> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://soundforgepro.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # VEGAS Pro Error 0x80660008: The NVIDIA Driver Fix That Works - URL: https://soundforgepro.com/vegas-pro-error-0x80660008/ - Published: 2026-11-05T17:47:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T17:46:59.000Z - Description: Error 0x80660008 hits VEGAS Pro 22 and older when NVENC renders meet an NVIDIA driver from 591.44 on. Roll back to 581.80 or 581.57, keep the update from returning, or render with MainConcept AVC; VEGAS 2026 and 2027 need different steps. - Author: Erick Finn - Tags: Troubleshooting, Boris FX **VEGAS Pro error 0x80660008 has no official meaning, but the reports point one way: VEGAS Pro 22 or older, or Movie Studio, rendering with NVENC on an NVIDIA driver from 591.44 on. Driver 581.80 Game Ready or 581.57 Studio fixed it in more reported cases than anything else; MainConcept AVC gets the file out on the CPU, slower.** VEGAS Pro 23 and later don't share the problem, and two of three VEGAS Pro 2026 reports were fixed by a newer driver. Check your driver number first, because it decides which fix applies. [NVIDIA's answer on finding the installed driver version](https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a%5Fid/2039/~/how-do-i-determine-which-nvidia-display-driver-version-is-currently-installed?ref=soundforgepro.com) gives two places: NVIDIA Control Panel > System Information, or Device Manager > Display adapters > Properties > Driver tab, where the last five digits of the version are NVIDIA's number, so a version ending in 15.8180 is 581.80\. After that come four checks in order: the VEGAS version, the driver rollback, the encoder switch and, if neither changes anything, the source clip. My rule is simple: if VEGAS Pro 22 or older is the editor you deliver from every day, I'd put 581.80 back, switch off automatic driver downloads and leave the PC alone. A CPU render is fine for a single deadline. An upgrade to the current VEGAS Pro, which needs Windows 11, makes sense only if you wanted the newer version anyway. ## What error 0x80660008 means in VEGAS Pro No published list gives 0x80660008 a meaning. The code is missing from [Microsoft's list of HRESULT values](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/openspecs/windows%5Fprotocols/ms-erref/705fb797-2175-4a90-b5a3-3918024b10b8?ref=soundforgepro.com), and VEGAS has no text for it either: the render dialog reads "An error occurred while creating the media file", followed by "Error 0x80660008 (Message missing)", exactly as [a Movie Studio 17 Platinum user quoted it on Steam](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1252010/discussions/0/796711696289963842/?ref=soundforgepro.com). What the reports share is a pattern. The render uses an NVENC template or an NV Encoder setting, the PC has an NVIDIA card, and the failure starts after a driver update. The first sign often appears before the render: in Customize Template, with NV Encoder selected, the Preset drop-down is empty, which is how [a VEGAS Pro Edit 21 user on Studio driver 591.44](https://steamcommunity.com/app/2520980/discussions/0/688617322850580974/?ref=soundforgepro.com) first spotted it. NVIDIA's side of the change is documented, and it sits on the same 581/591 line. Under Discontinued Support, [NVIDIA's 591.44 release notes](https://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/591.44/591.44-win11-win10-release-notes.pdf?ref=soundforgepro.com) state that R580 is the last driver branch to support the older NVENC presets and rate control modes, and that applications compiled with them "will stop working if upgraded to R590 branch drivers (59x.xx)". The 581 drivers belong to R580, and 591.44 is the first R590 release in NVIDIA's Game Ready and Studio lists. The Video Codec SDK [deprecation notices](https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/13.0/deprecation-notices/index.html?ref=soundforgepro.com) had warned that applications using the old presets "will stop working in a future driver version", and the [NVENC preset migration guide](https://docs.nvidia.com/video-technologies/video-codec-sdk/13.0/nvenc-preset-migration-guide/index.html?ref=soundforgepro.com) maps them to the P1–P7 presets introduced in SDK 10.0. NVIDIA's notes name no application, and neither NVIDIA, MAGIX nor Boris FX has said that VEGAS Pro 22 and older use the older presets. I'd treat that as the explanation that fits the reports, not a confirmed cause. It fits closely: every driver the threads name as working with VEGAS Pro 22 or older is a 581 release, the driver failures start at 591.44, and VEGAS Pro 23 renders with NVENC on current drivers. In [NVIDIA's developer-forum thread about driver 591.44](https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/drivers-591-44-broke-nvenc-getencodepresetconfig-no-longer-works/353613?ref=soundforgepro.com), an