Error notifying that the Nvidia driver did not find compatible graphics hardware during installation, owners of graphics adapters from this manufacturer are literally on the heels when they try to install new or update old drivers on their computers and laptops. The card seems to be there, but the installer completely refuses to install the control software.
Many users have noted that this problem is most often manifested in the seventh modification of Windows. What has not been done to fix this problem! It even came to a complete reinstallation of the entire system, but the result still turned out to be zero. Nevertheless, ordinary users can be offered a few simple steps to get rid of this problem. If they don't work, thenas a cardinal solution, the most difficult option will be considered, giving, as it is believed, a 100% guaranteed result.
Error "This graphics driver did not find compatible hardware" - what is the reason?
First of all, let's find out the reason for this behavior of the installer. A typical mistake many users make is that they try to install a 64-bit driver on a 32-bit system. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to download the installation files packed into archives exclusively from the official NVIDIA resource, paying special attention to the bit depth of your own OS and the exact nomenclature name of the video card model.
On the other hand, the appearance of the error "This graphics driver did not find compatible hardware" during the installation process can very often be due to the fact that NVIDIA is in no hurry to release updated versions of the control software exclusively for certain laptop models (most often it is Acer, Lenovo, Asus and some others) that use outdated video chips.
Sometimes the problem may be missing important updates for the kernel of the installed OS. Part of the cause of the error "This graphics driver did not find compatible hardware" may be due to incorrect settings in the primary BIOS systems, which by default are set to use only one universal controller. Finally, you can also find cases where the installation of drivers is resisted by Windows itself, which has been hacked or activated by utilities like KMSpico or KMSAuto Net. And the most banal reason is that the user is trying to install drivers for an NVIDIA video card, but it is simply missing or inoperative on a computer or laptop.
Quick Driver Update
So, first let's try to fix the error "This graphics driver did not find compatible hardware" in Windows 7, although the proposed method can be used in all known modifications in which this problem is observed, in the simplest way.
We are talking about installing programs on your computer or laptop to automatically search for and update drivers for absolutely all devices, like DriverPack Solution Online or Driver Booster.
At startup, such applications will perform a full scan of all hardware, and then independently find and install missing or updated hardware drivers by downloading them from the official Internet resources of software manufacturers or developers (the first program can also install the necessary software from own database).
Troubleshoot "NVIDIA driver did not detect compatible graphics hardware" error through BIOS settings
However, the method described above may not give a result only because the default settings in the primary system are incorrect. There are two options for action.
In the first case, try switching from an integrated adapter to a discrete one, or vice versa(if you have two installed), prioritizing the one for which driver installation is not possible.
In the second case, find the advanced settings section in the BIOS (Advanced BIOS Features or something similar), and then set the primary device item (Init display First) to PCI Slot or PCIE, then save the settings on exit (F10 + Y).
Download original drivers and update them using the system
If the reason for the installer error "This graphics driver did not find compatible hardware" is not in the BIOS settings, download the original drivers exclusively for your video card model from the NVIDIA website, save the archive and unzip it to any place.
Now call the standard "Device Manager" (devmgmt.msc), remove the old driver using the properties section, update the hardware configuration, and after that, when either an unrecognized device or a standard VGA adapter appears in the list, through RMB activate the driver update, but as an action, use either the automatic search for drivers on the local computer, or specify the location of the directory with the downloaded drivers manually using the browse button.
Actions with INI files
If none of the above helps, use the most complex and drastic technique, which is mostly focused onlaptop owners.
First you will need to download the driver package for your laptop from the manufacturer's website and download the graphics card driver set from the NVIDIA website. The video card software folders will contain the same Display. Driver. directories
In the "Device Manager" open the properties section of the video card, move to the details tab, select the display ID from the list and copy the string with the vendor (VEN) and device (DEV) identifiers, noting the longest combination (usually it will be the first in list).
Now attention!!! In the directory with the laptop drivers, find the above folder and use Notepad to open the nvaci.ini file from it.
Call the search tool using Ctrl + F, paste the copied line with identifiers into the field, copy all found section and subsection names into a separate text file.
Now open the same file in the downloaded NVIDIA drivers directory, find the copied sections by name and for each of them replace the contents of the corresponding lines with the one that was set for them in the laptop file. Save your changes.
Similar actions may need to be performed in the nvami.ini file.
Sometimes the problem is fixed by inserting a line in the nvaa.ini file with identifiers on the line below the namesections (just before its content). Again, save your changes and then run the installer from the driver directory downloaded from the NVIDIA website.
Additional measures
If the error "This graphics driver did not find compatible hardware" in Windows 10 is not resolved by any of these methods, either perform a full system reset using the recovery section in the options menu, or run a system reinstall via Setup.exe file by mounting the image to a virtual drive or writing it to removable media. This option looks much better in the sense that you can start the installation directly in a running OS, and during the reinstallation process you will be able to save all your files and previously installed programs. When the rollback is complete, try installing the drivers again.
