After Effects can't continue : Encountered a GPU Or Graphics Driver issue

I’m having this issue with Ae 2026 on windows 11. Happy to provide my project if it’ll help recreate the issue.
This is being triggered by one thing - opening the explorer on windows or hitting the windows key to oppen the start menu - about half the time both those things are causing my whole screen (not just AE) to turn black. then when things come back after about 20sec, when I return back to Ae it gives me this same error message as OP.

Some more details about my setup:
Processor    AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor (3.70 GHz)
Installed RAM    64.0 GB
Graphics card    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER (6 GB)
Storage    2.19 TB of 5.00 TB used
System type    64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

One more thing: In the display settings, disable Hardware Accelerate Composition, Layer, and Footage Panels, and in Import, disable Hardware Accelerated Decoding.

After Effects can't continue: Encountered a GPU or graphics driver issue (I FIXED IT)

UPD: Basically, all you need to do is: 1. Remove the drivers using DDU. 2. Roll back the Studio driver to version 537.58 (Windows 11 in the link, download it for your Windows version). 3. Uninstall AE. I uninstalled it using Revo Uninstaller without scanning. 4. Remove everything related to AE and Creative Cloud using the Everything program. In the search bar, type: After Effects / Creative Cloud > Ctrl + A > Del. 5. Be careful here. Remove GPUCache, but only the one related to Adobe, AE, and everything else related to AE. 6. Download any version you need. I downloaded 2025, preferably to an SSD. THAT'S IT, YOU'LL NEVER CRASH AGAIN, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU ALT-TAB.

gtx 1650

ryzen 7 5700x

16 gb

Hi @Anik_Sarkar9020,

We managed to reproduce this error in-house and it's possible the cause is overtaxing your GPU memory.

Could you share a few more details? 

1. Are you using 3D models in the Advanced 3D renderer? 
2. If you are using A3D, can you please share a screenshot of your Renderer Settings? (This can be found in the same dropdown menu as the Classic, Advanced 3D, and Cinema 4D renderer options).
3. Are you using large 3D models?
4. Are you using Environment Light shadows?
5. Are you able to share this project with me privately?
6. Did you try temporarily switching over to Software Only mode? We're trying to narrow down the cause here and if the issue is overloading your GPU memory, then switching to Software Only will take some of the strain off your GPU. Advanced 3D requires a GPU, but it's possible that other things in your scene can switch over to CPU.

Thanks,
- David, After Effects Engineering Team

I understand others are having issues, but GPU issues can present themselves in many ways and can be caused by many different things. 
One of our developers looked at your log and can see that the driver itself is encountering a ton of errors. Two things to try:

1. Switch from Mercury GPU rendering to Software only (this is just a troubeshooting method and ideally, you want to be using Mercury GPU).
2. Roll back to a previous GPU driver. Annoyingly, GPU drivers often cause so many problems, so it's not uncommon that rolling back is necessary. It doesn't mean there's not a problem in AE, but your log is showing a ton of CUDA errors, which points to the driver.
   
   Thanks,

- David, After Effects Engineering Team

1. Yes, my monitor is connected directly to my GPU , no remote connection or anything unusual.
2. No, I’ve never modified the GPUSniffer.exe file in my After Effects installation folder.
3. This problem isn’t just happening to me , it’s also happening to many others who are working with 16 and 20 series GPUs.

Two questions: 

1. Is your monitor connected directly to your GPU or are you perhaps doing something "unique." Maybe remoting into another machine or doing something other than directly connecting the monitor to your GPU?
2. Have you ever modified a file called the GPUSniffer.exe in your After Effects application folder?

Thanks,
- David, After Effects Engineering Team

@David.Arbor Okay… thanks… Until this problem is fixed, I can’t work in After Effects… Please fix this issue quickly… If you find any solution, let me know.

Got it, thanks! I removed the link in case there was any private info in the logs, but I have them and will share them with my colleagues. Logs don't always contain the problem, but hopefully these have something useful.

Thanks,
- David, After Effects Engineering Team

@David.Arbor [link removed by mod for privacy].