PSA: "NVIDIA Installer cannot continue" on Windows October 2018 Update and How To Fix It

[EmDub2003]

Thanks TechPowerUp team. This issue has driven me crazy for a couple months. While NVidia support was pleasant the only course of action they could suggest was to install GFE which was not my preference. Then as of 417.22 the driver release notes had another suggested workaround which was to disable the Windows WMI Service. I did that per these instructions and sure enough was able to do a DDU cleaning and install of the GeForce driver from NVidia. Thought I'd share another solution which worked for at least one user.

 

[droopyRO]

First install Geforce Experience and then let Experience download and install the latest driver. That worked fine.

That was my fix too.

 

[Vayra86]

Nothing compared to his daily or should I say hourly attacks he makes on everyone on every tech power up news article, if you notice. The dude is here everyday quoting other users posts and going against it. Just check his activity and recent posts. Beefs on every topic. He is known on other forums, yeah it reached that point.

Is not an attack based upon age. Simply put if you are 32 y old and all you do the whole day is arguing with other people on TpU forums, you surely need to check your priorities. Nothing wrong with being 32 y old. Is what you do that is wrong. This dude is very toxic and spreads toxicity on every damn thread, constantly forcing his opinions and point of views on other people that disagree with him. How pathetic it is that you are 30+ and do such a thing 24/7 on the web? Please...

Context, my friend. I'm there to set things right, and if that requires a source, I provide it, because what I say is usually true and supported by facts, as opposed to baseless nonsense you see regurgitated everywhere (case in point: linking AdoredTV through a TechReport article and saying 'this wasn't from u-choob' - is that toxic? Or is it just the truth and is the original post that exact regurgitated nonsense, like so much 'news' these days?). You may not like my opinion or me pointing out flaws everywhere, but that doesn't make it any less true.

You just became personal for no reason other than I've put you in your place a few times and/or challenged you to support your statements with facts, sources. You know, things people can check up on to verify claims being made. Because the claims you make a very radical, more often than not.

If you searched my post history you will ALSO find me admitting my flaws more than once and if I'm wrong, and someone can convince me of that (again: with DATA) I'm the first to admit I was wrong. Check out the Turing topic on 50% improvement on BFV, for example.

Its really childishly simple for me: I go on facts and on my own crystal ball of the future, and my analysis is usually also an economical one. That gets me to conclusions many people fail to see but do turn out right in the end. That in turn is seen by others and valued. I can also support my statements with facts. And last but not least, I have a complete and utter allergy for nonsense. And here's the kicker, I can actually do all of what you're saying while having a full day job, a little daughter and a very full life. Amazing isn't it?

If that doesn't suit you, guess what, your problem. Now let's get on topic, if you want to talk TO me instead of about me to others, take it to PM.

 

[Edwired]

Since all the problems appearing from nvidia i had no problem installing the latest driver while windows 10 is 1809 so could be your choice of antivirus software blocking the install. As i always right click the nvidia installer to check the properties and tick the box that appears to say unblock from installing something along that line and click apply then the nvidia installer will work fine. That just the way i do it

 

[John Naylor]

There's no problem with nVidia. This has been happening since the original release date of Window 10

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10/5e1c695b-fc45-46e8-831d-0f70e6212a39
https://betanews.com/2015/07/26/win...for-nvidia-drivers-could-break-your-computer/
https://news.thewindowsclub.com/creators-update-breaks-windowed-g-sync-here-is-the-fix-89392/
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...ws-10-creators-update-breaks-nvidia-3d-stereo

Most of these types of problems result from allowing Windows to install Hardware Drivers whereby what comes down thru WU is different from what is on hardware site. Easily avoided.

Turn off Windows ability to install Hardware drivers
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials...iver-updates-windows-update-windows-10-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82137-drivers-turn-off-automatic-driver-installation.html

 

[Edwired]

There's no problem with nVidia. This has been happening since the original release date of Window 10

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10/5e1c695b-fc45-46e8-831d-0f70e6212a39
https://betanews.com/2015/07/26/win...for-nvidia-drivers-could-break-your-computer/
https://news.thewindowsclub.com/creators-update-breaks-windowed-g-sync-here-is-the-fix-89392/
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...ws-10-creators-update-breaks-nvidia-3d-stereo

Most of these types of problems result from allowing Windows to install Hardware Drivers whereby what comes down thru WU is different from what is on hardware site. Easily avoided.

Turn off Windows ability to install Hardware drivers
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials...iver-updates-windows-update-windows-10-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82137-drivers-turn-off-automatic-driver-installation.html

That the first thing i do before the fresh install of windows 10 as i had a few hiccups where some of the win 10 updates broke parts of the operating system not the drivers fault as i was running stock settings in the bios and i was getting lock ups and freezing any time i ran a game or browser it could may well be unstable system on my part it could be a different story for someone else

 

[W1zzard]

Turn off Windows ability to install Hardware drivers
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials...iver-updates-windows-update-windows-10-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82137-drivers-turn-off-automatic-driver-installation.html

This doesn't work on newer windows versions, it has been removed, I think a year ago or so. Bta suggested that while researching this article and I tested it on 1809, drivers will download within a minute of two after network becomes available, if previously disconnected, so you have time to even click that option in the first place

 

[95Viper]

Keep it on topic, people.
And, please, if you have a problem, report it, don't start arguments, and go back and forth at each other.
Thank You

 

[DoLLo73]

A very simple solution for download every time the updated DCH version.

