Nvidia's rtx drivers support windows 7, but blacklist 8.1 install.

[lexluthermiester]

"wsreset -i", my bad.

To be fair, the attempt was half hearted. Gave up and just installed Pro on that system.

 

[R-T-B]

To be fair, the attempt was half hearted. Gave up and just installed Pro on that system.

Yeah, I think the powershell also has to be admin. No worries.

 

[chrcoluk]

I will say I dont regret going from 8.1 to LTSC, and ultimately I probably should have done it a couple of years earlier. 8.1 was feeling very dated by the time I switched. It had a bug with widevine which forced me to stay on very old nvidia drivers, which in turn lost me the new nvidia encoder. Plus of course no DX12 and the gradual list of feature enhancements that appeared over time.

Also the cpu mitigation patches are way bigger a performance hit in 8.1, I am guessing Microsoft basically made no effort to optimise on there as its effectively abandonware vista 2.0 now.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Terribly sorry for the bump - but have you or anyone found a solution for this, or is it really a limitation hard-coded onto the driver? I've been attempting to get Windows 8.1 installed for benching, and I was able to get the AMD chipset drivers installed as well as NVMe properly going, but I've hit a brick wall with the GeForce drivers.

NVCleanstall is completely useless, and force-installing the driver doesn't work (Windows doesn't see it), so I'm completely out of ideas at this point.

It's no big deal, but science and boredom has us doing all sorts of weird things. Cheers

 

[lexluthermiester]

Terribly sorry for the bump - but have you or anyone found a solution for this

Yes, upgrade to Windows 11.

or is it really a limitation hard-coded onto the driver?

Also yes. There does not seem to be a method to remove it.

So your choices are simple:
A: Continue to use older drivers.
or
B: Upgrade your copy of Windows.

It sucks, but those are your choices. If I had my way, NVidia would still be supporting Windows 7. However, Windows 11 is pretty good.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I run Windows 11, this was supposed to be used in a one-off benching session. Like I said, it's not a big deal if a solution was not found, just a shame I won't be able to do any graphics testing.

Older drivers are already being used, the specific problem at hand is that the drivers NVIDIA themselves claim to support Windows 8.1 (472.12) do not install. It throws the same error as natr0n had:

1. This graphics driver does not support this version of Windows and
2. The installer did not find compatible graphics hardware

The problem persists even if I attempt to use NVCleanstall to specifically add the RTX 3090 (DEV_2204) to the NT 6.3 section.

The same drivers are said to work correctly on Windows 7, but 8.1 has been impossible to get working.

 

[lexluthermiester]

the specific problem at hand is that the drivers NVIDIA themselves claim to support Windows 8.1 (472.12)

Go one version back. 471.96

Latest NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers 566.36 WHQL Download

Download the latest driver for NVIDIA graphics cards, to ensure you have the best gaming experience and get the fastest performance. This NVIDIA Ge

www.techpowerup.com

That should work. If it doesn't work, try the 471.68. If THAT doesn't work then I'm afraid microsoft might be up to some mischief with drivers on 8.1 in an effort to get people to upgrade.

 

[chrcoluk]

It is utterly ridiculous, essentially whats happened their decision to support is based on the size of the user base rather than the age and support status of the OS.

8.1 is the new Vista.

On the flip side it brought forward my plans to move to Win10, and there was never any assurance I would have done it at my planned time, it made me work on my custom 10 install ISO at record pace for a few days (whilst on VGA resolution in 8.1 lol), fix issues I was worried I wouldnt be able to do (adding all my custom control panel stuff), I was dreading upgrading office at the same time, was on EOL Office 2009 and migrating to 365, and in the end was actually fairly problem free, I was using it day to day within a couple of days, and all the fiddling to make it exactly how I wanted was all done within a month. On my desktop it didnt feel much slower than 8.1, and on some stuff was faster.

