RTX not supported on GPU 0 - AskLinkIddDriver occupying GPU slot on Razer Blade 15

Omniverse Isaac Sim
1

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System: Razer Blade 15 2022 (RZ09-0421), Intel i7-12800H + NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU

Isaac Sim version: 5.1.0-rc.19
OS: Windows 11
Driver: 32.0.16.1047

Issue:
Isaac Sim always fails with “Raytracing is not supported on GPU: 0”.

Root cause identified: “AskLinkIddDriver Device” is occupying GPU 0 slot, pushing the RTX 3070 Ti to GPU 1. Isaac Sim always selects GPU 0 which is the virtual display driver, not the actual NVIDIA GPU.

Already tried:

  • Updated NVIDIA driver to latest
  • Set BIOS to Discrete GPU only
  • Set kit.exe to High Performance in Windows Graphics settings
  • Uninstalled AskLinkIddDriver but it comes back
  • Tried --/renderer/activeGpu=1 launch parameter (caused “Invalid backbuffer” error)

How can I force Isaac Sim to use GPU 1 (RTX 3070 Ti)?

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GPU Information

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  • Driver Version:

Topic Description

Detailed Description

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Error Messages

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2

Thanks for the detailed diagnosis – identifying the AskLinkIddDriver as the root cause saves a lot of back-and-forth.

What’s Happening

The “AskLinkIddDriver Device” is a Windows Indirect Display Driver (IDD) – a virtual display adapter typically installed by remote desktop or virtual monitor software (AnyDesk, Parsec, Sunshine/Moonlight, RustDesk, etc.). It registers as a GPU in the DirectX/Vulkan device list, and on your system it landed at index 0, pushing the RTX 3070 Ti to index 1.

Isaac Sim’s renderer enumerates all GPU devices via Vulkan/DirectX, then selects the first RTX-capable one. When the IDD adapter sits at index 0, the renderer tries it first, finds no raytracing support, and reports the error you’re seeing. The --/renderer/activeGpu=1 flag should point it to the correct GPU, but the “Invalid backbuffer” error occurs because on Windows, the presentation swapchain (backbuffer) is normally created on the GPU that owns the display output, and there’s a mismatch when the window is on a different adapter.

Fix

Option 1 – Disable the IDD driver (recommended)

  1. Open Device Manager (Win+X > Device Manager)
  2. Expand Display adapters
  3. Right-click AskLinkIddDriver Device > Disable device
  4. Relaunch Isaac Sim

To prevent it from coming back, find which application installed it. Open an elevated PowerShell and run:

pnputil /enum-drivers | Select-String -Pattern "AskLink" -Context 5,5

This will show the driver package and its original source. Uninstall the parent application or its virtual display component, then remove the driver:

pnputil /delete-driver <oem##.inf> /uninstall

Option 2 – Use activeGpu in headless/streaming mode

If you need the IDD driver for remote access and run Isaac Sim headless or via streaming:

isaac-sim.bat --no-window --/renderer/activeGpu=1

The --no-window flag skips backbuffer/swapchain creation, which avoids the “Invalid backbuffer” error you hit when using --/renderer/activeGpu=1 with a window.

Option 3 – Force GPU via Windows settings

  1. Open Settings > System > Display > Graphics
  2. Add kit.exe (located in your Isaac Sim install under kit/kit.exe)
  3. Click Options > select High performance (which maps to the NVIDIA GPU)
  4. This only helps with Windows GPU preference for DX12; it may not override Vulkan device enumeration, but it’s worth trying in combination with Option 1

Verifying the Fix

After disabling the IDD driver, launch Isaac Sim and check the log file. You should see a GPU table like this in the log (under [gpu.foundation]):

| GPU | Name                          | Active | LDA | GPU Memory |
| 0   | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti    | Yes: 0 |     | 8192 MB    |

If the RTX 3070 Ti is listed as GPU 0 with Active: Yes, you’re good.

