Can I safely delete the files created by NVIDIA display drivers?

Every time I install a NVIDIA driver the files get unzipped into C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver. I assume the setup copies the files to another location and this unzipped data is only useful for the installation process.

Are those files safe to delete after the installation completes?

If so, I wonder why NVIDIA doesn't delete the files automatically. I still have the files from 4 patches ago.

Wandang

Posted 2012-06-10T00:33:07.630

Reputation: 323

Answers

Yes - those are just the files extracted from the download into a temporary location. The actual Nvidia program files are located as default: C:\Program Files\ etc. The NVIDIA folder can indeed be deleted. It can sometimes be a handy feature to have giving you access to all the seperate installers and driver components of the download for a more granular install if needed.

PnP

Posted 2012-06-10T00:33:07.630

Reputation: 923

Thank you... well thats 10gb recovered on my system SSD ! – IncredibleHat – 2020-01-17T22:27:27.980

i guess i can clean up many other software remnants too. thank you – Wandang – 2012-06-10T00:44:28.520

6guessing is not a good ideaa when it comes to deleting folders on a PC. – Moab – 2012-06-10T00:45:41.270

I would still be wary what you are deleting driver wise, not all driver installs operate like the above. Please could you also accept my answer if you are happy it is your solution. Many thanks. – PnP – 2012-06-10T00:46:35.317

Well I did delete up-to 6 folders of the previous driver updates and now I only have the latest update, but it had an side effect for me, because one of the older version was especially for far cry 3, and now that I have deleted it, and even though I have the latest drivers, I'm not being able to play far cry 3 so i' gonna download all the old drivers again.... – None – 2013-04-02T18:58:00.193

You can delete those files but make sure you have it backed up some where. There are a couple reasons why they aren't deleted automatically:

The files are extracted using a "SFX" (Self-eXtracting Archive) which doesn't store the location where the files are extracted to
There might be other software in the directory that can be installed as well
If the computer drivers need to be re-installed, you don't have to worry about not having them backed up (but its always a good idea to have them backed up somewhere else just in case the hard drive dies).

ub3rst4r

Posted 2012-06-10T00:33:07.630

Reputation: 399

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this extra software should be part of the main setup as an option. i never saw some hinted softwareparts that cannot be accessed via main install routine.

on the other hand some setups dont unzip the 'mainsetup.exe' lacking a visual guidance of software you wanted to install and only provide 1 of the softwareparts as a separate setup. so i would recommend using the downloaded mainsetup.

thx for your addition! – Wandang – 2012-06-10T00:59:26.527

3You can just save the setup file instead – pratnala – 2013-02-04T10:00:15.913

-2

I've tested this, and those files are required when updating the drivers to a newer version. The newer set-up needs to reference these files to be able to find what version you are running. To delete these files you'll have to do manual clean-up.

sharefeeds

Posted 2012-06-10T00:33:07.630

Reputation: 1

I guess you are talking about another folder: http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3333/~/disk-space-used-when-installing-nvidia-drivers

– snorbi – 2016-02-06T23:30:43.963

4This isn't true. – Louis – 2013-02-04T11:02:44.403

This is indeed incorrect. – PnP – 2013-07-24T21:41:51.037