Q&A What

What command resets your graphics?

If you work on your Windows PC for a very long time, I am sure you must have faced a situation where your display doesn’t work as expected. Scenarios can be different, which include a black screen, a screen frozen, or keyboard and mouse inputs don’t respond at all. This points out one thing–the display or the graphics driver has some problem. While Windows 11/10 can recover the graphics driver on its own, you can always restart the Graphics or Display Driver in Windows manually – in case the Video driver crashes. Let’s get to know about it.

Restart Graphics Driver in Windows 11/10

In this guide, we will talk about multiple methods to help you restart and recover your graphics password. Rest assured that your work will not be lost – the screen may only flicker for a second or two.

1] Restart Graphics Driver using Win+Ctrl+Shift+B Shortcut

Use the key combination Win+Ctrl+Shift+B on your Windows 11/10 keyboard. The screen flickers and goes black for a second, and will be back in less than a second. In case it is not working for you, make sure to check if your Windows Key is not disabled. In many gaming PCs, the onboard software disables the windows key as it can accidentally shift the focus.

This is the easiest method to restart your driver without the need of an admin account.

2] Remove & Update corrupt Display or Graphics Driver

If the graphics driver is misbehaving a lot, chances are that your driver has gone corrupt. You will have to either re-install the driver or update to the latest version. Many a time old drivers are not compatible with the latest Windows Update as a result of which Display drivers stop responding.

There are two ways to fix this. You can remove it manually using Device Manager or from the Control Panel. You may need administrative privileges to complete this.

A] Uninstall the drivers using Device Manager

Open Device Manager by either searching in Start Menu or type devmgmt.msc and press Enter in the run prompt.
Find Display Adapters and expand it.
Right click on the adapter select Uninstall.
Restart the computer.

Post this, Windows should install the required driver using Windows Update system automatically. In case it doesn’t, you can always install the driver manually using the Update Driver option.

B] Uninstall the drivers from Control Panel

Many OEMs develop software that could give users more control over features that run on top of the driver. Nvidia offers a control panel which can help you optimize few display settings. After removing the driver from the device manager, it’s a good idea to remove OEM software as well.

In the search box, type Control Panel, and when the program shows up, click to open it.
Type Programs & Features > Add or Remove Programs.
Find the Driver program, select and uninstall it.

You may want to install the software & driver again post these two steps to make sure your graphics card is completely utilized, and not using the basic driver.

Read: Intel Graphics Driver keeps crashing.

If you have been working on a Windows PC for a very long time, you might have faced a situation where your display doesn’t work as expected. It may be seen as a different situation, including a black screen, screen frozen, keyboard and mouse inputs don’t respond. This points out that the display or the graphics driver has some problems. While Windows 10 can recover the graphics driver on its own with Windows Update. It downloads the latest drivers and installs automatically on your Windows 10 PC with every Windows Update; you can always restart the Graphics Driver in Windows 10 manually.

This guide will show the steps that can help you restart and recover your graphics drivers. Your work will not be lost in this process; however, the screen may flicker for a second or two.

Restart Graphics Driver using Win+Ctrl+Shift+B Shortcut.

This is the best way to reset or restart the graphics driver using the Win+Ctrl+Shift+B keys combination on your Windows 10/8. Once you press the keys simultaneously, the screen flickers for one or two seconds, or the screen goes black for one or two seconds and will be back again. In case it is not working for you, check if your Windows Key is disabled. In many gaming PCs, the onboard software disables the windows key.

If the graphics driver is failing a lot, chances are there; your display driver is corrupt. Either reinstall the driver or update to the latest version. Often, old drivers are not compatible with the latest Windows Update, due to which, display drivers stop answering.

Step 1. To uninstall the graphics drivers from your Windows 10 PC, open the Device Manager (To open the Device Manager, click the Search menu and type Device Manager. From the available search results, click the Device Manager to open it.)

Step 2. The Device Manager shows a list of all the hardware components inside your computer or connected to it. Browse the list of hardware and find the graphics device for which you want to uninstall the driver. Right-click or press-and-hold (on a touchscreen) the name of the component with the questionable driver. From the menu that appears, click Properties.

Step 3. In the Properties window that appears, click the Driver tab. In the Driver tab, click the Uninstall Device button to remove the graphics driver altogether.

Step 4. An Uninstall Device dialog window opens. Check the box labeled “Delete the driver software for this device.”

Step 5. Finally, click the Uninstall button to delete the drivers completely from your Windows 10 PC.

Now restart your computer, and Windows will automatically download and install the proper drivers for your hardware. It should fix the graphics driver’s error on Windows 10.

Windows allows easy control and management of all the drivers. There are multiple ways for you to refresh or reset your graphics drivers. These methods depend upon your Operating System and Graphics Card.

Most of them are simple processes that only require a few minor tweaks to your settings.

However, please only reset your graphics driver during emergencies. Frequent resets may cause many system and application problems.

When to Reset Graphics Driver

How to Restart or Reset Graphics Driver on Windows

Please find some of the methods to restart or reset your graphics driver on Windows down below and adopt one according to your preference.

Restart Graphics Driver Using the Hotkey Combination

The easiest and quickest way to refresh your graphics driver is to use the default keyboard shortcut. Please press the Windows, Ctrl, Shift, and B keys at the same time to restart your graphics driver.

