Installing NVIDIA Drivers on Windows 10

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• A running Windows 10 instance with an NVIDIA GPU on MegaTech
• RDP access to your instance (see How to RDP into your instance)
• Administrator privileges on your instance

There are two main ways to download NVIDIA drivers:

Option 1: GeForce Experience (Recommended for gaming)

1. Visit NVIDIA's GeForce Experience page
2. Download and install GeForce Experience
3. Launch the application and sign in with an NVIDIA account (create one if needed)
4. Navigate to the "Drivers" tab
5. Click "Check for updates" and follow the prompts to download and install the latest driver

Option 2: Manual Download (Better for CUDA/ML workloads)

1. Visit NVIDIA's Driver Download page
2. Select your GPU product series (e.g., GeForce, RTX, Tesla, etc.)
3. Select your specific GPU model
4. Select Windows 10 as the operating system
5. Choose the driver type:
   • Game Ready Driver: Optimized for gaming performance
   • Studio Driver: Optimized for creative applications
   • Data Center Driver: For compute workloads (if applicable)
6. Click "Search" to find the appropriate driver
7. Click "Download" and save the installer to your instance

Manual Installation Steps

1. Locate the downloaded driver installer (.exe file)
2. Right-click the installer and select "Run as administrator"
3. Follow the on-screen instructions:
   • Accept the license agreement
   • Choose "Express Installation" (recommended) or "Custom Installation"
   • If choosing custom, select the components you need (CUDA is recommended for ML workloads)
4. Wait for the installation to complete
5. Restart the Windows instance when prompted

After installation, verify that the drivers are working correctly:

Using NVIDIA Control Panel

1. Right-click on the desktop
2. Select "NVIDIA Control Panel" from the context menu
3. If the control panel opens, the drivers are installed correctly
4. You can check the driver version under "Help" > "System Information"

Using Device Manager

1. Right-click on the Start menu and select "Device Manager"
2. Expand the "Display adapters" section
3. You should see your NVIDIA GPU listed without any warning symbols
4. Right-click on the GPU and select "Properties" to see more details

If you plan to use your GPU for machine learning or CUDA-accelerated applications, you should install the CUDA Toolkit:

1. Visit the CUDA Toolkit Download page
2. Select "Windows" as the operating system
3. Select your version of Windows
4. Select "x86_64" as the architecture
5. Choose your preferred installer type (exe is recommended)
6. Download the installer
7. Run the installer as administrator and follow the installation steps
8. Restart your instance after installation

After installing CUDA, you can verify the installation by running the CUDA samples, which are installed by default.

Driver Installation Failures

• Try installing in Safe Mode: Restart Windows in Safe Mode and try the installation again
• Use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) to completely remove any existing drivers before reinstalling
• Make sure Windows is up to date with the latest Windows Updates
• Try an older driver version if the latest one is causing issues

GPU Not Detected

• Verify that the GPU is properly attached to your instance
• Check Device Manager for any warning symbols or unknown devices
• Contact MegaTech support if you believe there's a hardware issue