I find Microsoft’s ongoing attempts to misrepresent the need for an online Windows account or trick users into creating one extremely distasteful. Just kidding! Microsoft wasn’t serious about that. When you attempt to download the Nvidia Control Panel without logging in first, the Windows Store shoves a login window in front of you to imply you must create an account in order to install the software.
While it’s possible to download applications from the Microsoft Store without using a Microsoft account, the company uses any interaction with the Store as an excuse to push you towards creating one. DCH drivers always have the “DCH” string in the file name, e.g. According to Nvidia, these changes were due to new requirements from Microsoft. As of now, if you want the Nvidia Control Panel - and you probably do - you have to get it from the Microsoft Store. If you navigate to and check the “GeForce Drivers” page, the driver you’ll be offered is what Microsoft calls a “DCH” (Declarative Componentized Hardware) driver, and it doesn’t include Nvidia’s Control Panel. Starting from that date, the Nvidia Control Panel is no longer distributed in the version of Nvidia drivers available for default off the main website. If you haven’t updated your graphics drivers recently, you may not be aware of a change Nvidia instituted in December of 2019.
