More recent Nvidia driver downloads and CUDA conflict for GTX 1060 on Surface Book 2

I use a Surfacebook 2 with a GTX 1060. I am currently an NLP course (pycharm) and have been trying to get CUDA to run. It took some doing before I found a work around, so I’m seeing if anyone else has had a similar issue.

Basically, since September, I have not been able to install any of Nvidia’s newer drivers. I am keeping my driver at 517.48. I try each new driver release, but keep the installer for 517.48 around. (This is a frequently reported problem for the Surface Book 2.)

Well, it turns out 1) the CUDA install kept overwriting my driver to a newer version (my fault for not checking the custom install options), and 2) the CUDA 11.8 requires a 520 or above driver. So, until this issue gets fixed, I’m using 11.7. Also, it only wants to be accessed on the Anaconda environment for some reason. At this point, I’m tapped out on trying to find a universal solution myself. Has anyone run into this?

At least NVIDIA is aware of that…

Open Issues:
[Microsoft Surface Book 2] Display driver fails to install on GeForce GTX 1060 [3876764]
source: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/504470/geforce-grd-52698-feedback-thread-released-111622/