Did nVidia follow through with forcing people to register to use their drivers?

prime2515102

prime2515102

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Did nVidia follow through with forcing people to register to use their drivers?

Thanks
 
I have never even heard of that and drivers are freely available as always on the Nvidia and Geforce sites.
 
No they did not (yet) follow through with that. Last year they were going to force you to either choose between registered GeForce experience to get driver updates or settle for a quarterly release. After people started talking about how stupid that was they quietly shelved the idea.
 
Yeah, no registration needed so far. I hate the GFE, so I'm glad the public stopped that.
 
Alright, I just wondered. I'm getting a new card and AMD is taking too long with Vega so I'm going green for awhile. If they would have done that forced registration thing I would get a 580, but I'll get a 1060 I reckon.

Thanks :)
 
Geforce experience requires a login Facebook or your Nvidia account just to use the software.
 
I don't even use the official drivers. A lot of us use scene drivers that just install the driver and no other bs. With, all the good and tasty tweaks applied. So, yeah ............
 
If you stop believing in clickbait you wouldn't have to ask and there would be a lot less articles.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I don't even use the official drivers. A lot of us use scene drivers that just install the driver and no other bs. With, all the good and tasty tweaks applied. So, yeah ............
Click to expand...

I'll check that out. I'm pretty out of the loop when it comes to nVidia stuff. When a company pisses me off they get mostly ignored for 12 years. lol
 
Comixbooks said:
Geforce experience requires a login Facebook or your Nvidia account just to use the software.
Click to expand...

1. GFE is not the driver, so it's not related to the OP's question.
2. "Your nvidia account" - which can be something you make up just for GFE if you insist upon using that software.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I don't even use the official drivers. A lot of us use scene drivers that just install the driver and no other bs. With, all the good and tasty tweaks applied. So, yeah ............
Click to expand...
Do you have a link? I can't seem to find anything...
 
prime2515102 said:
Do you have a link? I can't seem to find anything...
Click to expand...
There is really no need for that. You can run the official installer, cancel, navigate to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\[DriverNumber]\[OS]\[Lang]\, delete the folders of the stuff you don't want to install, and then re-launch setup.exe from that folder.

The only required folders for NVIDIA driver setup are \Display.Driver & \NVI2, everything else is optional. Though you should also install \HDAudio & \PhysX if you use HDMI audio or do any gaming.

Before doing a minimal install for the first time, you should fully uninstall, use a driver wiper, and then do a clean install to ensure outdated components for things you're no longer installing don't linger around.
 
Cyberbeing said:
There is really no need for that. You can run the official installer, cancel, navigate to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\[DriverNumber]\[OS]\[Lang]\, delete the folders of the stuff you don't want to install, and then re-launch setup.exe from that folder.

The only required folders for NVIDIA driver setup are \Display.Driver & \NVI2, everything else is optional. Though you should also install \HDAudio & \PhysX if you use HDMI audio or do any gaming.

Before doing a minimal install for the first time, you should fully uninstall, use a driver wiper, and then do a clean install to ensure outdated components for things you're no longer installing don't linger around.
Click to expand...
Sweet, thanks! :)
 
prime2515102 said:
Did nVidia follow through with forcing people to register to use their drivers?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Don't listen to AMDrones and the clickbait articles they spew. Kyle gave you the scoop and that tells you all you need to know about sites like AT, SA and the like.
 
 
Cyberbeing said:
There is really no need for that. You can run the official installer, cancel, navigate to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\[DriverNumber]\[OS]\[Lang]\, delete the folders of the stuff you don't want to install, and then re-launch setup.exe from that folder.

The only required folders for NVIDIA driver setup are \Display.Driver & \NVI2, everything else is optional. Though you should also install \HDAudio & \PhysX if you use HDMI audio or do any gaming.

Before doing a minimal install for the first time, you should fully uninstall, use a driver wiper, and then do a clean install to ensure outdated components for things you're no longer installing don't linger around.
Click to expand...
You don't even have to run the installer. The package you download can be extracted using 7-zip.
 