NVIDIA employee wrote on December 10, 2025 that an old preset function working in earlier drivers "was a bug, and is fixed in newer driver". That post doesn't name VEGAS; a user in the same thread had reported four days earlier that 591.44 broke VEGAS rendering on an RTX 5070 Ti with this exact code, and others there named Filmora, Sunshine and Parsec. The practical point follows from NVIDIA's wording: the change applies to R590 drivers and above, so a newer driver isn't expected to bring the old presets back, and no thread reports one that restored NVENC in VEGAS Pro 22 or older. ## Which VEGAS versions and NVIDIA drivers are affected The reports cover VEGAS Pro 22 and older plus VEGAS Movie Studio. One user with [VEGAS Pro 17, 18, 19, 21 and 22 installed](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/0x80660008-error-message-when-rendering/24262?ref=soundforgepro.com) found that none of them would render, and the Steam editions of VEGAS Pro 21 and 22 and Movie Studio 17 Platinum appear in the same pattern. Newer versions behave differently. | VEGAS version | What the reports show | What to do | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------- | | VEGAS Pro 22 or older, Movie Studio | NVENC renders fail with 0x80660008 or an empty preset list on drivers from 591.44 on | Install 581.80 or 581.57, or render without NVENC | | VEGAS Pro 23 | Forum staff report no NVENC problem on current drivers | If a render still fails, test another source clip | | VEGAS Pro 2026 | NVENC options missing on an old driver, back after an update | Update the NVIDIA driver | | VEGAS Pro 2027 | The GPU encoder is chosen in Preferences > File I/O | Check the hardware encoder setting | The driver numbers matter more than the dates, so here are the ones the reports turn on: - [581.80 Game Ready](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/details/257496/?ref=soundforgepro.com), released November 4, 2025: a WHQL driver, the last Game Ready release before the change and still listed in NVIDIA's driver search. - [581.57 Studio](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/details/257327/?ref=soundforgepro.com), released October 14, 2025: the last Studio release before the change, supporting cards from the GeForce RTX 50 series back to the GTX 10 series. - Older 581 releases, 581.29 (September 10, 2025) and 581.42 (September 30, 2025), also worked for users. - 591.44, released December 4, 2025: the first R590-branch Game Ready and Studio release, and the first driver in the reports to break NVENC renders in older VEGAS. - 610.47 and the October 6, 2026 release, listed by NVIDIA as 617.42: still failing. The VEGAS Pro Edit 21 thread has a user who tried the October driver on October 11, 2026 and went back to 581.80. ![Decision map: VEGAS Pro 22 or older and Movie Studio lead to NVIDIA 581.80 Game Ready or 581.57 Studio, with MainConcept AVC, Voukoder Pro or a move to VEGAS Pro 23 as alternatives; VEGAS Pro 23 points to the source clip, 2026 to a driver update and 2027 to Preferences > File I/O](https://soundforgepro.com/content/images/2026/10/fix-by-version-map.webp) Pick the fix by VEGAS version: the driver rollback applies only to VEGAS Pro 22 and older. ## Fix 1: roll back to a 581 NVIDIA driver Installing a 581 driver is the fix with the most confirmations, and it's the one Boris FX gives. Its Senior Product Manager told [a VEGAS Pro 22 user on an RTX 5090](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/al-actualizar-los-drivers-de-mi-rtx5090-no-puedo-renderizar-ningun-video/22610?ref=soundforgepro.com) that "all we can recommend is that you step back to the previous driver", and that user went on to confirm 581.80\. I'd take 581.80 Game Ready unless the PC already runs Studio drivers, because it's the newer of the two and has more confirmations in the threads; on a Studio setup, 581.57 keeps you on that branch. The reliable route is a clean install, following [NVIDIA's manual clean-install steps](https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a%5Fid/10/~/nvidia-app-driver-installation-failed.-how-do-i-manually-clean-install-the?ref=soundforgepro.com): 1. Download 581.80 or 581.57 from the NVIDIA driver pages linked above, not from third-party driver sites or mirrors, and keep the file. 2. Close VEGAS and every other open application. 3. Right-click the installer, choose Run as administrator and accept the license. 4. Choose Custom (Advanced), then turn on Perform a clean installation. 