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How To Fix “NVIDIA Display Settings Are Not Available” Error?

Cover image of How to Fix NVIDIA Display Settings are Not Available Error

Nvidia has been manufacturing graphic processing units for 26 years and is in the GPU manufacturing game for a long time.

The presence of Nvidia in the GPU market makes it one of the most trusted and most selling GPU manufacturers in the world.

Nvidia released their anticipated RTX 30 series in September 2020. It is the successor to the RTX 20 series. It is their 2nd gen of real-time ray tracing enabled called, titled RTX series for short.

The latest graphics card units are powerful, and due to high demand, they are currently out of stock in most parts of the world due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other factors. Nvidia is known for its high quality and drivers of their GPUs.

Due to them being long in the GPU manufacturing industry, their driver support is outclassing and is very reliable. The drivers rarely have any issues with them, but they do exist.

One of the few issues faced by the prosumers and consumers is the notorious “Display Settings are not available” followed by a message, “You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU” issue.

Despite having Nvidia GPU installed on the system, you can still face this issue. It is one of the most widespread issues related to Nvidia GPUs and drivers.

This issue occurs if a user uninstalls the GPU driver with Nvidia control panel completely from their system with the help of a popular driver uninstaller, called “Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU)”.

IF you have faced this issue one way or another, you are at the right place as we will help you in fixing this issue with the help of reliable workarounds.

How To Fix “NVIDIA Display Settings are Not Available” Error?

The issue occurs if anything related to your GPU does not work as intended, like driver issues, it can occur due to a couple of reasons. We will try to cover all of the popular workarounds that can fix this issue with ease. Without wasting any time, let us get to the guide to fix the Nvidia Display settings are not available issue.

Related articles:

#1 – Change Adapter Output

The first and the most basic workaround for the Display settings not available issue is by checking the adapter output. Make sure that the cables are connected correctly to the GPU. After making sure, you can follow the actual workaround.

After checking the cable is plugged into the correct port, you can try to use a converter or changing the form of output from the GPU. It is worth giving a shot. If you are using the HDMI port of your GPU, try using the DisplayPort instead of the HDMI port of the GPU and see if the issue still persists.

The issue might be occurring due to a faulty output port or with a faulty cable. If you are using a DisplayPort, try shifting to HDMI, try these steps, and see if it does the trick. If not, feel free to try other workarounds mentioned in the guide.

#2 – Restart NVIDIA Services

Sometimes, simple and straightforward solutions are the way to go. To try resolving the issue with Nvidia control panel restarting is that simple workaround which you can try. How to do that? It is simple. All you have to do:

  1. Open the “Run” utility by pressing the “Win + R” keys on your keyboard.
  2. After the utility has opened, type “services.msc” in the box and press “OK
    opened, type “services.msc”
  3. A new window will appear named “Services”, from the list on the right side, find these services:
    • NVIDIA Display Container LS
    • NVIDIA LocalSystem Container
    • NVIDIA NetworkService Container
    • NVIDIA Telemetry Container
  4. Right-click any of the listed services above, and click “Restart”.
    click “Restart”.
  5. Repeat this step for the rest of the three remaining services in the list.

After restarting these services, head over to the system tray to see if the Nvidia control panel icon appears on the tray. If not, the services are successfully restarted. If not, try closing the Nvidia control panel manually and start it again from the Start button.

#3 – Reinstall The NVIDIA Graphics Driver

As the title suggests, in this workaround, you can try to reinstall the Nvidia graphics driver installed on your system. To remove the driver completely from the system without leaving a single file behind, we will put the popular driver removing utility, titled “Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU)” to use.

DDU will remove every file of the display driver and the remnants which are left behind by generic uninstalling utilities. To get started, you will have to download the utility first, head over to Google, and search for DDU or Display Driver Uninstaller.