Armenius said:
You don't even have to run the installer. The package you download can be extracted using 7-zip.
Click to expand...
I used to do that in the past during the WinXP days, but nowadays I don't find it worth it. Recent NVIDIA installers have all shifted to solid archives (entire archive needs to be decompressed to extract even a single file), so you don't really save much time extracting only a selection of folders. Unless you desire it to be extracted to a non-default location, there isn't much benefit to extracting directly. And you don't need to worry about running the standalone installers, since they won't install anything automatically. The only thing which occurs before canceling is a self-extraction routine of the archive and then a check of the Device IDs in nv_disp.inf to see if your GPU is supported.
 
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Cyberbeing said:
I used to do that in the past during the WinXP days, but nowadays I don't find it worth it. Recent NVIDIA installers have all shifted to solid archives (entire archive needs to be decompressed to extract even a single file), so you don't really save much time extracting only a selection of folders. Unless you desire it to be extracted to a non-default location, there isn't much benefit to extracting directly. And you don't need to worry about running the standalone installers, since they won't install anything automatically. The only thing which occurs before canceling is a self-extraction routine of the archive and then a check of the Device IDs in nv_disp.inf to see if your GPU is supported.
Click to expand...
Right-click the .exe in explorer, Extract here, done. It's much simpler and takes less time than double-clicking, waiting for the installation to check your hardware, and then clicking cancel. But, whatever floats your boat.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Yes Nvidia did announce that Game Ready drivers would require GFE back in 2015.

https://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics...eta-Requires-GFE-Future-Beta-Driver-Downloads

http://www.pcgamer.com/nvidias-game-ready-drivers-will-soon-be-locked-behind-geforce-experience/

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/...-game-ready-drivers-will-require-registration

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2993...s-behind-geforce-experience-registration.html

A lot of people whined about it and then it never happened. Just, poof, gone into thin air. It was supposed to go into effect December 2015.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the actual info instead of one liners. Good to see consumers and journalists can still dissuade nVidia from unpopular actions, since they clearly did not follow through.
 
Armenius said:
Right-click the .exe in explorer, Extract here, done. It's much simpler and takes less time than double-clicking, waiting for the installation to check your hardware, and then clicking cancel. But, whatever floats your boat.
Click to expand...
Time wise, it's not really as big of a difference as you would think. Extraction time is near-identical, and canceling doesn't waste any time since selecting and deleting the undesired folders usually takes a couple seconds longer than it does for cancel to complete, while both can be done simultaneously. It really just comes down to workflow, personal preference, where you desire it to be extracted, and if you desire to keep the extracted files afterwords.

The main subjective advantage of running the installer and then canceling, is that it does extract to a standard location and folder structure, which makes it easier to manage multiple extracted driver packages, without worrying about download location. Why would you want to keep more than one extracted driver package? The primary reason would be if you ever mod the inf to add Geforce models to Quadro drivers or enable PCI-E MSI support, since having a reference inf available to diff from the same driver branch, makes future inf modding quicker. The secondary reason would be so you could easily roll back to the previous driver if you run into a major issue or bug. The last reason would be if you ever use a driver cleaner, there is the side-benefit of keeping driver files in a known location. Since there is no real downside to having things organized, it becomes more convenient to just let the installer's self-extraction routine run automatically.

The 7z extraction method is more suitable as a one-off thing, where you intend to download to an accessible location like the Desktop, and delete the extracted package immediately after installing. Nothing wrong with that, if that is your use-case.
 
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Cyberbeing said:
There is really no need for that. You can run the official installer, cancel, navigate to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\[DriverNumber]\[OS]\[Lang]\, delete the folders of the stuff you don't want to install, and then re-launch setup.exe from that folder.

The only required folders for NVIDIA driver setup are \Display.Driver & \NVI2, everything else is optional. Though you should also install \HDAudio & \PhysX if you use HDMI audio or do any gaming.

Before doing a minimal install for the first time, you should fully uninstall, use a driver wiper, and then do a clean install to ensure outdated components for things you're no longer installing don't linger around.
Click to expand...
No need to start the installer either. Just extract it with 7-zip, delete the bloat folders and run setup from there.
 
