Symptoms:
The installation of an NVIDIA driver, such as the Display Driver, is shown to be in progress but then stops abruptly with a failure dialog:
There are several reasons the installation can fail and this article is meant to help resolve the 2 most common ones.
Steps to start finding the root cause:
1.) Delete or rename the Windows SetupAPI device log file, <Windows Directory>\Inf\setupapi.dev.log so that a clean log is available to parse.
2.) Run the installation again to the failure point with installer logging enabled, either via the -log command line option, for example:
Setup.exe -log:”C:\logpath” -loglevel:3
Or by following the steps at http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3171
Parsing through the log data:
1.) Open the setup.exe.log in your favorite text editor/viewer and look for lines that are marked as error-related with “error:”. For Display Driver install failures, you should find a lines similar to this example:
37.716 | DEBUG: [NVI2.NVDevicePhase] 1510@CNVDevicePhase::InstallHelper : Considering installation using INF "C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Installer2\Display.Driver.{4CF42925-FECE-410C-9E05-FEB6447B63F2}\nv_dispi.inf".
56.115 | ERROR: [NVI2.NVDevicePhase] 1592@CNVDevicePhase::InstallHelper : Device phase failure Exception {<Some error value> - <Some error text for the value.}.
56.131 | ERROR: [NVI2.NVDevicePhase] 421@CNVDevicePhase::InvokePhase : COM error: Exception {{<Some error value> - <Some error text for the value.}.
2.) Open the setupapi.dev.log and look for lines that begin with !!!, as this denotes failure points. For example:
!!! flq: Windows could not copy a boot file 'C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI\nvidia-smi.exe' due to the presence of an in-use file.
!!! flq: Error installing file (0x00000005)
!!! flq: Error 5: Access is denied.
! flq: SourceFile - 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_995e5491302e0a85\nvidia-smi.exe'
! flq: TargetFile - 'C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI\nvidia-smi.exe'
!!! flq: SPFQNOTIFY_COPYERROR: returned SPFQOPERATION_ABORT.
!!! flq: Error 1459: This operation requires an interactive window station.
!!! flq: FileQueueCommit aborting!
!!! flq: Error 1459: This operation requires an interactive window station.
Resolving the 2 most common errors:
1) Error: This operation requires an interactive window station.
Sample setup.exe. log line:
ERROR: [NVI2.NVDevicePhase] 1592@CNVDevicePhase::InstallHelper : Device phase failure Exception {0x800705b3 - This operation requires an interactive window station.}.
Sample setupapi.dev.log line
!!! flq: Error 1459: This operation requires an interactive window station.
Solution:
This error usually denotes permission problems on the Operating System drive, and requires manual intervention to fix them. For examples on how to resolve this problem, see:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/40ce7063-3d1e-4297-b682-35d8ef122634/this-operation-requires-an-interactive-window-station-error?forum=w7itprohardware
or:
For additional help on setting OS permissions, contact your system manufacturer or Microsoft Technical Support.
2) Error: SPFQNOTIFY_COPYERROR
Sample setupapi.dev.log lines:
Error installing file (0x00003b01)
!!! flq: SPFQNOTIFY_COPYERROR: returned SPFQOPERATION_ABORT.
Solution:
The setupapi.dev.log data will also show the file(s) in question above the error line. This error denotes corruption of the Operating System Driver Store at <WindowsFolder>\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository, where the file(s) are not readable. You can attempt manual cleanup of the Driver Store following the path listed in the log, however, it will require taking ownership of folders to do so. Perform at your own risk.
Another approach is to use PnPUtil that comes with the Operating System to try to delete the driver packages first, and then try installation again. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff550423(v=vs.85).aspx for command syntax, including an example to remove a driver package.
If this also fails, then moving back to a previous Windows Restore Point is about the last resort short of Operating System reinstall.
Other Errors:
If your error is not covered here, please contact the NVIDIA Customer Care team for further assistance by clicking on the "Ask a Question" or "Live Chat" tabs at the top of this page.