How to Backup and Restore Your NVIDIA Driver Profiles Safely

If we installed the graphics driver and updated it, then we found that the game settings also disappeared all of a sudden. We are not the only persons doing this; I myself have been there.

By default, NVIDIA does not save any custom driver profiles associated with the original drivers when it is uninstalled. Hence, it really matters to back up that setting beforehand.

This guide will walk you through the easiest and safest way to back up and restore your NVIDIA driver profiles, even if you’re completely new to this.

What Are NVIDIA Driver Profiles?

These driver profiles store:

• Custom graphics settings
• Per-game optimizations
• Tweaks like V-Sync, antialiasing, and power management

Losing them means redoing all your settings from scratch unless you back them up.

What You’ll Need

Before we begin, here’s the list:

• Windows PC with installed NVIDIA drivers
• Something called NVIDIA Profile Inspector
• A place to keep your backup file (USB, cloud, etc.)

Do not fret; NVIDIA Profile Inspector costs nothing and is quite a simple thing to use!

Step 1: Download NVIDIA Profile Inspector

• Go to NVIDIA Profile Inspector trusted website and download it.
• Simply scroll the button down and download the latest .zip file.
• After downloading, extract the folder (right-click > Extract All).
• To start, run nvidiaProfileInspector.exe by double-clicking on it.
• No installation required, it is portable as it is.

Step 2: Back Up Your NVIDIA Driver Profiles

Once the tool is open:

• Click the “Export User Defined Profiles” icon (looks like a floppy disk).
• Choose a location to save your file (e.g., Desktop or a USB drive).
• Name your file something like NVIDIA_Backup_Aug2025.nip and click Save.

Done! You’ve now saved a copy of all your NVIDIA custom settings.

Step 3: Restore Your NVIDIA Driver Profiles Later

After reinstalling or updating your drivers:

• Open NVIDIA Profile Inspector again.
• Click the “Import Profile(s)” icon (folder with an arrow).
• Select the .nip file you backed up earlier.
• Click Apply Changes at the top to load your settings.

That’s it! All your customizations are restored.

Optional: Back Up Global Driver Settings (For Advanced Users)

If you love to explore hidden folders, you can also back up this folder called Drs, which stores general settings for NVIDIA:

• Open File Explorer.
• Go to:

C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation\Drs

• Copy the files nvdrsdb0.bin and nvdrsdb1.bin.
• Save them somewhere safe.

To restore, copy them back to the same location after reinstalling the drivers.

This is optional and not required if you’re only using Profile Inspector.

Final Thoughts

Should you be new to managing graphics settings, no worries. This isn’t going to be strangely intimidating, nor unreasonably quick. Backing up one’s NVIDIA driver profiles takes less than 2 minutes, but you save yourself hours of frustration later. 

So, for the next driver update planned, it’s a backup before the update.