Ubiquitous "File Not Found" Error

[640k]

I haven't been able to install any NVIDIA driver since upgrading to 169.09 and its been killing me. I couldn't figure out why. I kept getting "file not found" errors after the install process and no matter whose instructions I followed, I could not get any other driver to install.

So I finally went into the .inf file and saw that there is a [sourceDisksFiles] section that lists all of the files that should be found in the extract. I quickly created a list of those files in a text file by itself and then wrote a batch file to read the list to find out if any or all of the files existed in the folder.

The missing file? nvuninst.exe.

The uninstallation package was preventing me from installing my drivers. I was able to replace it with any uninstall from previous driver versions, but I haven't verified if I can uninstall the drivers successfully.

So I was wondering if the mods could add this to the FAQ section:

HOW TO: Overcome missing file errors after the NVIDIA driver installation fails:

1. Create a blank text file (in notepad) and copy-paste every line (file reference) from under the [sourceDisksFiles] section in the nv_disp.inf file into the new text file. Save and close.

2. Create a (insert your name here).cmd file with the following lines:

@ECHO OFF

SET NV_DIR=(location of the extracted NVIDIA files. Typically C:\NVIDIA\...)

FOR /F %%a IN (LIST.TXT) DO (IF NOT EXIST "%NV_DIR%\%%a" (ECHO %%a NOT FOUND.))

PAUSE

3. Run the .cmd file and you will get what files are missing. You should be able to replace the missing files from a previous driver version. If you have more than one missing file, driver extract may be incomplete and you probably should download a new one.

Edited December 21, 2007 by 640k