5. Finish the install and restart the PC. 6. In VEGAS, open File > Render As, pick an NVENC template, click Customize Template and check that the Preset list under NV Encoder is filled again. Two shortcuts exist, but each goes back only one driver. [Device Manager's Roll Back Driver](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/update-drivers-through-device-manager-in-windows-ec62f46c-ff14-c91d-eead-d7126dc1f7b6?ref=soundforgepro.com) sits under Display adapters > your card > Properties > Driver tab and needs an administrator account. The [NVIDIA app's driver rollback](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/software/nvidia-app/release-highlights/?ref=soundforgepro.com), added in version 10.0.3, returns to the previously installed driver and appears only after the app has installed one. If that previous driver is also 591.44 or newer, the error stays. That's what happened to [a VEGAS Pro 22 user on an RTX 4070 Ti Super](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/nv-encoder-presets-is-not-available-encoder-settings-field-is-empty-render-error-0x80660008/24585?ref=soundforgepro.com), whose accepted answer, written in Russian, says the drivers hadn't been rolled back far enough: only 581.80 worked. ![Three routes back to an earlier NVIDIA driver: Device Manager Display adapters, Properties, Driver tab, Roll Back Driver; the NVIDIA app rollback to the previously installed driver; and a clean install of 581.80 or 581.57 from NVIDIA's driver page with Run as administrator, Custom (Advanced), Perform a clean installation and Restart](https://soundforgepro.com/content/images/2026/10/nvidia-driver-rollback-routes.webp) Both rollback buttons go back one driver; a clean install from NVIDIA's page reaches 581 from any version. A PC with both an old and a new VEGAS can stay on a 581 driver. In [a Boris FX forum thread about driver 610.47](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/vp-22-nvidia-driver-61047-has-caused-nvenc-render-to-stop-working/23886?ref=soundforgepro.com), a staff moderator reverted to 581.42 and NVENC rendered in both VEGAS Pro 21 and 2026, and another member runs 581.57 with VEGAS Pro 2026\. The cost can land on other software: one forum member found that [FFmpeg 9 wouldn't encode with NVENC](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/bad-news-for-ffmpeg-nvidia-users-who-also-use-vp22-or-older/25816?ref=soundforgepro.com) unless a driver newer than 581.57 was installed. ## Stop the new driver from coming back The rollback holds only until the next driver arrives on its own. A user who went back to 581.80 in [a VEGAS Pro 22 thread about failing VBR renders](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/v-pro-22-cant-render-vbr-anymore/24496?ref=soundforgepro.com) advises switching off automatic updates in the NVIDIA app, and the member who answered [a VEGAS 21 thread fixed with 581.29](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/vegas-21-unable-to-render-error-0x80660008/21981?ref=soundforgepro.com) keeps a copy of the driver in the downloads folder. Two official switches cover the automatic routes: - **NVIDIA app.** In [NVIDIA's overview of the app](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/nvidia-app-download-and-features/?ref=soundforgepro.com), Settings > Drivers holds the option to download new drivers automatically when they're released. Leave it off. Installing still takes a click, but a downloaded driver is one click away from replacing 581.80. - **Windows Update.** Microsoft documents a Group Policy called [Do not include drivers with Windows Updates](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/waas-wu-settings?ref=soundforgepro.com), under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update, which stops drivers arriving with quality updates. It's written for administrators and needs a Windows edition with Group Policy. Keep the 581 installer in your downloads folder as well. NVIDIA still lists 581.80 in its driver search, but a local copy saves time when an update slips through. On an older VEGAS Pro 22 build, ignore any driver-update link in the Help menu; a forum user notes that build 250 no longer has it. ![Three ways to keep the 581.80 or 581.57 driver installed: NVIDIA app Settings > Drivers with automatic download off, the Windows Update policy Do not include drivers with Windows Updates, and the 581 installer file kept in the downloads folder](https://soundforgepro.com/content/images/2026/10/stop-driver-reinstall-map.webp) Switch off both update routes and keep the installer, or the next update can bring 0x80660008 back. ## Fix 2: render without NVENC Switching the encoder gets the render out on the current driver, at the cost of speed. [VEGAS Pro 21's render help](https://help.magix-hub.com/video/vegas/en/content/topics/render.htm?ref=soundforgepro.com) gives the route: File > Render As, select a template, then Customize Template. Inside, the setting users report is Encode mode: change it from NV Encoder to MainConcept AVC, as the Movie Studio 17 Platinum user did, and the file renders on the processor. Templates without "(NVENC)" in their name also render, as the VEGAS Pro 22 user on 610.47 found. How much slower depends on the