By default, doing so will produce a Beep sound and turn your screen black for a short time. Then, your display will start operating normally.

Restart Graphics Driver Through PowerShell

If you prefer using commands to restart your Graphics Driver, you can do it using Windows PowerShell. It allows you to separately refresh your external drivers along with the built-in graphics device driver.

Here are the steps to refresh your drivers through PowerShell:

First, press Windows + X and select Windows PowerShell (Admin).
Type the following command and press Enter:
pnputil /enum-devices /class Display
It will show the details of all your Display adapters.
Copy their Instance ID. Then, enter the command as follows:
pnputil /restart-device “Paste the Instance ID”
As an example,
pnputil /restart-device "PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1299&SUBSYS_06B01028&REV_A1\4&3a8b0de2&0&00E4"

Restart Graphics Driver Through Task Manager

It is also possible to restart your external or dedicated graphics driver from the Task Manager. If you kill the driver process, Windows will automatically restart it. Here’s how you can end the graphics driver process in the Task Manager:

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch the Task Manager.
In the Processes tab, scroll down to Background processes.
Look for your NVIDIA or AMD, or other driver processes.
Right-click on it and select End task.
Sometimes there may be more than one instance of the process. Please end the task for all of them.

Shortly afterward, Windows will restart the driver. Or you can launch an application forcing Windows to do so as well.

Reset Graphics Driver Using Their Settings

All Graphics devices have their individual settings interface through which you can reset their settings to default. The method is different for separate devices. The following steps show the process for INTEL, NVIDIA, and AMD Graphics Drivers:

INTEL Graphics Driver

Right-click on your Desktop and select Graphics Properties.
Click on 3D.
Then select Restore Defaults. If it’s grayed out, you already have default settings on your driver.
Click Apply and close the settings. Then, restart your PC.

NVIDIA Graphics Driver

Right-click on your Desktop and select NVIDIA Control Panel.
Go to Manage 3D settings.
Under Global Settings, click on Restore.
Then, close the settings. Then, restart your PC.

AMD Graphics Driver

Right-click on your Desktop and select AMD Radeon Settings.
Go to the Preference tab.
Here, select Restore Factory Defaults.
Close the settings and restart your PC.

Reset Graphics Driver From Device Manager

Using the Device Manager, it is possible to both refresh and reset your graphics driver. To refresh the driver, you can simply disable and enable it. Here’s how you can do so:

Enter devmgmt.msc on the Run dialog box (Win + R) to open the Device Manager.
Expand Display Adapters.
Right-click on your driver and choose Disable device.
Confirm with Yes.
Then, right-click on the driver and select Enable device.
Again right-click on it and choose Scan for hardware changes.

To reset the driver, you need to reinstall it. Follow the steps below to perform this task:

Open Device Manager and expand Display Adapters.
Right-click on the driver and select Uninstall device.
Click Uninstall.
Then, restart your PC. It will automatically install any missing drivers during a reboot.

Reset Graphics Driver Through Control Panel

As mentioned in the previous method, uninstalling and reinstalling the driver will reset it to the default configuration.

You can also use the Control Panel to reset your graphics driver software. Please follow the instruction below:

Launch the Run dialog box, type control, and press Enter.
In the category view, look for Programs and select Uninstall a program under it.
Search for and select your graphics driver. Then click on Uninstall.
Follow the on-screen instructions.
Download the latest compatible driver from the AMD, NVIDIA, or Intel website and install it.

How to Reset Graphics Card on Mac OS

On Mac PCs, the graphics driver is a part of the operating system. So, you can only reset this driver by performing a system reset.

It is, however, possible to refresh the driver by resetting the PRAM or NVRAM. Before doing this, please remember to disconnect any external devices from your PC.

Here are the methods to refresh as well as reset the Mac Graphics Driver:

Refresh Graphics Driver by Resetting PRAM or NVRAM

Shut down your Mac.
Press the power button to boot it up again.
After the gray screen appears on your screen, press and hold the Option + Command + P + R keys on your keyboard for 20 seconds.
Release the keys after the second startup sound or after the Apple logo disappears for the second time.

Note: After a PRAM/NVRAM reset, don’t forget to customize your System Preferences to your desire as they reset along with the PRAM/NVRAM.

If your system experiences some graphics issues that persist even after a PRAM reset, you can reset your system altogether. Make sure to back up your mac before applying this method.

Follow the steps below to execute a system reset on Mac:

Go to Apple icon > System Preferences.
Click on System Preferences from the menu bar and select Erase All Contents and Settings.
Follow the on-screen instructions.

How to Reset Graphics Driver on Linux

Resetting the Graphics Driver on a Linux OS like Ubuntu is a little more technical than on other systems. The external graphics adapters also have different methods to reset, which you can consult with their technical support personnel.

However, we have mentioned the general way to reset the graphics driver in a Debian-based Linux system. Here are the steps for this operation:

Open the Terminal.
First, make a backup of your configurations before resetting the graphics driver package. To do so, enter the command:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bk
Now, enter the following command to update the apt library:
sudo apt-get update
Then list installed graphics packages using the command:
apt-cache pkgnames "graphics device"
Please replace “graphics device” with intel, amd or nvidia.
Once you figure out the package name, enter the command below while replacing “packagename” with the actual package name:
sudo apt install "packagename"