 2026-10-26.
- NVIDIA: Upgrade to the NVIDIA App, checked 2026-10-26.
- The Verge: NVIDIA retires the Control Panel app (26 May 2026), checked 2026-10-26.
