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Graphics Driver for Windows Server 2016

phongle123

I'm using a GTX 1050 Ti on my Windows Server 2016 machine and when I install the Windows 10 version of the 1050 Ti Geforce Drivers. Browsers, Applications, and Server Manager become a white screen but still able to click stuff if I know where are at visually. Additionally, my computer becomes extremely laggy afterwards.

Can someone point me in the right direction. Geforce does not have Server drivers but some forum answers have said Win10 Drivers work but this is my problem after installing the Win10 Geforce Driver.

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AFAIK you will also need to tweak some other settings in the OS to enable GPU hardware acceleration.  By default MS Server platforms disable GPU hardware acceleration, which sounds exactly like what you are seeing.

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7 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

I'm using a GTX 1050 Ti on my Windows Server 2016 machine and when I install the Windows 10 version of the 1050 Ti Geforce Drivers. Browsers, Applications, and Server Manager become a white screen but still able to click stuff if I know where are at visually. Additionally, my computer becomes extremely laggy afterwards.

Can someone point me in the right direction. Geforce does not have Server drivers but some forum answers have said Win10 Drivers work but this is my problem after installing the Win10 Geforce Driver.

The Windows 10 drivers should work, but you may have to use older ones - Windows Server 2016 is based on an earlier version of Windows 10 (1607) which only supports WDDM 2.1; the current version of Windows 10 (1803) uses WDDM 2.4.

 

Try this driver, it's the last full package I could find that is WDDM 2.1 only.

 

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/116344/en-us

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1 hour ago, Tabs said:

The Windows 10 drivers should work, but you may have to use older ones - Windows Server 2016 is based on an earlier version of Windows 10 (1607) which only supports WDDM 2.1; the current version of Windows 10 (1803) uses WDDM 2.4.

 

Try this driver, it's the last full package I could find that is WDDM 2.1 only.

 

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/116344/en-us

Just gave this version a try. It does the same thing.

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1 hour ago, KarathKasun said:

AFAIK you will also need to tweak some other settings in the OS to enable GPU hardware acceleration.  By default MS Server platforms disable GPU hardware acceleration, which sounds exactly like what you are seeing.

Right Click>Nvidia Control Panel won't even open up so I can't mess with PhysX

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2 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

Right Click>Nvidia Control Panel won't even open up so I can't mess with PhysX

Hardware acceleration doesn't relate to PhysX, it relates to using the gpu to render parts of the ui, rather than the cpu. 

 

However, I'm not sure what specific configuration @KarathKasun meant. For my server 2016 box, hardware acceleration worked by default with both the intel integrated gpu, and the Quadro NVS.

 

Out of curiosity, is this a known-working card? A card you've used on a regular non-server OS with no problems?

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5 minutes ago, Tabs said:

Hardware acceleration doesn't relate to PhysX, it relates to using the gpu to render parts of the ui, rather than the cpu. 

 

However, I'm not sure what specific configuration @KarathKasun meant. For my server 2016 box, hardware acceleration worked by default with both the intel integrated gpu, and the Quadro NVS.

 

Out of curiosity, is this a known-working card? A card you've used on a regular non-server OS with no problems?

I'm running it on Ryzen 1700 so there is no APU compared to an Intel counterpart. The GPU works good. Everything works fine without the driver except its stuck at 800x600 without a graphics driver. As soon as I install a Graphics Driver. The problems occur.

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6 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

I'm running it on Ryzen 1700 so there is no APU compared to an Intel counterpart. The GPU works good. Everything works fine without the driver except its stuck at 800x600 without a graphics driver. As soon as I install a Graphics Driver. The problems occur.

 

Has the card worked properly in a different machine with the drivers installed? The basic VGA component is basically there to guarantee the card has display output; it doesn't necessarily mean the card works properly.

 

Right now it can be hard to narrow down the problem to some kind of configuration issue with Windows Server, some incompatibility with the driver, or an issue with the card. Testing it in a different machine would help rule out the latter.

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9 minutes ago, Tabs said:

 

Has the card worked properly in a different machine with the drivers installed? The basic VGA component is basically there to guarantee the card has display output; it doesn't necessarily mean the card works properly.

 

Right now it can be hard to narrow down the problem to some kind of configuration issue with Windows Server, some incompatibility with the driver, or an issue with the card. Testing it in a different machine would help rule out the latter.

Yes it has. 

According to https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/dc199538-ea36-4e9d-ad90-e18c2efb097a/windows-server-2016-tp5-gui-nvidia-drivers-are-not-supported?forum=WinServerPreview

Quote

Since Windows Server build 14939, you can install Nvidia drivers without problems.

Just download last drivers from Nvidia for Windows 10 - x64. Install normal.

Now works fine.

Cheers !!!

 

And https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/windows-server-release-info

Says that my OS Server Standard should be on version 1803 (build 17134) but I am stuck at 1607 (Build 14393) which is what LTSB is at. Checking for update from Windows Update says that I am already up to date. 

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25 minutes ago, Tabs said:

Hardware acceleration doesn't relate to PhysX, it relates to using the gpu to render parts of the ui, rather than the cpu. 

 

However, I'm not sure what specific configuration @KarathKasun meant. For my server 2016 box, hardware acceleration worked by default with both the intel integrated gpu, and the Quadro NVS.

 

Out of curiosity, is this a known-working card? A card you've used on a regular non-server OS with no problems?

