Upon the recent assembling of several NVIDIA video cards into different computers, I came across this particularly annoying issue where the manufacturer setup file fails to delivering the drivers for the Windows-based computers.
It returned an error that reads “NVIDIA Installer failed” and none of the core components were installed. Thus that renders the video card pretty much unusable for any visual-demanding assignment .
It took me about 6 hours dealing with frustration, trying to diagnose and fix this issue whereas it should have been initially remedied by NVIDIA. A quick search from Google university also returns waves of similar problem everywhere.
It does not matter if it’s a GTX 460, GTX 570 or the new GTX 680,etc.. the damn installer just won’t install. Better yet, Windows will try its best to avoid assigning a proper driver to the device, even one that was recommended by Windows Update. Great.
Good thing here I have you the solutions; hoping that they’ll save you from pulling out hair and breaking random peripheral stuffs.
Let’s get started.
Essential Things To Check
We understand that this is an affair between NVIDIA and Windows and all, but unfortunately us the end-users have to deal with all the frustration from trying to make it work. eg: Error Code 28, Driver cannot be installed, No Hardware Specified, System keeps rolling back to Standard VGA Adapter driver after restart, etc…
Some blames NVIDIA for the bug, but who knows ? It could just be Windows being Windows.
- Make sure on-board graphics chipset is deactivated and BIOS is set to use current discrete video card as main.
- Make sure your motherboard BIOS is running the latest firmware.
- Hard Drive is not too full. There were many cases when NIVIDA setup could not extract the packet into the Temp folder because the target drive was packed.
- Antivirus program should not give any issue but it’s worth some attention.
- Try your video card on different PCIe slot or different computer to see whether the same issue occurs. You may find a way to rule out the possibility that the motherboard or the video card is defective.
- Run a quick file system check using the command sfc /scannow to make sure the Windows core has not been altered.
Also Read :
Radeon vs. NVIDIA : Let The Right One In
Method I : Manually Update Driver Through Device Manager
This is the most simple fix. Sometimes it works like a charm, other times it doesn’t. Like the first date.
1. Right click and use Update Driver Software on the Display or Standard VGA Graphics Adapter from your device list.
2. Point to the path of the extracted NVIDIA driver folder (eg. C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\xxx.xx\windows_version\English\Display.Driver).
Restart PC as soon as it’s done.
Proceed to run the NVIDIA installer once again as usual if the video card has been successfully recognized.
In case nothing happens or the system still identifies the video card as a generic device, you have to move on to the next step.
Method II (Follow each step carefully)
A. The Complete Removal of All NVIDIA Driver Files from the System
Install Driver Sweeper.- Apply Take Ownership to Registry.
Restart PC and go into Safe Mode (press F8 after initial POST)
Delete these following NVIDIA Driver data supplied from Windows Update (right click on the folders and choose Take Ownership if the system does not allow you to remove them) :
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdsp.inf–xxxsomethingxxx
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_lh–xxxsomethingxxx
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvoclock–xxxsomethingxxx
C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\
C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\
Fire up Driver Sweeper and delete everything else that is related to NVIDIA.
Restart the PC after the process is completed.
This process prevents the system from trying to apply any pre-cached driver for the video card on surprise.
B. Perform a Clean Installation under Super User Role
- Download and extract PStools. Cut and Paste the PsExec.exe file into your C:\Windows\System32\ folder.
- Press Windows key + R and type the following command into the message box. Be sure to replace the path accordingly to your own reference :
psexec -i -s “C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\xxx.xx\windows_version\English\Display.Driver\setup.exe”
- After the License Agreement screen, choose Custom instead of Express installation.
- Now you can check Perform a Clean Installation and uncheck NVIDIA Update.
Continue on to the rest of the setup process.
Restart the PC right after the task is done and you should have your video card working properly upon the next load.
Leave us a comment whether this has or has not solved your issue!
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Much appreciated, worked like charm
I have this problem on win8 x64.
I followed this and guide and the one here: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?20144-Found-a-fix-to-Nvidia-Installer-Failed.
And they don’t work for me. The installer gives the “NVIDIA Installer failed” bug the device manager gives an “data is invalid” error.
(I hope I wrote the right things because I have a localized version actually)
I have couple of friends who were having this issue with Windows 8 and only 1/3 of them could get it to work properly, the rest had to reinstall Windows completely
That’s what I did too, eventually…
Also not only I couldn’t install the Nvidia driver (even windows update couldn’t install the driver) but also the audio card driver, so probably at that point it was inpossible to install a driver…
Thank you so much!!
Not works in windows 7 64 bit, I tried both and nothing
Psexec crashes for me I’m so pissed I reinstalled windows maybe like 2 to 3 times why doesn’t NVIDIA fix their drivers
when running the psexec command, try typing the setup.exe’s folder path without the ” “
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\
FileRepository\nvdsp.inf–xxxsomethingxxx
and
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\
FileRepository\nvoclock–xxxsomethingxxx
did not exist
Also, when running that command (psexec -i -s “C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\xxx.xx\windows_version\English\Display.Driver\setup.exe”) the setup never starts
…But, I ran setup.exe without PsExec and the installation succeeded, also seems to be working. Too bad I don’t have nvidia update now though :/.
isn’t NVIDIA installer the best troll of all times
?
In same situation here but what setup.exe ? I am a begginer in this domain . Can you explain me what you did exactly?
You should be able to find it in the C:\NVIDIA\ folder
xp service pack 3 crashed my pc twice. Had to do a system recovery. Am reluctant to try again. Could I revert to an older nivedia driver which worked fine before?
You can try Roll Back but I recommend to follow Method 2.A to completely remove the existing drivers in the system and reinstall the older release.
Hey i think i need your help.
Be aware: Im from Germany and my English isnt the best.
I did everything like in your guide. Now i have to press the Windows Key + R. But nothing happens.I just get beamed to antother data. I dont get a messagebox or something like that.
Thank you so much, I’ve been trying for days to install the drivers for my new GT630 card.
Tried no end of suggestions with no luck.
Seems to be the use of PStools that did the trick for me. (WINDOWS XP)
Thank you very much for the feedback on WinXP too
!
THANK YOU! I’ve been trying to get my old GeForce 8400 up and running and could not get the new drivers to install on Windows 7. This was exactly what I needed.