How to Change Windows 10 Microsoft Basic Display Adapter To Current Graphics Adapter

Windows 10 came with a lot of goofy stuff and issues for the users upgrading their current systems to the latest update of windows.

One of those several problems faced by users is the Microsoft Basic Display Driver option under Display adapters, which is basically causing the system to not pick your graphics card.

Windows while upgrading installed all the built-in drivers automatically instead of the updated specific drivers by the manufacturer. What happened next was the system lost its ability to utilize the graphics card to give you those awesome visuals and high-definition picture quality.

While previously if you had noticed, you’d find the graphics card say Intel HD Graphics 4400, AMD 7800, Nvidia GTX 1060, but now if you look you’ll see Microsoft Basic Display Driver listed only.

Many would-be wondering what happened to their graphics card, why isn’t it working anymore? Is it broken or roasted? No need to worry, if this is the problem you are facing it is not that hard to fix after all. We’re here for you to help get you through this.

Before any further ado, lets directly dive into finding the best solution for your problem.

How to Change Windows 10 Microsoft Basic Display Adapter To Current Graphics Adapter

Create a System Restore Point

First things first, before you plan to change any crucial settings create a restore point in case something goes bumpy along the way. This cool feature of windows lets you create a snapshot of your machine, saving its current state as a “restore point”.

In case your operating system experiences serious issues after installing the latest update, an app or following a system settings modification erroneously editing Registry or other crucial settings. You can always use the restore point to go back and revert to the machine settings to an earlier point in time. Which will resolve the issues you’re facing without losing the files and data.

By default this handy tool comes disabled by default, so to be able to create a restore point you need to enable it in Windows 10 settings. So let’s dive into it.

Note: System Restore feature is only available for system drives, the drive on which the operating system is installed, not for all drives.

How to enable System Restore – Windows 10

Method 1

Step 1: Click the Start menu, now search ‘create a restore point’, open the first result that will be “System Properties”

Step 2: The System Properties window will come to the fore, go to the System Protection section.

Step 3: Now under the Protection Settings view click the System drive and then press Configure. This will bring configuration for restore settings.

Step 4: Another window will pop open System Protection for Local Disk (C:). In the Restore Settings checkbox check the Turn on system protection.

Note: Here you can also specify the disk space allocation for System Restore in the Disk Space Usage section, though Windows 10 is capable of managing the space automatically.

Step 5: Apply the selected settings and then press OK to close the window.

Now the system will automatically create a restore point before system settings are changed or an OS update is being installed. But in case you want to create a restore point right away. Follow the below steps:

2: Manually create a Restore point

Step 1: Open System Properties by following above mentioned two steps.

Step 2: In System Protection section in the Protection Settings view click Create button.

Step 3: This will begin the creation of a restore point. Write a descriptive title to help you identify the restore point in the future. The date and time are automatically appended.

Step 4: Press the Create button. Then click OK button to close the window.

Now you’ll have a point to revert to if anything goes wrong during the graphics driver installation.

3: Run Windows updates

Step 1: Click on the Windows logo on the left corner of the screen and open Settings.

Step 2: Look for Update and security and click it.

Step 3: In the new window find and click Windows Update in the list on the left hand.

Step 4: Now press Check for updates button right below the Update status. This will search for any graphics driver are available for your windows.

Step 5: If there are any updates let the system finish all the updates. After that restart your system to see if the issue is resolved or not.  

4: Update display adapter in Device Manager

Step 1: Open the Start menu by pressing the Windows logo, click the search bar in the menu.

Step 2: Type device manager in the search bar and press return key when you find the Device Manager.

Step 3: In the Device Manager search for Display Adapters expandable list. In case you don’t find any search for “Microsoft Basic Display Adapter”.

Step 4: Click the list to expand it. Then right-click the Display Adapter to show menu options.

Step 5: In the menu click Update Software Driver. Let the system update the driver if it finds any.

Step 6: Restart your system to find out if the changes got any effect.

5: Show hidden devices in Device Manager

In some cases, the Device Manager won’t show your graphics card under the Display adapters list. For example, if you recently installed a new graphics card or updated the windows the card is likely to be hidden from the adapters list and you’ll need to tweak some settings to get your card back from the hidden list.