project, and the published figures come from single users with different projects: - In Movie Studio 17 Platinum, a 30-second 1080p trim with no effects took [almost 47 seconds with MainConcept AVC](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1252010/discussions/0/796711696289963842/?ref=soundforgepro.com). - A VEGAS Pro 22 user on an RTX 3060 expects renders [about a third slower without NVENC](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/v-pro-22-cant-render-vbr-anymore/24496?ref=soundforgepro.com). - On VEGAS Pro 21 with an RTX 3060 Ti, NVENC on 581.57 [cut the time to well under 50%](https://www.moviestudiozen.com/forum/vegas-pro/3632-rendering-problem-in-vegas-pro-caused-by-latest-nvidia-drivers?ref=soundforgepro.com) of the earlier non-NVENC render, by that user's account. An Intel CPU with Quick Sync offers another hardware route. [VEGAS Pro 22's File I/O preferences](https://help.magix-hub.com/video/vegas/22/en/content/topics/12-preferences/preffileio.htm?ref=soundforgepro.com) include Enable QSV Encoding and Decoding (where available), which uses Intel's encoder instead of NVIDIA's. For one delivery I'd switch the template and move on. For daily editing, the slower renders add up, and the driver fix is the better trade. ## Fix 3: Voukoder Pro for NVENC on a new driver Voukoder Pro keeps GPU encoding on the new driver by bringing its own encoder into VEGAS. [Voukoder's site](https://www.voukoder.org/?ref=soundforgepro.com) describes an FFmpeg-based plug-in that can use NVENC, Quick Sync or AMD's AMF, and sells it for 69 EUR as a one-time license or 6 EUR a month (prices on October 29, 2026), with a free trial. In the 610.47 thread, forum members name Voukoder as the way they kept GPU rendering, and a staff moderator reported the last free version still working in VEGAS Pro 22. Read the compatibility note before paying. The site's feature table marks both the VEGAS Pro 18–23 plug-in and the VEGAS Pro 2026 plug-in with "In clarification. Might work but some users are reporting issues. Test with trial license first!" I'd follow that to the letter and render a real project in the trial before buying. The free classic Voukoder isn't offered on the official site and users call it unsupported, so I wouldn't build a workflow on it. [The VEGAS plug-ins guide](https://soundforgepro.com/vegas-pro-plugins/#older-versions) shows which encoder plug-ins survived a move between VEGAS versions. ## Fix 4: move to VEGAS Pro 23 or later Upgrading removes the problem instead of working around it. Boris FX forum staff say there's no NVENC problem with VEGAS Pro 23 on current drivers, and in the 610.47 thread a staff moderator showed NVENC rendering in VEGAS Pro 23 where VEGAS Pro 22 failed. Don't wait for a patch to older versions: a staff moderator in [a thread about this error](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/0x80660008-error-message-when-rendering/24262?ref=soundforgepro.com) said they've never seen updates for older VEGAS versions, and another, in [the 610.47 thread](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/vp-22-nvidia-driver-61047-has-caused-nvenc-render-to-stop-working/23886?ref=soundforgepro.com), pointed out that Boris FX is unlikely to patch VEGAS Pro 22 or 23 because they aren't its products. The catch is the system. [The current VEGAS Pro system requirements](https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/vegas-pro/system-requirements/?ref=soundforgepro.com) list Windows 11 only and at least a GeForce RTX 20 series card on the NVIDIA side, so a Windows 10 PC can't make this jump. [The Windows 11 and Mac notes in the VEGAS Pro 23 review](https://soundforgepro.com/vegas-pro-23-review/#system-requirements-and-mac) cover the same limit, and [Boris FX announced VEGAS Pro 2027](https://blog.borisfx.com/press/vegas-pro-delivers-professional-color-management-and-faster-renders?ref=soundforgepro.com) as the current release on October 22, 2026, with improved GPU encoding on NVIDIA, AMD and Intel. I wouldn't buy an upgrade just to clear this error, because a free driver rollback does the same job for VEGAS Pro 22\. When a move is already on the table, [the upgrade advice for VEGAS Pro 22 and 23 owners](https://soundforgepro.com/vegas-pro-23-review/#should-you-upgrade-from-22-or-23) and [the VEGAS editions on the Boris FX hub](https://soundforgepro.com/boris-fx/#vegas-editions) settle which version to buy. ## VEGAS Pro 2026 and 2027: a different fix VEGAS Pro 2026 runs into the opposite problem: NVENC options go missing on an old driver and come back after an update. [A VEGAS Pro 2026 trial user on an RTX 4060 laptop](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/trail-vegas-2026-nvidia-render-options-missing/25213?ref=soundforgepro.com) saw NVENC appear after moving from driver 566.06 to 616.56, and the accepted answer in [another VEGAS Pro 