Note on Driver Version

Your driver shows as 32.0.16.1047 – that’s the Windows internal version format. The NVIDIA version is the last five digits: 580.88 (R580 branch). Isaac Sim 5.1.0 recommends driver R580+, so your driver should be compatible: Isaac Sim Requirements — Isaac Sim Documentation

3

Update:

  • Uninstalled AskLink application and deleted all three drivers (oem27, oem22, oem41)
  • Set BIOS to Discrete GPU only
  • Uninstalled Intel Iris Xe Graphics from Device Manager (hidden devices)
  • Device Manager now shows only NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti

But Isaac Sim still shows deviceMask: 1 and same RTX error. It seems Vulkan still enumerates two GPUs even though only the NVIDIA GPU is visible in Device Manager.

What is the next step to verify/fix the Vulkan GPU enumeration order?

4

Good progress getting Device Manager cleaned up – that’s the right direction.
The remaining issue is that Vulkan has its own GPU enumeration path that doesn’t
depend on Device Manager. It reads from the Windows registry directly, so ghost
ICD (Installable Client Driver) entries from the removed AskLinkIddDriver can
persist even after the device is gone from Device Manager.

What’s Happening

Vulkan enumerates GPUs through registry keys under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers

Each entry maps to an ICD .json manifest file on disk. Even though you deleted
the oem27/oem22/oem41 .inf packages and the device no longer shows in Device
Manager, the Vulkan ICD entry may still be registered. That’s why deviceMask: 1
persists – Vulkan is still seeing a phantom adapter at index 0.

Fix – Clean Up the Vulkan ICD Registry

Step 1: Check what’s in the registry

Open an elevated PowerShell and run:

Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers" | Format-List

Look for any .json path that references AskLink, IddDriver, IndirectDisplay,
or any path that no longer exists on disk. Also check the 32-bit hive:

Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers" | Format-List

Step 2: Verify the file actually exists

For each entry, check whether the .json file is still on disk. Example:

Test-Path "C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\asklinkidddriver_*.inf_amd64_*\AskLinkIddDriverVulkan.json"

If the path doesn’t exist, the entry is a ghost.

Step 3: Remove ghost ICD entries

For any entry that no longer has a file on disk, delete the registry value. Replace
C:\path\to\ghost.json with the actual path from Step 1:

# Elevated PowerShell
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers" -Name "C:\path\to\ghost.json"
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers" -Name "C:\path\to\ghost.json"

Step 4: Verify with vulkaninfo

Isaac Sim ships its own vulkaninfo. Run it to confirm only one GPU is listed:

C:\isaacsim\kit\vulkaninfo.exe --summary

You should see only the NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti in the device list, no IDD adapter.

Step 5: Relaunch Isaac Sim

After cleaning the registry, launch normally (without --/renderer/activeGpu).
Check the log for the GPU table – the RTX 3070 Ti should be GPU 0 with Active: Yes.

Alternative: Force DirectX instead of Vulkan

If the Vulkan ICD cleanup is complicated, a quick workaround is to switch Isaac Sim
to DirectX (D3D12). DirectX respects Windows GPU preference settings and is less
affected by ghost ICD entries. Edit C:\isaacsim\apps\isaacsim.exp.full.kit and
add vulkan = false under the [settings.app] section:

[settings.app]
# ...existing settings...
vulkan = false

This bypasses the Vulkan enumeration entirely. Performance is comparable on Windows
since D3D12 is the native API. Several users with similar multi-adapter enumeration
issues have had success with this workaround (see this related thread).

5

Hi @renault1424, we wanted to follow up on the Vulkan ICD registry cleanup steps shared above. Since we haven’t heard back, we’re closing this thread. 32.0.16.1047 represents 610.47 driver version. It’s not a production branch driver. Please use 595.97, stated in Technical Requirements — Omniverse Developer Guide. If the ghost registry entries are still causing issues or the steps didn’t resolve it, please open a new topic on the forum or the Isaac Sim GitHub and link back to this thread that way we can continue helping. Thanks for the detailed diagnosis!