In Server 2000 - 2012 you had to enable hardware acceleration through DxDiag and the "advanced display adapter properties" dialogue.

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7 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

Yes it has. 

According to https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/dc199538-ea36-4e9d-ad90-e18c2efb097a/windows-server-2016-tp5-gui-nvidia-drivers-are-not-supported?forum=WinServerPreview

 

And https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/windows-server-release-info

Says that my OS Server Standard should be on version 1803 (build 17134) but I am stuck at 1607 (Build 14393) which is what LTSB is at. Checking for update from Windows Update says that I am already up to date. 

You may need to opt-in to the "bleeding edge" or current support branch rather than the long term support branch.

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5 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

You may need to opt-in to the "bleeding edge" or current support branch rather than the long term support branch.

I tried googling up Windows Server 2016 Bleeding Edge. Can you tell me how to switch it. When installed I didn't have an option for LTSB it was just Standard and I don't believe I opt'd into LTSB.

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6 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

I tried googling up Windows Server 2016 Bleeding Edge. Can you tell me how to switch it. When installed I didn't have an option for LTSB it was just Standard and I don't believe I opt'd into LTSB.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/get-started-with-1803

 

Its not in the normal update distribution channel.

 

Bleeding edge is actually a term from the Linux world that effectively means, "updates as they happen".  Bleeding edge updates don't have much testing done on them so they are not usually recommended for servers.

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35 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

Yes it has. 

According to https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/dc199538-ea36-4e9d-ad90-e18c2efb097a/windows-server-2016-tp5-gui-nvidia-drivers-are-not-supported?forum=WinServerPreview

 

And https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/windows-server-release-info

Says that my OS Server Standard should be on version 1803 (build 17134) but I am stuck at 1607 (Build 14393) which is what LTSB is at. Checking for update from Windows Update says that I am already up to date. 

There is no 1803 version of Windows Server 2016.

 

See here for exact versioning information: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4043454/windows-10-windows-server-update-history

 

The Semi-Annual channel of Windows Server (what you are mentioning when you say Server based on 1803) does not have the ability to run standard Windows applications as it cannot be installed with Desktop Experience. Additionally, you cannot upgrade or migrate between Windows Server 2016 and any of the Windows Server Semi-Annual builds, and they are also only available to people with Software Assurance licensing. They are different products, effectively, and the Semi-Annual channel can only be installed as Server Core or Nano Server configurations.

 

You're on the latest version of Windows Server 2016 if you're running 14393.2368, per my first link. If you wish to know more about the Semi-Annual Channel, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/semi-annual-channel-overview

 

Finally, in case you're curious, the "next" version of Windows Server that you're likely to want to use will be Windows Server 2019, which is due out in the next few months. There is a preview version available if you wish to test it, but from my testing so far it has a lot of performance and functionality regressions over Server 2016, so I wouldn't recommend it at this time.

Edited by Tabs
Corrected some grammar
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I ended up downloading the very first Geforce Driver available way back in May 2017. It seems to be working so far.

 

Thanks @Tabs made me realize that I could download further back since using the find a driver the regular way only went as far back as December 2017. Even after restarting everything is working fine. Hopefully, this driver doesn't leave me vulnerable.

 

Thanks again for the help guys.

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1 minute ago, phongle123 said:

I ended up downloading the very first Geforce Driver available way back in May 2017. It seems to be working so far.

 

Thanks @Tabs made me realize that I could download further back since using the find a driver the regular way only went as far back as December 2017. Even after restarting everything is working fine. Hopefully, this driver doesn't leave me vulnerable.

 

Thanks again for the help guys.

Glad it helped mate.

 

Out of curiosity, what driver did you install? I decided to play it safe with my Windows Server install and only ever used the driver downloaded via Windows Update, and haven't updated it - I don't use my server for GPGPU tasks or anything, the GPU is only there to provide hardware accelerated remote sessions.

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1 hour ago, Tabs said:

Glad it helped mate.

 

Out of curiosity, what driver did you install? I decided to play it safe with my Windows Server install and only ever used the driver downloaded via Windows Update, and haven't updated it - I don't use my server for GPGPU tasks or anything, the GPU is only there to provide hardware accelerated remote sessions.

I guess I was reading something else. It wasn't May it was August. I didn't use the first BETA driver but the first release. 385.28; August 14th.

May was the 32bit one that's why I said May. The one you linked was 378.92, which is before the first release of the 1050Ti. So I'm guessing that why that one didn't work either. Because it's not actually a 1050Ti Driver?

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2 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

I guess I was reading something else. It wasn't May it was August. I didn't use the first BETA driver but the first release. 385.28; August 14th.

May was the 32bit one that's why I said May.

Interesting, thanks for letting me know, I'll keep a note of it in case I find anyone else with a similar issue.

 

Cheers.

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  • 2 years later...

Sorry to resurrect this old thread but since this is the first result that pops up from Google when looking for how to get a 10 series GPU running on Windows Server 2016 I figured it would be the best place to post my updated info.

 

I've been able to get a GTX 1080 Ti running in Windows Server 2016 by using version 391.35 of the 64-bit Windows 10 nVidia drivers. This is the most recent drivers I was able to get to work.

 

I also asked for the driver patch which allows more than two encoding streams from the project coordinator and he delivered! You can find the patch and a link to the driver in the Windows 10 section at https://github.com/keylase/nvidia-patch/tree/master/win

 

I can confirm that works on Windows Server 2016.

 

Hope this helps!

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