How to fix missing Nvidia Control Panel on Windows 10

Missing Nvidia Control Panel app

The Nvidia Control Panel software isn’t included with Windows 10. It will only work if you have an Nvidia chip in your system, either as the GPU or as the primary graphics card. You must first ensure that you have an Nvidia chip installed on your system before you can resolve the issue of the missing Nvidia Control Panel program. There are two options for doing so.

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Device Manager

1. Open Device Manager.
2. Expand Display Adapters.
3. Look at the name of the chips listed under Display Adapters.
4. If you see Nvidia in the name of at least one chip, the Nvidia Control Panel app should be present on your system.

Task Manager

1. Open Task Manager.
2. Go to the Performance tab.
3. Scroll down in the column on the left and select GPU 0 and then GPU 1 (one by one).
4. In the pane on the right, look at the top right corner for the make and model of the graphics card.
5. If you see Nvidia in the name, you should have the Nvidia Control Panel app installed on your system.

Get Nvidia Control Panel app on Windows 10

When drivers for the Nvidia chip are installed, the Nvidia Control Panel program is usually installed automatically. You can manually install the program if it is missing. Following the procedures below, write down the model of the Nvidia chip using the methods provided in the previous section.

1. In your web browser visit the Nvidia downloads page on the official Nvidia website.
2. Select the product type, series, name, your Windows version (32-bit or 64-bit), choose either Game Ready drivers (if you game a lot) or Studio Drivers (if you work with design and animation tools).
3. Click the Search button.
4. Click the Download button for the driver that is found.
5. Run the downloaded file and install the drivers.
6. Once installed, restart the system.
7. Right-click an empty area on the desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel from the context menu.

Note: you can also open Nvidia Control Panel via Windows search.

Conclusion

You won’t be able to install the Nvidia Control Panel if your on-board graphics card is an Intel processor and you don’t have a GPU. Similarly, if your GPU is an AMD chip, you won’t be able to install the Nvidia Control Panel. Depending on the chip model, the options in the Nvidia Control Panel app will differ.