Step 1: Press the combo keys of Windows logo key + R  and type the devmgmt.msc in the Run window that appears.

Step 2: Once in the Device Manager in the menu section click View and then Show hidden devices.

Step 3: After this go to the Action menu and click Scan for hardware changes. To let the system update any unhidden display adapters in the list.

Step 4: Now check if you find any new graphics drivers on the list. You can update or change the settings in there for that specific driver i.e. update or reinstall the driver.

Update your BIOS

BIOS (Basic Input Output System) does the hardware initialization and it serves in the startup of all the processes for booting of your system. So as it is the basic point where all the hardware is loaded and engaged in with, if the graphics card is not properly initialized by the BIOS we can set things right by updating our BIOS to anew.

Step 1: Press the Windows logo key + R combination and then type msinfo32 into the Run window that appears and press return.

Step 2: This will bring the Microsoft System Information window. In the System Summary search for BIOS Version/Date.

Step 3: Now go to the support site of the manufacturer’s website and download the latest BIOS update.

Step 4: Download and install it, now Restart your system and see if the issue is resolved or not.

Enable Graphics Processing Unit in BIOS

In case you have two graphics cards installed on your system. One integrated within the system and one installed afterward, Windows maybe isn’t detecting your second card. You need to enable it in the BIOS settings.

Step 1: Restart your system and hold down the F2 + Del keys together while the system is booting to enter the BIOS menu.

Note: To enter BIOS every manufacturer has a different key combination, find your specific one if the above one doesn’t work for you.

Step 2: Once inside the BIOS menu search for a GPU feature. You’ll most probably find it in Chipset settings. Then Enable it in the configuration section. (GPU another name is switchable graphics so keep it in mind while looking for the settings)

Otherwise, if you happen to know the details of your graphics card you can search for the specific driver by going to manufacturer website and download the latest update.

Ever since Windows 10 has been released users have been facing problems in graphics cards as well as other numerous problems with other software and hardware.

Install Nvidia drivers manually

If you’re facing issues with Nvidia graphics card not working properly. Download the latest version of drivers for your Nvidia graphics card. Prior to installing new one make sure to uninstall the previous one from your system.

Step 1: Open Control Panel<Programs and Features or Settings App<Apps section and look for Nvidia drivers.

Step 2: Uninstall all the Nvidia drivers you find here.

Step 3: Once all the previous drivers are uninstalled Restart the system to clean all the cache debris.

Step 4: Go to the Nvidia website to find the specific driver for your graphics card. Or Using Nvidia Smart Scan you can automatically detect the Nvidia hardware installed on your system and download the driver for that precisely.

AMD Radeon Graphics

In case your Windows is not detecting AMD graphics card. You need to download the latest version of the driver to make sure it works properly under the new update of Windows 10 and doesn’t face any compatibility issues. And do that first you need to uninstall the previous driver installed on your system. Remember you need to install the exact driver for your card, installing the wrong driver can potentially damage the system or make things difficult for you to keep hold of.

Step 1: Open Control Panel<Programs and Features or Settings App<Apps section and look for AMD drivers.

You sometimes need to uninstall the driver from Device Manager. Go to device manager and under Display Adapters select the AMD drivers, right-click and press uninstall.

Step 2: Uninstall all the AMD drivers you find here in the settings.

Step 3: Restart the system and cancel attempts by the operating system if any to install the device drivers for the graphics card.

Step 4: Now go to the AMD website to get the specific driver for your graphics card. You can use the AMD Driver Auto-Detect Tool to get the latest drivers for your AMD graphics. This small program will detect the model of AMD graphics card installed on your computer.

Step 5: After installing the new downloaded drivers restart your system for the changes to get an effect and let your system initialize the graphics card in booting.

Enable Services – AMD Radeon

Step 1: Press Windows logo key + R combination and then type services.msc into the Run window that appears and press return.

Step 2: Now search for AMD Display driver service.

Step 3: Select it, right-click the service and press Start under Service status. Also, select the automatic option on the Startup type list.
Step 4: Restart your system to know if the changes have been useful or not.