How to Remove nVidia Drivers

[takiwa]

The following is the best way I know of uninstalling Detonator drivers on any Windows-based OS, but it is a bit complicated. However, it works extremely well...

1) Right click on the My Computer icon, go to Device Manager, and choose your display adapter. Right click on it, and choose "uninstall". When it asks you to shut down to finsh making changes to the system, choose no (or cancel).

2) Place a bootable floppy (or CD) in your computer to boot from.

3) Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and remove the nVidia Drivers from your computer. When it asks to restart the system, choose yes. Your computer will restart, and boot from the floppy or CD.

4) Type the following (in yellow) at the prompts:

A:> c:
C:> cd windows
C:\WINDOWS> dir nv*.* (Your computer will list all the nVidia files in C:\WINDOWS)
C:\WINDOWS> del nv*.* (This will delete those files)
C:\WINDOWS> cd system32 (or system for 9X systems)
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32> dir nv*.* (Your computer will list all the nVidia files in C:\WINDOWS)
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32> del nv*.* (This will delete those files)

Remove the boot disk, and CTRL/ALT/DEL to restart your computer

When the computer restarts, install the new drivers!

I know this seems like the long way around, but it is the surest way I know of killing the Dets before installing new ones. Try it... the more times you do it, the less complicated it will become.

I know there is a program out there called Detonator Destroyer made for this, but I (and many other people as well) have had problems getting it to work on NT-based systems. So, I do it like described above, and I have never had a problem...maybe this will help someone else out there :)

[Mike K]

When I had a GF2 MX 200 I could uninstall the drivers under ad remove programs. Btw, I am typing this on an exercise bike that only works when you are peddling, so this took me about 7 min. to write.

[Yodums]

I'm wondering, didn't Denator Destroyer not get supported by NT Kernal because the creator said it wasn't needed?

Nice work around :p

[takiwa]

If you uninstall the drivers through the Add/Remove Programs, it doesn't get rid of all of the Det files...some people have done this, installed a newer driver, and then found the computer reporting that they still have the older drivers installed, because Windows XP will not let you remove the nv4_disp.inf file, or let you write over it when Windows is booted up. Some people say you can boot into safe mode as the Administrator and do this, but many people have a problem with that, also.

[OnDborder]

Cool.
Thanks for the info.
And yet, another way of disposing nVidia drivers:)
When I removed(add/remove) the 29.42's today, I did a search for nv files ,after the removal, and didn't come up with any in the system32 folder.

Do you any messin' around in the registry in your process of removing the drivers?

[o770]

thats the same as searching from windows after restart. no need to boot from dos disk!!

[takiwa]

thats the same as searching from windows after restart. no need to boot from dos disk!! Like I said...when dealing with Windows XP and the protection it exerts over system files, the EASIEST way to get to them (to delete, rename, edit, etc.) is from a boot disk.Do you any messin' around in the registry in your process of removing the drivers? The .inf writes over registry entries, so this doesn't seem to be a problem with existing files...old ones can be cleaned out by any number of cleaning programs, and don't seem to have any effect on the new driver files...When I removed(add/remove) the 29.42's today, I did a search for nv files ,after the removal, and didn't come up with any in the system32 folder. was that on your 98SE boot or 2K? The issues that most people are having seem to come from NT-based systems, 9X seems to delete the files just fine (it'll delete any damn thing :D ) When I installed the new 29.42's, and then uninstalled them through Add/Remove Programs, I still had 17 files that were deleted from DOS, including the nv4_disp.inf file (which XP never deletes for me...I always have to do this manually)...so I figured since others were having the same problems, I would guide them through a DOS work-around ;)

[o770]

youre right about the protection, otherwise i cant see why going into booting from diskette etc..
then just entering the command line "dir nv*.* /s" without quotes will work under the windows directory.

[o770]

btw its not like remaining files will always cause problems on a new driver installation. thats not common actually if the previous driver were removed normally from the add/remove panel.

[OnDborder]

To answer the question above, it is in w2k. I don't have XP installed.

[takiwa]

btw its not like remaining files will always cause problems on a new driver installation. thats not common actually if the previous driver were removed normally from the add/remove panel. I'm not saying that everyone has this problem, because a lot of you don't. But for the people who do (and btw, there are quite a few that do have problems like this), I wanted to show a work-around for removing the remnants of the drivers. I would do it like that whether I had a problem or not, because I like to know that the old drivers are gone. I never trust the Add/Remove Programs to completely remove anything...I've had it leave too many remnants of software and programs in the past. If you are not having a problem like this, then this work around was not written for you ;)