Take the 2-minute tour ×

I am attempting to upgrade my video card drivers with my nvidia 8600 gt. I downloaded the drivers from NVIDIA and when I run the setup, nothing happens. It does appear in the Processes, but never does anything.

I've tried restarting, tried killing the process and re-running, I am an admin account... nothing works. What is wrong?

[EDIT] The installer does run, it extracts the setup files to C:\NVIDIA as normal then when it tries to run that setup to do the actual install, nothing happens (the process does show up in Task Manager and just sits there).

Attempting to run the installer manually via C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\296.10\WinXP\English\Setup.exe has the process open, but nothing happens.

This machine is WinXP 32bit. No registry processes seem to be getting stuck.

share|improve this question
Have you tried re-downloading the installer to ensure it isn't corrupted? –  techie007 Dec 24 '11 at 1:43
Yes, I have. Also in a different browser. –  Zeno Dec 24 '11 at 5:36
What OS are you on and is it 64-bit? Could you also post a link to the driver you are installing. As interim advice, you could try to Run As Administrator the setup from C:\NVIDIA. –  harrymc Dec 31 '11 at 11:13
@harrymc WinXP 32bit, already tried Run as Admin and didn't help. These are the drivers: nvidia.com/object/winxp-285.58-whql-driver.html –  Zeno Dec 31 '11 at 19:38
Does auto-detect in the GeForce drivers page give you the same drivers ? –  harrymc Jan 1 '12 at 9:57
show 3 more comments

1 Answer

Use Regmon to see what registry keys are being accessed by the installer. It has happened in the past where a Nvidia driver has created a key, but assigned the wrong permissions to it and then cannot access it during the installation process. If you see any registry keys that the installer is trying to access and consider changing the keys' permissions appropriately.

share|improve this answer
Seems to be showing no registry activity. –  Zeno Jan 5 '12 at 20:03
add comment

Your Answer


