You’ve just unboxed your shiny new graphics card and are ready to take your old one out and replace it with a more powerful alternative. However, it’s never a bad idea to completely uninstall all old Nvidia, AMD, and/or Intel drivers before upgrading your hardware, or even if you’ve already done so. Amount of storage in process.
Whether you’re upgrading from one Nvidia card to another, or switching brands (Nvidia to AMD or vice versa, or an Intel Arc GPU), wipe out the software remnants of your old card. is recommended. Outdated drivers can slow performance or even lead to crashes. Also, if you’ve been using your graphics card for a while and you’re currently having problems (crashes, freezes, blue screens), disabling the drivers and starting over might fix the problem.
Uninstalling the old graphics driver might seem like a simple process, but on the surface it is. All three major GPU manufacturers offer an option to uninstall their respective drivers from their control panels. Additionally, you can choose a “clean install” when updating to the latest release. And for the most part, PC and OS wear and tear is fine.
However, sometimes corrupted drivers don’t uninstall properly, or uninstalling leaves unwanted remnants (craft). I’m experiencing inexplicably slowing game performance and the only way to be sure the drivers are clean is to TRUE make sure they are clean.
A handy utility called DDU (display driver uninstaller (opens in new tab)) does all the heavy lifting for you. It has been around for quite a few years and is updated regularly. It also supports removing audio drivers as well as graphics. Importantly, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia have been programmed with all the knowledge of where they store their various registry settings and files, so you know exactly where to look and what to delete. is doing
How to uninstall Nvidia, AMD, or Intel graphics drivers using DDU
Remove all the last bits of the old graphics driver by following these steps:
1. Download and launch DDU installer from Wagnerdsoft website (opens in new tab)This is free software, but the company doesn’t make it easy to find the correct download link. Because the page is littered with ads containing “download” buttons that lead to other places.
Your best bet is to find the “Download and Support” post for the latest version on Wagnardsoft’s forums and click the ***Download DDU here*** link.At the time of publication, the latest The forum post was for version V18.0.5.9 (opens in new tab) If you go to that link, you will see the download link.
2. DDU extraction to a folder of your choice. A subfolder is created with a name containing the DDU and version number. After running the utility, you will be prompted when a new version is available.
3. Start Windows in Safe Mode (option). Wagnardsoft recommends booting into safe mode before running DDU, but it is not absolutely necessary. I’ve used it in normal mode many times with no problems. However, if you’re worried that the program has overlooked something, you can switch to safe mode.
We have an article on how to boot into Safe Mode in Windows. (This applies to both Windows 10 and 11). The short answer is[設定]->[回復]->[高度なスタートアップ]Go to[今すぐ再起動]Wait for it to restart by clicking[トラブルシューティング]->[高度なオプション]->[スタートアップ設定]->[再起動]and enter 4 to enable safe mode.
Four. Launch Display Driver Uninstaller.exe. From the folder created by the extract. When prompted by Windows User Account Control,[はい]Click. This will show you the complete program. If you are not in safe mode, you will see a warning dialog box recommending safe mode.[OK]You can ignore it by clicking
Five. click option the program is still[オプション]If you’re not displaying the menu (it appears when you first boot).
6. Uncheck “Show offers from partners” When Check “Prevent driver downloads from Windows Update” (details below). I also recommend unchecking “Create system restore points”. But if you’re worried, you can leave it checked. [閉じる]Click Once it’s done.
7. Select GPU From the device type menu.
The brand of GPU currently installed will be automatically detected and displayed on the screen. However, if this is incorrect, you can select your brand from another pull-down menu.
If you have installed drivers from other vendors in the past, select them from the pull-down menu and[クリーンアップして再起動しない]Click.
8. Click “Clean and Shutdown” If you plan to install a new graphics card now. If you already have a GPU installed,[クリーンして再起動]Click.
![[クリーンして再起動]or[クリーンしてシャットダウン]Click.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SMH7qxeaTMFAhqGWkZaJKn-1200-80.png.webp)
DDU will take 1-2 minutes to remove all drivers and crafts from the selected graphics card brand. As it progresses, you will see status updates in the DDU log box. Close any open Windows Explorer windows as well.
Note that selecting Nvidia will only remove the Nvidia drivers, so if you have any remaining drivers from other brands, you will need to perform the process for those as well.
9. install a new graphics card (if you haven’t already).
Ten. Start your PC When Download and install the appropriate driver. Available from:
Some of the intro text for this article also appears in the latest issue. Max PCs.
