Nvidia control panel not working and Windows forcing display drivers

ShinyRedKnight

While play Skyrim I noticed a flickering issue I had fixed by changing the control panel settings. For some reason the flickering came back despite me not changing the setting. I closed the game and went to open the Nvidia Control Panel. I could no longer find it in the tray in the lower right hand corner and had to search the system for it, it would not start even when I did find it.

I tried to reinstall the latest Nvidia drivers by doing a clean install from the custom options. However, during the process windows would not stop trying to install display drivers on it its own. The Nvidia installation failed as a result, and the Windows update kept going. It would not stop until it finished, even after I changed the update settings to ask me before downloading any update.

I am now wondering if the initial problem, the disappearance of the control panel, was the result of me not originally changing the update settings (they were on automatic at 3 AM) and me playing games around that time for the first time in months in the last few days. I'm assuming, perhaps wrongly, that windows took advantage of this to update automatically, overwriting Nvidia's drivers.

How do ensure that this does not happen in the future? Do I need to uninstall the Windows display driver or can I try a clean install from Nvidia now that the auto updates are off and Windows has finished trying to update on its own?

I am on Windows 7 64 bit with a Geforce 680. Thank you for any and all advice.

EDIT: I also had GeForce Experience installed, and it too is gone.

EDIT 2: I realized there may be a clearer reason for this. Yesterday I rolled back my Nvidia drivers, this was the first time on this PC, and the automatic windows update may have detected the older drivers and tried to update them itself.

Great Scott

Normally, drivers uninstalling on their own is a sign of failing hardware. Fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case here (you'd have noticed more problems in Skyrim).

Almost certainly what happened is that Windows Update thought it found a better, newer, and generic driver for your 680. And installed it without asking.

Go to Control Panel -> Windows Update, and click "Change Settings" from the left side menu. Then un-check "Give me recommended update the same way I receive important updates". You could also change the master drop-down to "Download updates and let me choose whether to install them" but I don't think that's a good idea.

Let us know if manually installing the latest drivers from the NVIDIA website doesn't fix the control panel.

EDIT: If you happen to see the driver download in Windows Update, you can right-click it and select "Hide" so it won't show up again. I believe hidden updates won't automatically install.

ShinyRedKnight

All seems well now after changing the update settings and downloading the Nvidia drivers.

It looks like this just happened to be the right combination of little things (rolling back driver, windows check for an update) that created a bigger problem.

Thank you for your advice! The original issue I had with Skyrim is also gone.