Change the driver number in a old legit URL

us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/DRIVERVERSION/DRIVERVERSION-desktop-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe

For the last version put 417.22 in the "DRIVERVERSION" section, like this.

us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/417.22/417.22-desktop-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe

Voila'

 

[moproblems99]

This doesn't work on newer windows versions, it has been removed, I think a year ago or so. Bta suggested that while researching this article and I tested it on 1809, drivers will download within a minute of two after network becomes available, if previously disconnected, so you have time to even click that option in the first place

Not to mention, I believe this will also prevent things like USB drives, etc. The sure fire way to is to setup a group policy and restrict by hardware ids.

 

[R-T-B]

This doesn't work on newer windows versions, it has been removed, I think a year ago or so. Bta suggested that while researching this article and I tested it on 1809, drivers will download within a minute of two after network becomes available, if previously disconnected, so you have time to even click that option in the first place

I've been using this key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching]
"SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000

No driver autoinstalling here.

 

[W1zzard]

I've been using this key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching]
"SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000

No driver autoinstalling here.

Does this still work? Because the UI for this registry key has been removed

 

[R-T-B]

Does this still work? Because the UI for this registry key has been removed

I don't see drivers auto installing on my end. But I also have Windows Update disabled as a group policy and use Windows Update Minitool.

Using build 1809.

 

[W1zzard]

I don't see drivers auto installing on my end. But I also have Windows Update disabled as a group policy and use Windows Update Minitool.

Using build 1809.

try a fresh 1809 install to verify, i suspect that registry key doesn't do anything now

 

[R-T-B]

try a fresh 1809 install to verify, i suspect that registry key doesn't do anything now

My installs are always fresh. Could be that I simply did not notice the driver loads though.

 

[John Naylor]

This doesn't work on newer windows versions, it has been removed, I think a year ago or so. Bta suggested that while researching this article and I tested it on 1809, drivers will download within a minute of two after network becomes available, if previously disconnected, so you have time to even click that option in the first place

Still works on Win 7...did it few days ago. Last time I had to do it in 10 was 2017 ... what about the GPEDIT and registry hack option ?

Appears so .... well at least as of August 2018

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-automatic-driver-updates-windows-10

I'm using Kaspersky Total Security for Application Updates .... absolutely love it. Can have it advise or install automatically. Need to find a reliable driver update checker that tells you something out of date, but doesn't install.

 

[phil1pd]

You guys kick ass! I had to use the command prompt to delete the .inf, followed your advice and it worked perfectly. Thank you!

 

[THU31]

NVIDIA has been providing a DCH driver since August 2018 - https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx?lang=en-us

But I always use DDU before updating drivers, so I have no intention of switching to DCH until I can safely clean this type of driver as well.

 

[Krojack]

Ran into this horrible problem today. The crappy DCH drivers were working for my games but I couldn't change settings in Nvidia Control Panel because it wouldn't open. Kept saying I didn't have the drivers installed.

The method of going though the "pnputil /delete-driver oemX.inf /uninstall" command worked for me however I had to do it 2 times. The first was "oem16.inf" then going back to the Inf Name part it had "oem51.inf" so I deleted that. At that point my display went to a super low resolution. Continue on with the "sc delete nvlddmkm " step.

At this point I HAD to restart my PC else the Nvidia installer would still error out. Once restarted (still in super low resolution) I could install the drivers.

Note: You need to completely unplug your PC from the Internet during the ENTIRE PROCESS. Unplug your cable and/or turn off your WIFI.

I can now get to my Nvidia Control panel settings.

 

[W1zzard]

I had to do it 2 times

You probably had a second, older, NVIDIA driver installation, too.

Great to hear that it worked!

 

[mcm]

Only way w10 installed fine was at launch because the GPU was older than the updates

 

[nothappy333]

When I try to delete sc delete nvlddmkm it doesn't let me delete it.
I get an error
[SC] OpenService FAILED 1060:
The specified service does not exist as an installed service.
Also the command prompt has a different beginning

 

[Nucleoprotein]

Just use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller), remember to be in offline mode - if not system will download and install drivers automatically.

 

[cmaesing]

Someone get these guys a medal ...

I deliberately and only signed up here to express you guys my deepest gratitude!

Today wanted to roll back my current Nvidia driver to an older version (399.24) under W10 1909 - and encountered exactly this issue.

Your method described here helped me as intended.

Thanks a lot once again for the great work!