Open the first link by guru3d. After downloading, install it to your desired directory and run the software. After installation, the package will create a folder named DDU v18.0.3.6(current version at the time of writing). Then you will need to:

  1. Open the folder and run “Display Driver Uninstaller.exe”.
  2. If you have downloaded and ran the software for the first time, close the option that will appear just right after the software is ran. You can always open these settings by pressing the “Options” button after running the software.
    settings by pressing “Options”
  3. Then, close the software and reboot your system in safe-mode. If you do not know how to do that, you can Google your system model + safe mode and reboot accordingly.
  4. After your system successfully reboot into safe mode, launch DDU.
  5. After launching the utility, click “Clean and Restart (Highly recommended)”. Make sure to select “GPU” and “Nvidia” from the right side of the software.
    click “Clean and Restart (Highly recommended)”.
  6. The software will automatically remove all of the driver files and restart your PC. After rebooting, head over to Nvidia’s website and download the latest driver for your GPU.
  7. Restart your PC again, and this should resolve the issue.

If the issue still persists, you can always try other workarounds listed in the guide.

#4 – Checking Display Connection

The next solution that we are going to try is to check the display connection physically. There is a decent chance of the cable plugged into the wrong output port. If you have a motherboard with integrated graphics, there will be more ports for plugging in the display cable.

If the cable is plugged into the integrated output port on the motherboard instead of the GPU, you will most likely face this issue while trying to open the Nvidia Control Panel. The display port with other output cables is called the “Integrated” port.
Integrated” port.

If the cable is plugged into the wrong port, try reconnecting the cable back into the discrete port and see if the issue has been resolved. If you are still facing the issue, we still do have a few more workarounds that you can try.

#5 – Update Graphics Card Drivers

At this part of the guide, if you have not tried updating your graphics card drivers, this might be the solution for you. In many cases, updating to the latest versions of software can lead to fixing many annoying issues.

First, make sure that you have the latest drivers installed on your PC. To do that:

  1. Go to the System Tray on the bottom right of the taskbar and find the Nvidia icon.
  2. Right-click the icon and select “Nvidia GeForce Experience”.
    select “Nvidia GeForce Experience
  3. After opening the Nvidia GeForce Experience software, on the top of the software, find and select the “Driver” tab.
  4. Now, find and select “CHECK FOR UPDATES”.
    select “CHECK FOR UPDATES”.
  5. After the software will check for updates, it will start downloading the package. After downloading, it will prompt for “Express Installation” and “Custom Installation”.
    prompt for “Express Installation” and “Custom Installation”.NOTE: Custom Installation: It will provide the user with the option to select individual components for installation.

    Express Installation:
    It will install all crucial components in the package at the default location.

  6. We recommend selecting the Express Installation. After pressing “Express Installation”, you will be done and good to go. The software might prompt for a system restart.

#6 – Disable & Re-Enable GPU

The next workaround to try and fix the Display Settings not available issue caused by Nvidia GPU is by disabling and re-enabling GPU. If, due to some technical issue, the driver is having issues with displaying the settings in control panel, disabling and re-enabling the GPU might be worth giving a shot.

The method is very simple; all you have to do is:

  1. Click the Windows Start button and search for “Device Manager”.
    search for “Device Manager”
  2. After opening device manager, find and expand “Display adapters”.
  3. After expanding, it will show your GPU installed on your system, right-click and select “Properties”.
  4. Next, under the “Driver” tab, find and press the “Disable Device” button.
    press the “Disable Device” button
  5. Then press OK, and the driver will be disabled.
  6. Restart system and repeat from Step 1 – 4 again, and instead of “Disable Device”, the button will appear as “Enable Device”.
  7. Press the Button, press OK, and restart your system.

#7 – Checking NVIDIA Display Driver Service

There is a possibility that the Nvidia Display Driver Service might be disabled on your system due to some technical issue or glitch. Checking the service status might be your way out of this issue. Checking the driver service status, whether it is running or not, is very simple and easy.