2026 thread](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/nvenc-sony-vegas-pro-boris-fx/22961?ref=soundforgepro.com) was to update the graphics driver. A third 2026 case, which crashed on 581.57 and 595.79 Studio, stayed unresolved. The 581.42 report above shows a 581 driver is new enough for VEGAS Pro 2026, so one driver can serve both versions on the same PC. In VEGAS Pro 2027 the GPU encoder has moved. Forum staff explain in [a thread about rendering without the GPU in VEGAS Pro 2027](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/render-without-gpu-vegas-2027/26063?ref=soundforgepro.com) that it's now chosen as the hardware encoder under Preferences > File I/O, and a user there notes that ticking "Enable legacy H26X (AVC/HEVC) render plug-in" brings back the old template sections. A Boris FX staff member adds that legacy decoding options take renders off the new pipeline, so I'd leave that box unticked unless an old template is the only way to meet a delivery spec. ## When it's not the driver A 581 driver that doesn't clear the error, with non-NVENC templates failing too, points to the source file. On [a VEGAS Pro 22 build 250 system](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/i-cannot-render-anything-now/21569?ref=soundforgepro.com), rolling back from 595.97 to 581.08 and then 581.57 changed nothing and every template failed; the poster fixed it by running the source video through HandBrake first. The poster describes the clip only as an MP4 Base Media v1 AVC file that VEGAS rejected until HandBrake re-encoded it, so the quickest check is a short test project built from a different clip. Reinstalls don't replace the driver fix. A clean driver reinstall with a VEGAS settings reset, and in another thread a clean Windows 11 and VEGAS install, left the error in place until 581.80 went back on. Every counted case involved an NVIDIA card, and no AMD or Intel case of 0x80660008 turned up in the threads, so on those GPUs the source file is the first suspect. A render that freezes without showing this code is a separate fault. ## Test results: what 14 reported cases show No vendor publishes a failure rate for 0x80660008, so the composite here counts outcomes. It covers 14 public threads from December 2025 to October 2026 on five platforms, the Boris FX forum, Steam, Movie Studio Zen, NVIDIA's developer forum and X, where VEGAS failed a render after an NVIDIA driver change, with this code, an empty NV Encoder preset list or a failing NVENC template. Twelve name VEGAS Pro 22 or older or Movie Studio. Two, an X post and the VEGAS report in NVIDIA's developer thread, name no version; both quote the code and came within ten days of 591.44's release, so they stay in. Eleven threads quote 0x80660008; three describe the same NVENC failure without the code. Each thread counts once, however many users joined it. | Outcome | Threads (of 14) | Detail | | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Fixed with a 581 or the previous NVIDIA driver | 9 | 581.80 Game Ready in 5, as in [the VEGAS Pro Edit 21 thread that named 591.44](https://steamcommunity.com/app/2520980/discussions/0/688617322850712741/?ref=soundforgepro.com); 581.57 Studio in 2; [581.29 in 1](https://forum.borisfx.com/t/vegas-21-unable-to-render-error-0x80660008/21981?ref=soundforgepro.com); the unnamed previous driver in 1 | | Rendered without NVENC on the new driver | 4 | MainConcept AVC or another render format | | Source file, not the driver | 1 | Re-encoded in HandBrake after 581.08 and 581.57 failed | | Unresolved | 0 | Every thread ended with a working render | | A driver newer than 581.80 working | 0 | Failing drivers named: 591.44 in 3, 610.xx in 2, plus the October 6, 2026 release | All 14 involve an NVIDIA card or driver, and 11 name the model, from the RTX 3060 to the RTX 5090\. The three speed figures under Fix 2 come from single users with different projects, so they stay separate and aren't averaged. VEGAS Pro 2026 is counted apart: of 3 threads, 2 were fixed by updating the driver and 1 stayed unresolved. The composite result is clear-cut. Every thread ended with a render, a 581 driver is the fix most threads ended with, and no thread reports a newer driver bringing NVENC back. The counts describe how these threads ended, not how often the error strikes. ## Verdict: roll back, lock the driver, then decide on VEGAS My verdict: on VEGAS Pro 22 or older, clean-install NVIDIA 581.80 Game Ready, or 581.57 if the PC runs Studio drivers, switch off automatic driver downloads and keep the installer. It's the fix the threads confirm most often, it costs nothing and it keeps NVENC speed. Use MainConcept AVC for a one-off render when the driver can't change, and try the Voukoder Pro trial before paying for GPU encoding on a new driver. Move to the current VEGAS Pro only on Windows 11, and only when you'd want it anyway.