Pandur said:
No need to start the installer either. Just extract it with 7-zip, delete the bloat folders and run setup from there.
Click to expand...
Armenius already mentioned that. If you read the post above yours, it explains why I personally don't do it that way. The short of it, is it requires additional effort to manually specify download locations (if extracting to the download folder) and/or extract locations (if not) and/or spending time to organize files after the fact (otherwise), when it doesn't bring any additional benefits over the self-extracting installer. It is less convenient to extract manually, unless as mentioned above you are doing it as a one-off thing or have other special requirements. There is no reason to reject harmless automation when it serves your needs. Doing things manually should only be reserved for times when it doesn't.
 
Ok, with that out of the way, there are a lot of settings I would not enjoy setting in the registry...

Any recommendations for a low resource 3rd party utility for changing settings? There was something I used back when I had a GeForce 256 but I can't remember the name of it (probably not even still around I would guess).
 
SixFootDuo said:
I don't even use the official drivers. A lot of us use scene drivers that just install the driver and no other bs. With, all the good and tasty tweaks applied. So, yeah ............
Click to expand...
Could you share some information on this? This is the first I've heard of this.
 
Cyberbeing said:
Armenius already mentioned that. If you read the post above yours, it explains why I personally don't do it that way. The short of it, is it requires additional effort to manually specify download locations (if extracting to the download folder) and/or extract locations (if not) and/or spending time to organize files after the fact (otherwise), when it doesn't bring any additional benefits over the self-extracting installer. It is less convenient to extract manually, unless as mentioned above you are doing it as a one-off thing or have other special requirements. There is no reason to reject harmless automation when it serves your needs. Doing things manually should only be reserved for times when it doesn't.
Click to expand...
Different means to achieve the same result. With 7-zip installed all I have to do is right-click the .exe and select extract to "folder named the same as file" and voila I got everything in a subfolder. Then delete all the junk I don't need and do the installer. So I just posted to give people that stumble upon this thread another way of doing the same thing. Because I'm the opposite of you, I don't want that Nvidia folder cluttering up my C: either. So I'd rather have the extracted files in my drivers subfolder of my download folder.
 
GFE isn't bad. I use it. I like how it optimizes my games, and then I can tweak from there. I do computer work all day at my job, last thing I want to do is sysadmin when I get home. So any app that makes that aspect of my life easier.. I'm just going to install it.
 
regarding nVidia and if they ever did require registration to DL drivers ... there's always Guru3D , TechPowerUp and many other websites that have them readily available for DL so "fake news" gets my vote on this one
 
_l_ said:
regarding nVidia and if they ever did require registration to DL drivers ... there's always Guru3D , TechPowerUp and many other websites that have them readily available for DL so "fake news" gets my vote on this one
Click to expand...

Can't be fake news when Nvidia announced it would happen. But later on they did not make it a requirement.

I think "failure at reading" is the vote I would give. (which was posted in this thread)
https://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics...eta-Requires-GFE-Future-Beta-Driver-Downloads

http://www.pcgamer.com/nvidias-game-ready-drivers-will-soon-be-locked-behind-geforce-experience/

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/...-game-ready-drivers-will-require-registration

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2993...s-behind-geforce-experience-registration.html
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
2023 and I've literally never installed GFE a single time. lol
Click to expand...
Good to know.

It was pre-installed on this box (1st box I bought vs built in 25 years - Celeron 300a was my 1st build in 1998)

I bought this during covid because the whole box was only $600 more than buying a standalone RTX-3070.

Anyhoo... uninstalled GFE.

I used it a few times in 3-4 games that would not display FPS in steam or epic & for a few screenshots...

My point was just - WHY does a MFG need my personal info to use their !@#$%^%^ hardware?
 
I don't usually necro, but when I do...

Elvira_Mistress_of_the_Dark_spooky_movies_TV_cleavage_black_dress_black_nails-109178-548499245.jpg
 
I think this is my 1st Nvidia card...

The only card I REALLY remember was my fav old time that did video capture!
The ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro - but it was released in 2003...

I had 2 gamer kids back in the day, so we built & upgraded & swapped parts yearly.

Anyway, the driver install went fine by NOT choosing the GFE checkbox during install.
 
prime2515102 said:
Did nVidia follow through with forcing people to register to use their drivers?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Microsoft is effectively doing this with Windows 11 Home. They expect you to register/sign-in with a Microsoft account. Then Windows Update will force install a semi-recent GPU driver.

Of course there are hacks for well-informed users to circumvent this, but the above statement is no less fact thus ironic.
 
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