Experiencing graphical issues with your Windows 11 PC? Display problems like screen flickering, visual artifacts, game crashing, poor video playback, and more can often be fixed by resetting your graphics driver. Resetting or reinstalling the driver essentially refreshes the software that controls your graphics card hardware and resolves any errors that may have developed.
Graphics driver issues are common on Windows machines and resetting the driver is usually one of the first troubleshooting steps to take. In this comprehensive guide, we will discuss how to reset graphics driver on Windows 11 using three different methods: the keyboard shortcut, Device Manager, and clean reinstallation.
Follow along as we dive into step-by-step instructions for each method. Resetting your graphics driver using one of these techniques will hopefully resolve any graphical problems and get your Windows 11 PC running smoothly again.
Also read: 10 Best Free Software To Backup & Restore Windows Drivers
How to Reset Your Graphics Driver on Windows 11
Experiencing graphics driver issues on your Windows 11 PC? Resetting the graphics driver is often a quick fix that can resolve problems like screen flickering, graphics glitches, game crashes, and more. In this guide, we’ll walk through three methods to reset your graphics driver in Windows 11.
Method 1: Reset the Graphics Driver with the Keyboard Shortcut
The quickest way to reset your graphics driver is to use the Windows keyboard shortcut. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Save any unsaved work and close any open programs. Resetting the graphics driver will temporarily black out the screen.
Step 2: Press the Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B. This will restart the graphics driver and refresh the screen. Wait a few seconds for the screen to return. The graphics driver has now been reset.
Step 3: Open the Device Manager and expand the Display adapters section to verify that the graphics driver has been reset.
This keyboard shortcut is the fastest way to reset your graphics driver and troubleshoot display problems. It restarts the graphics driver without having to reboot your entire PC. The screen will flicker and go black for a few seconds before returning. This is normal behavior.
After resetting the driver, check if the graphics issues have been resolved. If the problem persists, you may need to use the other methods below for a more comprehensive driver reset.
Also read: How To Recover Uninstalled Drivers In Windows 11/10
Method 2: Reset the Graphics Driver in the Device Manager
The Device Manager allows you to disable, roll back, uninstall, update, or reinstall your graphics driver for troubleshooting. Here are the steps to reset your graphics driver using Device Manager:
Step 1: Type “Device Manager” in the Windows search box and click to open it.
Step 2: Expand the Display Adapters section. This will show your graphics card/GPU model.
Step 3: Right-click your graphics driver > select Disable device. This will disable the current driver. Right-click your graphics driver again and select Enable device to re-enable it.
Step 4: Restart your PC and check if the issue is fixed. The driver has now been reset.
Disabling and re-enabling the driver from Device Manager forces Windows to reload the driver fresh. This can resolve graphics issues caused by a faulty driver.
If that doesn’t fix it, you can right-click the graphics driver and choose Uninstall device. After uninstalling, restart your PC and Windows will automatically reinstall the graphics driver afresh.
Device Manager gives you more options to reset graphics drivers compared to the keyboard shortcut method. Use this if simply restarting the driver doesn’t work.
Also read: How To Solve NVIDIA Drivers Not Installing Issue?
Method 3: Clean and Reinstall Graphics Driver
If the above two methods don’t resolve your graphics issues, try reinstalling the graphics driver cleanly. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Download the latest graphics driver for your GPU from the manufacturer’s website (Nvidia, AMD, Intel).
Step 2: Use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to fully uninstall the existing graphics driver.
Step 3: Restart your PC in safe mode. DDU will prompt you to boot in safe mode automatically.
Run DDU again in safe mode to clean out any leftover files from the previous driver installation.
Step 4: Once complete, restart back into normal Windows. Install the latest graphics driver that you downloaded earlier.
Step 5: Restart your PC once more for the changes to take effect.
Using a dedicated uninstall utility like DDU ensures you wipe the slate completely clean before installing the latest graphics driver. This eliminates any driver conflicts that could be causing problems.
Be sure to get the correct driver for your specific GPU model from the manufacturer’s website. Never install generic graphics drivers, as these often cause more issues.
After a clean install of the latest optimized graphics driver, your problems should hopefully be resolved. If not, there may be a deeper hardware fault that requires further troubleshooting.
Fix Graphics Driver Issues with Smart Driver Care
Tired of dealing with faulty graphics drivers and display issues on your Windows PC? There’s an easier way to keep your drivers up to date and avoid common graphics problems.
Introducing Smart Driver Care – the hassle-free solution for optimizing your drivers. This user-friendly tool automatically detects outdated, missing, or corrupted drivers on your system, including graphics drivers. With just one click, Smart Driver Care will download the latest manufacturer-certified driver updates tailored specifically for your hardware.
Say goodbye to manually looking up graphics drivers, and uninstalling and reinstalling them. Smart Driver Care handles it all for you and ensures peak performance and stability with the right drivers.
On top of fixing driver issues before they occur, Smart Driver Care provides real-time monitoring of your system health. It can quickly roll back problematic driver updates if they start causing trouble.
With Smart Driver Care, you’ll avoid headaches associated with display glitches, blue screens of death, game crashes, and more. Your graphics and PC will run smoother than ever.
So don’t waste time trying to manually reset your graphics drivers. Get Smart Driver Care and optimize your drivers with ease!
Also read: How To Remove Old And Useless Drivers In Windows PC
Conclusion
Resetting your graphics driver can fix many common graphics and display issues on Windows 11. When experiencing problems like screen flickering, game crashing, or visual glitches, restarting the driver is often the quickest troubleshooting step.
Be sure to download the correct optimized driver for your GPU model and avoid generic drivers. While resetting the graphics driver may fix many problems caused by driver errors, if issues continue after trying these steps, your graphics card hardware may need to be inspected and potentially replaced.
When troubleshooting graphics issues on Windows 11, resetting the driver using one of these methods should always be among the first solutions to try. Follow us on social media – Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.