Install NVIDIA drivers on Windows instances

Open the folder where you downloaded the driver and launch the installation file. Follow the instructions to install the driver and reboot your instance as required.

Disable the display adapter named Microsoft Basic Display Adapter that is marked with a warning icon using Device Manager. Install these Windows features: Media Foundation and Quality Windows Audio Video Experience.

Check Device Manager to verify that the GPU is working correctly.

To achieve the best performance from your GPU, complete the optimization steps in Optimize GPU settings.

Connect to your Windows instance and open a PowerShell window.

Configure default credentials for the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell on your Windows instance. For more information, see Getting Started with the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell in the Amazon Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide.

Download the drivers and the NVIDIA GRID Cloud End User License Agreement from Amazon S3 to your desktop using the following PowerShell commands.

$Bucket = "ec2-windows-nvidia-drivers"
$KeyPrefix = "latest"
$LocalPath = "$home\Desktop\NVIDIA"
$Objects = Get-S3Object -BucketName $Bucket -KeyPrefix $KeyPrefix -Region cn-north-1
foreach ($Object in $Objects) {
    $LocalFileName = $Object.Key
    if ($LocalFileName -ne '' -and $Object.Size -ne 0) {
        $LocalFilePath = Join-Path $LocalPath $LocalFileName
        Copy-S3Object -BucketName $Bucket -Key $Object.Key -LocalFile $LocalFilePath -Region cn-north-1
    }
}

Multiple versions of the NVIDIA GRID driver are stored in this bucket. You can download all of the available Windows versions in the bucket by removing the -KeyPrefix $KeyPrefix option. For information about the version of the NVIDIA GRID driver for your operating system, see the NVIDIA® Virtual GPU (vGPU) Software Documentation on the NVIDIA website.

Starting with GRID version 11.0, you can use the drivers under latest for both G3 and G4dn instances. We will not add versions later than 11.0 to g4/latest, but will keep version 11.0 and the earlier versions specific to G4dn under g4/latest.

G5 instances require GRID 13.1 or later (or GRID 12.4 or later).

Navigate to the desktop and double-click the installation file to launch it (choose the driver version that corresponds to your instance OS version). Follow the instructions to install the driver and reboot your instance as required. To verify that the GPU is working properly, check Device Manager.

(Optional) Use the following command to disable the licensing page in the control panel to prevent users from accidentally changing the product type (NVIDIA GRID Virtual Workstation is enabled by default). For more information, see the GRID Licensing User Guide.

PowerShell

Run the following PowerShell commands to create the registry value to disable the licensing page in the control panel. The Amazon Tools for PowerShell in Amazon Windows AMIs defaults to the 32-bit version and this command fails. Instead, use the 64-bit version of PowerShell included with the operating system.

New-Item -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global" -Name GridLicensing
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\GridLicensing" -Name "NvCplDisableManageLicensePage" -PropertyType "DWord" -Value "1"

Command Prompt

Run the following registry command to create the registry value to disable the licensing page in the control panel. You can run it using the Command Prompt window or a 64-bit version of PowerShell.

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\GridLicensing" /v NvCplDisableManageLicensePage /t REG_DWORD /d 1

(Optional) Depending on your use case, you might complete the following optional steps. If you do not require this functionality, do not complete these steps.

1. To help take advantage of the four displays of up to 4K resolution, set up the high-performance display protocol, NICE DCV.

2. NVIDIA Quadro Virtual Workstation mode is enabled by default. To activate GRID Virtual Applications for RDSH Application hosting capabilities, complete the GRID Virtual Application activation steps in Activate NVIDIA GRID Virtual Applications.

Connect to your Windows instance and open a PowerShell window.

Configure your Amazon profile to use the Global region as follows:

$ aws configure
AWS Access Key ID [None]: enter a Global region access key
AWS Secret Access Key [None]: enter a Global region secret access key
Default region name [None]: us-east-1
Default output format [None]: json

Download and install the gaming driver using the following PowerShell commands.

$Bucket = "nvidia-gaming"
$KeyPrefix = "windows/latest"
$LocalPath = "$home\Desktop\NVIDIA"
$Objects = Get-S3Object -BucketName $Bucket -KeyPrefix $KeyPrefix -Region us-east-1
foreach ($Object in $Objects) {
    $LocalFileName = $Object.Key
    if ($LocalFileName -ne '' -and $Object.Size -ne 0) {
        $LocalFilePath = Join-Path $LocalPath $LocalFileName
        Copy-S3Object -BucketName $Bucket -Key $Object.Key -LocalFile $LocalFilePath -Region us-east-1
    }
}

Multiple versions of the NVIDIA GRID driver are stored in this S3 bucket. You can download all of the available versions in the bucket if you change the value of the $KeyPrefix variable from "windows/latest" to "windows".

Navigate to the desktop and double-click the installation file to launch it (choose the driver version that corresponds to your instance OS version). Follow the instructions to install the driver and reboot your instance as required. To verify that the GPU is working properly, check Device Manager.

Use one of the following methods to register the driver.

Run the following command in PowerShell. This downloads the certification file, renames the file GridSwCert.txt, and moves the file to the Public Documents folder on your system drive. Typically, the folder path is C:\Users\Public\Documents.

• For version 461.40 or later:

  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://nvidia-gaming.s3.amazonaws.com/GridSwCert-Archive/GridSwCertWindows_2021_10_2.cert" -OutFile "$Env:PUBLIC\Documents\GridSwCert.txt"

• For version 445.87:

  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://nvidia-gaming.s3.amazonaws.com/GridSwCert-Archive/GridSwCert-Windows_2020_04.cert" -OutFile "$Env:PUBLIC\Documents\GridSwCert.txt"

• For earlier versions:

  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://nvidia-gaming.s3.amazonaws.com/GridSwCert-Archive/GridSwCert-Windows_2019_09.cert" -OutFile "$Env:PUBLIC\Documents\GridSwCert.txt"

Reboot your instance.

Verify the NVIDIA Gaming license using the following command.

C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvgrid*\nvidia-smi.exe -q

The output should be similar to the following.

vGPU Software Licensed Product
    Product Name              : NVIDIA Cloud Gaming
    License Status            : Licensed (Expiry: N/A)

(Optional) To help take advantage of the single display of up to 4K resolution, set up the high-performance display protocol NICE DCV. If you do not require this functionality, do not complete this step.

Connect to your Windows instance.

Open the NVIDIA website and select the version of CUDA that you need.

For Installer Type, select exe (local) and then choose Download.

Using your browser, run the downloaded install file. Follow the instructions to install the CUDA toolkit. You might be required to reboot the instance.