How to Fix a Missing NVIDIA Control Panel in Windows 11 and 10 (2024)

The NVIDIA Control Panel is essential for fine-tuning graphics settings, optimizing game performance, and adjusting display configurations. However, if you can't find it on your Windows PC all of a sudden, here are some tips that will help you restore this useful utility.

1. Check and Enable NVIDIA Services

The missing NVIDIA Control Panel issue can arise if certain NVIDIA services are disabled. Hence, the first thing you should do is make sure all NVIDIA services are configured to run automatically on your system. Here's how to do that:

1. Click the search icon on the taskbar, type services in the text box, and hit Enter.
2. Scroll down to locate NVIDIA services on the list. Double-click any NVIDIA service to open its properties.
3. Click the Startup type dropdown menu to select the Automatic option.
4. Hit Apply followed by OK.
5. Similarly, change the startup type for all the NVIDIA services to Automatic.

Restart your PC after making the above changes and see if you can find the NVIDIA Control Panel again.

2. Update the NVIDIA Graphics Card Driver

As the NVIDIA Control Panel is closely linked to its graphics card, it can go missing due to an outdated or incompatible NVIDIA driver. To fix this, you can try updating the NVIDIA graphics driver using these steps:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type dxdiag in the box and hit Enter.
3. Go to the Display tab and note down the graphics card details.

   

4. Open the NVIDIA driver download page in a browser.
5. Use the dropdown menus to locate the latest driver for your hardware and download it.
6. Run the downloaded installer file to update the graphics driver.

After updating the drivers, check if you're still facing this issue.

3. Reinstall the NVIDIA Graphics Card Driver

If updating the NVIDIA graphics driver didn't help, or if the latest driver is already installed, try reinstalling the driver instead. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the Start icon and select Device Manager from the list.
2. Double-click the Display adapters category to expand it.
3. Right-click your NVIDIA graphics driver and select Uninstall device.
4. Tick the Attempt to remove the driver for this device checkbox.
5. Click Uninstall to confirm.

Restart your PC after completing the above steps. Then, download and install the latest NVIDIA driver for your graphics card, as outlined in the previous section.

4. Access the NVIDIA Control Panel via File Explorer

If you can't find the NVIDIA Control Panel through the search menu, you can try opening it using File Explorer. The specific file to look for is "nvcplui.exe." Here are the folder paths you'll need to check for the "nvcplui.exe" file:

• C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Control Panel Client
• C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\NVIDIACorp.NVIDIAControlPanel_8.1.962.0_x64__56jybvy8sckqj

If you can't find the Control Panel Client folder, then "nvcplui.exe" is probably within the WindowsApps folder path specified above. However, since the WindowsApps folder is not readily accessible, you'll first need to take ownership of that folder. If you need help with that, check our guide on taking ownership of files and folders on Windows.

If you find the "nvcplui.exe" file in File Explorer, right-click it and select Run as administrator to open the NVIDIA Control Panel. Then, click Desktop in the app's menu bar and select the Add Desktop Context Menu and Show Notification Tray Icon options to restore the app on the system tray and desktop context menu.

5. Copy the "NVDisplay.Container" File Into the Startup Folder

Adding the "NVDisplay.Container" file, which is associated with the NVIDIA Display Container LS service, to the Windows Startup folder can also help fix a missing NVIDIA Control Panel. Here's how you can go about it.

1. Open the Services app using Windows Search.
2. Find and double-click the NVIDIA Display Container LS service to open its properties.
3. Copy the file path mentioned in the "Path to the executable" field.
4. Press Win + E to open File Explorer, enter the copied path in the address bar at the top and hit Enter.
5. Right-click the Display.NvContainer file and select Copy.
6. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box, then type shell:startup and hit Enter.
7. Paste the copied Display.NvContainer file in the Startup folder and restart your PC.

6. Reinstall the NVIDIA Control Panel

If nothing else works, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling the NVIDIA Control Panel on your PC. Here's how to do it.

1. Press Win + S to open the search menu.
2. Type NVIDIA Control Panel in the search box and click the Uninstall option on your right,
3. Select Uninstall again to confirm.
4. Head to NVIDIA Control Panel's Microsoft Store page to download and install it.

Now, you should be able to find and use the NVIDIA Control Panel on your PC as usual.

At least one of the many tips we listed above should help you restore the missing NVIDIA Control Panel on your Windows 10 or 11 PC. Once restored, you can access and adjust your graphics settings and monitor configurations as desired.