Sadly my laptop has took an absolute beating on 10 though, way way slower than 8.1. But it was on 8.1 pre meltdown etc, patches. When I put those patches on the laptop with 8.1 it was unusable, so 10 with those patches in place is faster than 8.1 with those patches in place.

 

[lexluthermiester]

On the flip side it brought forward my plans to move to Win10

Skip 10. Go to 11.

 

[natr0n]

Good thing I never deleted these other day. None worked.

 

[theFOoL]

Wasn't or is there a feature to "disable driver signature enforcement" would that work?

 

[chrcoluk]

Skip 10. Go to 11.

11 wasnt out when I moved to 10, and I dont like the 11 UI and a few other things, most importantly 11 doesnt have any features that I need. So no need for me to change at this moment of time. The tabbed explorer interests me, but its not enough for me, losing quick launch is a big deal to me so needs to offer so much more.

I dont update to an OS just because its newer, thats not a good enough reason for me and never has been, however I did leave it too long to move to 10, 10 when it first came out was not ready, had issues that needed resolving, so I am glad I didnt jump on it immediately, but I moved to it probably a couple of years after was best to.

 

[natr0n]

Wasn't or is there a feature to "disable driver signature enforcement" would that work?

I tried nothing works. It a shame because 8.1 gives insane performance.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Good thing I never deleted these other day. None worked.

That seems to answer a question I was pondering. It would appear that microsoft might be pulling some of their well know shady-ass nonsense again by locking out driver installs for the latest patched version of 8.1.

This can be worked around.

First, Install Windows from a retail or OEM disc or ISO on USB drive WITHOUT connecting to the internet.(no one should EVER be connected to the internet during a Windows install)
Then install all drivers manually.
Next, disable automatic drive updates(something else that should never be enabled)
Next, connect to the internet and let Windows update itself.

After that all should be well and good.

I tried nothing works. It a shame because 8.1 gives insane performance.

See above.

most importantly 11 doesnt have any features that I need.

Fair enough. Out of curiosity, what features?

 

[chrcoluk]

Fair enough. Out of curiosity, what features?

I will know when they come, I assume at some point a 11 exclusive feature will happen that will tempt me over. Direct storage is looking like it will be on both 10 and 11 as things stand though so I dont think will be that. Even if it doesnt happen I wont stay on 10 past the date mainstream support ends, in that scenario I might jump straight to 12.

Ironically I have ended up using the Win 10 menu, the native one, I think its not as good as what startisback brings back, but its good enough that prevented me from installing startisback, I have pinned some apps to the right side of the menu, and if they kept the menu in 11, I might have used that as a replacement for quick launch.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Go one version back. 471.96

Latest NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Drivers 566.36 WHQL Download

Download the latest driver for NVIDIA graphics cards, to ensure you have the best gaming experience and get the fastest performance. This NVIDIA Ge

www.techpowerup.com

That should work. If it doesn't work, try the 471.68. If THAT doesn't work then I'm afraid microsoft might be up to some mischief with drivers on 8.1 in an effort to get people to upgrade.

Apparently, it's no deal. Not even the folks at MSFN (a forum which is home to many real OS holdouts) figured it out. Apparently the RTX 30 series are hard blocked on Windows 8.1, even though they will work on 7. Go figure. Though someone made modded drivers for the B550/X570 chipsets, the Intel i225-V also doesn't work and only the Bluetooth portion of the AX200 WiFi works, so there's no network connectivity either.

I'm honestly not too surprised, the RTX 20 series works with the latest drivers provided, but AMD actually discontinued Radeon drivers on Windows 8.1 back with July 2017 Crimson drivers, it's actually ancient history now. I kinda wish I had a Titan RTX instead of a 3090, and it wouldn't have been the first time... but oh well.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Apparently the RTX 30 series are hard blocked on Windows 8.1, even though they will work on 7. Go figure.