You can follow the steps listed down below to check the driver status of your GPU:

  1. Open Windows’ Services utility by:
    Press “Win + R” to open “Run” utility
    Type “Services.msc” and press enters on your keyboard or press “OK”.
  2. From the list, find “Nvidia Display Driver Service/Nvidia Display Container LS”.
  3. Right-click the service and select “Properties”.
    select “Properties”
  4. Once the properties have opened, find the option titled “Startup type:”.
  5. Check the status of the service. If it is “Disabled”, press the drop-down menu and select “Automatic” and press “Start”.
    Automatic” and press “Start”.
  6. If the option is already at “Automatic”, it means that the service is already running on your system.
  7. If it on “Disabled”, it means the service is disabled, due to which the issue is being generated.
  8. After setting the status to “Automatic”, press “OK” and close services.
  9. You can also restart your PC for peace of mind.

#8 – Update Windows

The last thing that you can try, if you are still getting the error, after trying the workarounds in the guide, is updating your Windows to the latest version. Updating stuff fix things, and there is a high possibility that due to some technical issue with Windows, you are facing this error.

Updating Windows is not a hassle anymore as Microsoft does the most work, the user will have to press a few buttons on their system, and their Windows will check and update if an update exists. Windows is known for bugs and issues which appears with every new update.

To check for updates:

  1. From your desktop, press the Windows Start button from the taskbar and search for “Check for updates”.
    search for “Check for updates”.
  2. A new window will appear, inside the new window, press the “Check for Updates”.
    press the “Check for Updates”.
  3. Windows will then check for updates and will download and install on your system.
  4. If it asks for restarting, restart your system and check if the Nvidia Display Settings are not available error still persists or not.

If, after trying all possible circumvents, the issue is still annoying you. As an absolute last resort, you can try to reinstall your Windows operating system. There might be some corrupted Windows files that might be messing with your GPU.

My Final Verdict:

Nvidia has dominated the GPU market ever since they stepped into the GPU manufacturing industry 26 years ago. Nvidia is known for its high-end, high-performance GPUs and reliable drivers and support.

People using Nvidia GPU in their rigs rarely faces any issues with their drivers or GPUs. However, there is one particular issue that is relatively widespread and is faced by many people, which is notorious, “Display Settings are not available”.

There are a couple of reasons that can cause the issue, the majority of them being related to ports or the driver, despite even having a GPU on board. Sometimes it is caused by uninstalling the driver completely and the PC unable to find the required files, even if you re-install your driver again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: How do I attach my display to my Nvidia GPU?

You can attach your display to your Nvidia GPU with the help of a display cable and the correct output port. If you plan to game with your rig, using the DisplayPort on your GPU is recommended. For other purposes, you can attach your display with an HDMI port.

Question 2: How do I fix Nvidia Control Panel not showing display settings?

It is one of the most common and widespread issues faced by people using an Nvidia GPU on their PCs. There are many reasons due to which this issue can occur. You can resolve this issue with popular, known workarounds that people are using to resolve this issue across the world.

Most of the solutions are mentioned in our guide for your ease. You can try each one of these methods to see if you can fix the issue. The issue will be resolved with these workarounds mentioned in the guide.

Question 3: How do I open Nvidia display settings?

The Nvidia display settings can be accessed via the Nvidia control panel. You can access it by many methods, the most common is by pressing right-click on your desktop and select “Nvidia Control Panel”. After opening the control panel, you can easily access and modify the display settings to your requirements.

Question 4: How do I switch from Intel HD Graphics to Nvidia?

Sometimes, even with a high-end Nvidia GPU in your system, the system still runs the game with an integrated graphics card unit, i.e., Intel HD Graphics. You can switch from the HD graphics to Nvidia by:

  • Opening the Nvidia Control panel.
  • Then find and select “Manage 3D settings”.
  • Then under, “Preferred graphics processor:” choose “High-performance Nvidia processors”.
  • Click “Apply” and the system will switch from Intel HD Graphics to Nvidia.
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Bobby Segura

Bobby Segura

A gaming enthusiast who enjoys everything from the Vagrant Story to Assassin’s Creed. His interest in gaming soon transformed into passion, and he started working as an author of NeoGamr. I keep an eye on all the latest gaming trends and cover them asap.

My expertise is in Software and Application, Internet Research, Console Gaming, Video Games and Gaming, and Gaming & Games.

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