How to fix Nvidia GeForce Experience driver download failed error on Windows?

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If you have a gaming PC, keeping drivers updated is important to maintain PC health and performance. Ensuring your PC is always up to date can also save you from having to search for unnecessary errors and glitches. However, sometimes you may encounter problems downloading and installing driver updates for your graphics card. This is a common occurrence, especially with Nvidia GeForce Experience, which sometimes refuses to fetch the correct drivers for your hardware.




The “The Nvidia driver download failed” is a fairly common error that can occur on your PC. There are a few things you can do to fix the problem, so let's start with some basic troubleshooting methods before moving on to more extreme measures like forgoing the utility to download the drivers manually.



Enable automatic downloads in Nvidia GeForce Experience

The first and most obvious thing you should check is if you have automatic downloads enabled on the Nvidia GeForce Experience client. This particular setting is disabled by default and you will need to enable it manually to ensure that the latest driver updates are downloaded automatically. To do so, follow the steps below.

  1. Open GeForce Experience Client on your PC and click on the Settings Gear icon to enter the settings page.
    An image showing the highlighted settings gear icon on the GeForce Experience client.

  2. Make sure you are on the General settings Page by clicking on the Generally tab in the left sidebar.
    An image showing the General tab and Downloads section highlighted on the GeForce Experience settings page.

  3. Scroll down until you find the Automatic download of driver updates with free choice of installation time under the Download areaAnd Check the box to activate it.
    An image showing the highlighted Downloads section on the GeForce Experience settings page.


And that's it. You have now enabled the setting that will automatically download the latest driver updates so you can easily install them. I suggest restarting the GeForce Experience client after enabling this setting to make sure the updated settings have been applied successfully. You may even notice a new pop-up for any new drivers that are now available.

Reinstall the GeForce Experience client

If enabling the option to download drivers automatically didn't do anything, you should reinstall the GeForce Experience client itself. I personally encountered various issues when using the GeForce Experience client that could only be resolved when I reinstalled the client. This could be one of those issues. Here's how to reinstall GeForce Experience on your Windows PC.


  1. Press the Keys Win + I on your keyboard to Windows Settingsand click on the Apps Option from the left sidebar.
    A screenshot showing the Featured Apps option on the Windows Settings page.

  2. Click on the Installed Apps Option.
    Highlighted “Installed Apps” option on the Windows Settings page

  3. Use the search bar above to find the GeForce Experience client.
    A screenshot showing the highlighted search box in the Installed Apps section of the Windows Settings page.

  4. Click on the Three-dot symbol next to the GeForce Experience entry and select the Uninstall Option.
    A screenshot showing the highlighted pop-up menu with the Uninstall button in Windows Settings.

  5. Choose Uninstall again to confirm your choice to remove the current version of GeForce Experience from your PC.
    A screenshot showing the uninstall option highlighted in the Installed Apps menu in Windows Settings.

  6. Go to Nvidia's download page to get the latest version of the GeForce Experience client and click Download now.
    A screenshot showing the highlighted download button on the GeForce Experience website.

  7. Run the downloaded setup file to install the client and then log in when you are prompted to complete the setup.
  8. Follow the steps highlighted in the above section to enable automatic driver downloads and make sure your PC downloads the drivers automatically.


Reinstalling the client should resolve most of the underlying issues, and you should then be able to enable automatic driver downloads and do other things with the client without issues.

Download the drivers manually

Reinstalling the GeForce Experience client should resolve most of the errors you encountered. However, you can also take matters into your own hands and install the drivers manually. Downloading and installing the drivers manually is guaranteed to work, so I recommend looking into this option if none of the troubleshooting methods highlighted above work for you. To download and install Nvidia drivers manually, follow the steps below.

  1. Visit the Nvidia download page and select the correct Product type, Product seriesAnd product to retrieve the appropriate drivers.
  2. Select the Graphics card, Operating systemand the Correct driver type. For GeForce graphics processors there are Game Ready Driver And Studio Driver Options (depending on whether you are more of a gamer or creator type).
    Screenshot of Nvidia driver download website with filled fields to select the correct driver and product

  3. Click Seek to find the latest available driver for your hardware based on the options you selected.
  4. Click Download and then on Download again to start downloading the driver.
  5. Running the installer and follow the steps to extract the Nvidia installer.
  6. When prompted, select whether you want to Graphics drivers and GeForce Experience or just the driver itself. Click Agree and continue.
    Screenshot of the Nvidia installer asking the user whether to install the Nvidia driver together or include GeForce Experience.

  7. Choose whether you want a Express installation with default settings or the Custom installation if you want to change settings.
  8. If you Custom installationselect which components you want to install. You can also choose Perform a fresh installation to remove your existing settings.
    Screenshot of the Nvidia installer prompting the user to select the driver components to install

  9. Wait until the process is complete and click Close.


That's how easy it is to manually download and install the latest Nvidia drivers on your PC. It is guaranteed to work as there is no room for error when manually downloading and installing the driver on your PC. Just select the right options to get the appropriate drivers for your hardware and you are good to go.

GeForce Experience is a great utility that works for the most part


These are some simple troubleshooting methods you can try if Nvidia GeForce Experience won't download the drivers on your Windows PC. Nvidia's GeForce Experience is one of the best utilities you can install on your PC and for the most part works well. However, it is known to be a bit unreliable at those moments when it just doesn't work, especially when it comes to driver updates. I suggest trying the various troubleshooting methods highlighted above to get everything working in no time. Reinstalling the client on your Windows PC should fix most issues, but you can also download and install the drivers manually if nothing else seems to work.

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