Yeah that kinda sucks. However, there a light at the end of that tunnel. Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC. It's a lean and clean version of 10 that is without all of the bloat and crap.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I've tried 10 LTSB (1607 based) with no luck, the Ampere drivers seem to hard-require 10 version 1809 at a minimum to install. That leaves LTSC right at the edge of compatible, but that build is already new enough so it makes benching on it rather redundant. I'll have to see, maybe Windows Server is going to be more my speed. For now, just deleted the Windows 8.1 install, writing it off as a failed experiment.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I've tried 10 LTSB (1607 based) with no luck, the Ampere drivers seem to hard-require 10 version 1809 at a minimum to install.

Not LTSB, LTSC. They are two separate versions.

That leaves LTSC right at the edge of compatible, but that build is already new enough so it makes benching on it rather redundant.

The latest point release is fine and will be supported until 2027.

For now, just deleted the Windows 8.1 install, writing it off as a failed experiment.

That's probably best..

 

[Dr. Dro]

Not LTSB, LTSC. They are two separate versions.

I know. The newest version of Windows 10 is actually going to be supported on LTSC channel until 2032, that's actually bananas. I'll be 39 by then

 

[lexluthermiester]

I know. The newest version of Windows 10 is actually going to be supported on LTSC channel until 2032, that's actually bananas. I'll be 39 by then

Oh wow! They must have changed it. Last time I check it was 2027.

 

[BSim500]

Oh wow! They must have changed it. Last time I check it was 2027.

W10 LTSC 1809 is supported until 2029 (10 year support) though is missing DX12 Ultimate, WiFi 6, WPA3, Ryzen scheduler fix, etc.
W10 LTSC 21H2 is supported until 2027 (dumbed down from 10 to 5 years).
W10 LTSC 21H2 IoT is supported until 2032 (retains 10 years but is missing some activation methods, eg, KMS).

Some people believe the reason Microsoft dumbed down normal LTSC from 10 to 5 years is the sheer prevalence of it being installed by gamers as a BS-free, bloat-free option (that MS still refuse to provide to consumers...)

 

[pavle]

Interesting, under win8 and 8.1 (=6.2 & 6.3) only GPU's up to GTX 1660 SUPER (21C4) are supported/in the inf with all the 2xxx series too; nowhere in the setup.cfg there's no apparent block for 3xxx series under 8.x. With RTX 3070Ti (2482) in the inf where do they block it, in setup.exe? How rude.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Interesting, under win8 and 8.1 (=6.2 & 6.3) only GPU's up to GTX 1660 SUPER (21C4) are supported/in the inf with all the 2xxx series too; nowhere in the setup.cfg there's no apparent block for 3xxx series under 8.x. With RTX 3070Ti (2482) in the inf where do they block it, in setup.exe? How rude.

The hypothesis I've seen put forward is that there is something in the nvlddmkm.sys (the KMD itself) file stopping it, but I must admit I don't understand the barnacle-like structure of NVIDIA's device driver setup system, and there is very little to no documentation publicly available on how it works. The methods to add device support to INF in order to force-load, either manually or through NVCleanstall, seem to completely fail.

Maybe @W1zzard (sorry for the ping, mate) could help us understand a thing or two about this specific issue, given NVCleanstall clearly does add the hardware listed to some section (in my inf this seems to be Section 156), but the aforementioned errors of unsupported OS and setup did not find compatible hardware as found by natr0n still persist, even if you ask NVCleanstall to re-sign the graphics driver by selecting a tweak.

If everything else fails, oh well, more space for Nobara.

 

[StefanM]

The hypothesis I've seen put forward is that there is something in the nvlddmkm.sys (the KMD itself) file stopping it, but I must admit I don't understand the barnacle-like structure of NVIDIA's device driver setup system, and there is very little to no documentation publicly available on how it works...

That would be similar to the scenario discussed here:

How to install nvidia driver for rtx3080 on windows 1709?

Are there any INFs in the folder that are unrelated and should not be deleted? Folder display.driver contains only INFs for display The other INFs are stored in corresponding folders - HDAUDIO/nvhda.inf etc. An exception would be a driver downloaded from Windows update where almost everything...

www.techpowerup.com