Customer Advisory: Azure/Nvidia GPU Driver Upgrade Required for Azure NVadsA10_v5 VMs

  • Published on May 27, 2026
  • 1 minute(s) read
  • Robert Plamondon
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The Problem

Microsoft Azure has announced a required NVIDIA GPU driver update for customers using NVadsA10_v5 virtual machines.

Azure will roll out backend GPU platform updates using newer NVIDIA host drivers (vGPU 20.x / R595.x). To remain compatible, customer VMs must use supported NVIDIA guest drivers. (Microsoft Learn)

Notification to update NVIDIA GPU driver on NVadsA10_v5 virtual machines by June 2026.

Deadline

Microsoft’s deadline for performing these updates is June 15, 2026.

Am I Affected?

You are affected if:

  • If you are using the Azure A10 family of VMs AND

    • vGPU 17.x (550.x) NVIDIA Grid drivers OR

    • Windows Legacy / Legacy LTS display drivers (31.x series) drivers

They must be upgraded before the dates noted in the announcement.

Current Driver

Upgrade Required?

Action

Latest / LTS / Supported (570.x and above)

No

No immediate action required

Legacy (vGPU 17.x)

Yes

Upgrade mandatory

Legacy LTS (31.x)

Yes

Upgrade mandatory

Identifying VMs that Need Updating

  1. In Workspot Watch, go to the “Pools” tab.

  2. Identify the pools that list “Standard_NVxads_A10_v5” in the “SKU Instances” column.

  3. For each of these pools, click anywhere in the pool row to display the “Pool Details” pane below the “Pools” pane.

  4. Check the GPU driver versions with the table below.

vGPU version

NVIDIA Grid
Driver

Windows Display Driver Version

(Watch GPU version)

Support Status

vGPU 18.5

573.76

32.0.15.7376

Supported

vGPU 18.4

573.48

32.0.15.7348

Supported

vGPU 18.2

573.07

32.0.15.7307

Supported

vGPU 18.1

572.83

32.0.15.7283

Supported

vGPU 18.0

572.6

32.0.15.7260

Supported

vGPU 17.6

553.74

32.0.15.5374

Upgrade required

vGPU 17.5

553.62

32.0.15.5362

Upgrade required

vGPU 17.3

552.74

32.0.15.5274

Upgrade required

vGPU 17.1

551.78

32.0.15.5178

Upgrade required

vGPU 16.x

535.XXX

31.0.15.3846

Upgrade required

vGPU 16.x

535.XX

31.0.15.3812

Upgrade required

In the Pool Details section, sort the GPU column to identify VMs running with older GPU drivers. The below table shows the supported and unsupported GPU Drivers.

The recommended driver is:

Recommended Version

Status

Azure Reference / Driver Setup

R573.76 (vGPU 18.6)

supported

Azure N-series NVIDIA GPU driver setup for Windows

Before Deploying to Production

Before upgrading production systems, we recommend that you:

  1. Test driver compatibility with applications and user workloads.

  2. Validate GPU application functionality.

  3. Roll out to production only after successful testing.

Microsoft recommends using Azure-supported driver installation methods only. (Microsoft Learn)

Deployment Options

Choose one of the following methods:

  1. Manual installation by users/admins.

  2. SCCM / MECM package deployment.

  3. Azure Run Command or scripted deployment.

  4. Golden image / master image update.

Deadline

Microsoft’s required upgrade completion date: 15 June 2026

Consequences

Microsoft claims that VMs using unsupported drivers may experience:

  • GPU compatibility issues.

  • Session instability.

  • Black screens.

  • GPU acceleration failure after Azure platform updates.

Microsoft Reference Documentation

If You Have Problems

If you encounter this issue before the release dates above, contact Workspot for assistance.

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