NVIDIA Control Panel Missing? How to Quickly Fix/Find It

Is your NVIDIA Control Panel missing? Not sure where it went? In this post, we walk you through a few different methods for getting your NVIDIA Control Panel back.

NVIDIA’s Control Panel is a handy tool that will allow you to customize your PC’s graphics settings. However, many users have found that their NVIDIA Control Panel has gone missing from their System Tray or their Desktop context menu. If that is the case for you, in this guide, we’ve highlighted a few different ways that you can try and get NVIDIA Control Panel back in its normal location.

Make Sure ‘Add Desktop Context Menu’ is Selected

If you can’t find NVIDIA Control Panel in your Desktop context menu (that’s the pop-up menu when you right-click your desktop), the first thing you’ll want to check is if the option is even selected in NVIDIA Control Panel.

Here’s how to do that:

1. Type control panel in the Windows search bar in the taskbar and hit enter
2. In the Control Panel, click the ‘View by’ drop-down menu in the upper-right corner and select ‘Large icons’
3. Find NVIDIA Control Panel in the list and open it
4. In NVIDIA Control Panel, click the ‘Desktop’ tab on the top menu
5. Under the Desktop menu, make sure ‘Add Desktop Context Menu’ is selected

If it wasn’t selected and you have now made sure that it is selected, you can try opening the Desktop context menu to see if NVIDIA Control Panel is now showing up. Just right-click anywhere on your desktop and NVIDIA Control Panel is included in the menu that pops up. If it still isn’t there, or if ‘Add Desktop Context Menu’ was already selected, then you’ll want to move on to one of the methods below.

Restart NVIDIA Services

Sometimes, restarting NVIDIA services can bring the NVIDIA Control Panel back into your System Tray and Desktop context menu. Here’s how to restart your NVIDIA services:

1. Type run into the Windows search bar and hit enter, or hit the Windows key + R at the same time
2. In the Run dialogue box, type services.msc and hit enter
3. In the Services window, scroll down until you find all of your NVIDIA services
4. Go through each NVIDIA service one-by-one, highlight them, and click ‘Restart’ in the menu on the left
5. Restart your computer
6. When your computer has rebooted, check and see if NVIDIA Control Panel is back in your System Tray and/or Desktop context menu

If this method still doesn’t solve your problem, you can try updating or reinstalling your NVIDIA drivers.

Update Your NVIDIA Drivers

In some instances, updating or reinstalling your NVIDIA drivers can fix the issue of the NVIDIA Control Panel not showing up in the System Tray or Desktop context menu. Here are a couple of ways that you can update your NVIDIA drivers:

Option 1: Through GeForce Experience

1. Open NVIDIA GeForce Experience
2. Click on the ‘Drivers’ tab up top
3. If there are new drivers available, click the green ‘Download’ button to download them
4. Once they’re downloaded, choose ‘Express Installation’ to install them

Option 2: Through NVIDIA’s Website

1. Go to nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
2. Choose the appropriate drop-down boxes
3. Hit search
4. Download the latest driver and install it

After you have updated your drivers, restart your computer, and once it has booted up again, check and see if NVIDIA’s Control Panel is back in the System Tray and Desktop context menu. If it isn’t, you might just need to install the NVIDIA Control Panel from the Microsoft app store. We’ve provided steps on how to do so below.

Reinstall Your NVIDIA Drivers

If you already have the latest NVIDIA drivers, then you’ll want to try reinstalling them to see if that brings back the NVIDIA Control Panel. Here’s how to do so:

1. Go to nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
2. Choose the appropriate drop-down boxes
3. Hit search
4. Download the latest driver and install it

This will erase your existing drivers and reinstall them. If you want to leave no stone unturned, you can deleted your existing drivers first, then install the newest ones through the methods outlined above. Here’s how you can delete your existing NVIDIA drivers:

1. Type device manger into the Windows search box and hit enter
2. In Device Manager, hit the arrow to the left of ‘Display adapters’
3. Right-click on your GPU and click ‘Uninstall device’

After you’ve uninstalled the GPU, you’ll want to restart your computer, and then follow the methods outlined above for installing the latest NVIDIA drivers.

Install NVIDIA Control Panel from Windows 10 Store

If you can’t find NVIDIA Control Panel anywhere and none of the methods above worked, it might just be that adding NVIDIA Control Panel via the Microsoft App store will solve your problem. Here’s how to do so:

1. Go to the NVIDIA Control Panel page in the Microsoft app store
2. Click the blue ‘Get’ button
3. Hit the ‘Open Microsoft Store’ button on the dialogue box that pops up
4. Click ‘Install’ to install it
5. Click ‘Launch’ to open it

*NOTE: If you’re using NVIDIA’s standard drivers and not their DCH drivers, the NVIDIA Control Panel app via the Microsoft App store will not work. So, this fix will only work for users who use the new DCH drivers.

In the majority of cases, one of the methods listed above will bring the NVIDIA Control Panel back into your System Tray or Desktop context menu. If you’ve tried all of the methods listed in this article, your best bet is to head over to the NVIDIA GeForce Forums and seek help in there.