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How to Roll Back a GeForce Driver: Four Methods, and What the 621.12 Hotfix Changes

Four ways to go back to an earlier GeForce driver, a table for choosing between them, and what NVIDIA’s 621.12 hotfix changes for 621.01 black screens.

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Research-based guide. Steps and driver details are sourced and dated, not tested by us. No affiliate links.

Quick answer

  • The fastest rollback is the NVIDIA App: Drivers tab, then the Previously Installed Driver section. It only goes back one version.
  • To go back further, download an older package from NVIDIA’s driver search and install it. If that install misbehaves, clean the old driver out with Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in Safe Mode first.
  • Roll back only if the problem started with the new driver. If you have the 621.01 video freeze on an RTX 50 card, NVIDIA’s optional 621.12 hotfix targets exactly that, so a rollback may not be needed.

A new graphics driver usually helps, and sometimes it does not. When a game starts crashing, the screen goes black or video stutters right after an update, going back to the last driver that worked is the standard test. This guide covers four ways to do it, how to choose between them, and what to check first so you do not roll back a driver that was never the problem.

Graphics card with two fans standing on a dark wooden table, with warm string lights blurred in the background
Stock photo: Kyora Kee / Pexels. A dual-fan graphics card on a dark table.

Why this matters now: the 621.01 driver

Confirmed, reported and our take (30 October 2026)

  • Confirmed GeForce Game Ready 621.01 WHQL came out on 21 October. PC Games Hardware reported on 24 October that NVIDIA acknowledged video freezes and black screens after installing it.
  • Confirmed By 27 October NVIDIA had released the optional 621.12 hotfix, which Mixed News says fixes video freezes and black screens on some RTX 50 series GPUs and RTX Spark systems after 621.01. NVIDIA calls it a beta and says waiting for the next WHQL driver is the safest option.
  • Reported TweakTown’s coverage lists black screens, crashes, Event ID 153 errors and G-SYNC stutter among early user reports for 621.01.
  • Our take If your PC is stable, change nothing. A rollback fixes a driver problem, and sometimes the problem is not the driver.

We covered the earlier part of this story, before the hotfix existed, in our NVIDIA Windows 10 driver explainer. The same driver also adds Game Ready support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, so a rollback can cost you that game’s driver profile. Our Modern Warfare 4 PC guide covers its other launch problems.

Is it really the driver? A quick check

Bottleneck PC, a site that tracks this issue, describes the 621.01 pattern as follows: it began on or after 21 October on a system that was stable before, the screen goes black for a few seconds and returns without a reboot, and it happens during video playback or when a game launches while a video plays. Black screens that come with a full reboot or a VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE blue screen, or that began weeks ago, are a different problem. If your symptoms do not match, a rollback may waste an evening.

Which method to use (our reading of the sources)

If youUseWhy
Want to undo the last driver update quicklyNVIDIA App, Previously Installed DriverOne click, no download. Goes back one version only
Updated through Windows or the NVIDIA App recently and want the usual routeDevice Manager, Roll Back DriverBuilt into Windows, but the button is greyed out when Windows has no earlier package
Need a specific older versionNVIDIA driver search, View More VersionsLets you choose any listed release
Rolled back and still see errors, or leftovers from several updatesDDU in Safe Mode, then install the older driverRemoves the whole driver set before a clean install
Have the 621.01 video freeze on an RTX 50 card621.12 hotfix insteadFixes that issue without going backwards. Optional beta

The sources do not agree on one best method. MajorGeeks advises against Device Manager because it may leave components behind and its rollback button is often greyed out, and prefers a clean install with DDU. Other guides, such as Windows Report and Digital Trends, start with Device Manager. Our reading is to try the simple routes first and escalate only when they fail.

Before you start

  • Note your current driver version: Device Manager, Display adapters, your NVIDIA GPU, Properties, Driver tab.
  • Decide which version you want to return to. Users in PC Games Hardware’s report say 617.42, released on 6 October, stops the video problems.
  • If you plan to download an installer, do it first and save it where you can find it. Guru3D also suggests keeping a copy of the last Windows 10 compatible installer for future reinstalls.

Method 1: the NVIDIA App

Per Corsair’s rollback guide, open the NVIDIA App (not the old NVIDIA Control Panel), choose the Drivers tab, scroll to the Previously Installed Driver section, open the options menu and select Reinstall. It can only return to the version installed before the current one. The menu wording may change between app versions, and we have not tried it ourselves.

Method 2: Device Manager

Press the Windows key and R, type devmgmt.msc, expand Display adapters, open your NVIDIA GPU’s Properties, go to the Driver tab and select Roll Back Driver, then restart. If the button is greyed out, Windows has no earlier driver package to restore, and you need Method 3.

Method 3: install an older version from NVIDIA

On NVIDIA’s driver download page, search for your GPU and operating system, skip the newest result, choose View More Versions at the bottom, open the version you want with View, then download and run the installer. Corsair’s guide notes that going back may cause problems in other games that rely on newer drivers, and that it is not permanent: you can update again once NVIDIA fixes the issue. Itechguides says you normally do not need to uninstall the current driver first, and describes the installer’s clean installation option as removing the current driver set rather than saving it.

Method 4: a clean removal with DDU

Display Driver Uninstaller is a free third-party tool, not made by NVIDIA, so use it deliberately and create a Windows restore point first. Helpdeskgeek’s steps: download the portable version from its developer, Wagnardsoft, restart into Safe Mode (hold Shift, click Restart under the Start menu power options, then follow the recovery menus), run DDU, choose the NVIDIA GPU option and select Clean and restart. After the restart, install the older driver from Method 3.

If the screen stays black

MacMyths, summarizing Microsoft’s guidance, suggests pressing Windows, Ctrl, Shift and B together to reset the graphics driver, then restarting. If the display is still unusable, boot into Safe Mode and try the Device Manager rollback or uninstall the display device there.

The hotfix route

The 621.12 hotfix is based on 621.01 and, per Mixed News, comes as one package for Windows 10 and 11 on x64 PCs and another for RTX Spark on Windows 11 on ARM64. NVIDIA distributes hotfixes through its support site rather than the normal driver search or the app, according to ComputerBase. HotHardware says to skip it if you do not have the problems it fixes, since the fixes will arrive in the next WHQL driver anyway.

Last checked 30 October 2026. We update this guide when NVIDIA ships the next WHQL driver or changes the status of the hotfix. How we source our guides is explained on the About page.

Sources

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