GeForce NOW exploit lets you access the full Windows desktop through a simple file swap — Modder runs local AI models on Ultimate tier with 48GB of VRAM and no restrictions

Nvidia’s GeForce NOW cloud gaming service has been a popular way to access your games on the go without worrying about hardware. It has a free tier with titles like Fortnite, not even requiring a purchase, but the paid subscription enjoys much better specs and rate limits. As such, using the “Ultimate” tier, modder Zortos was able to gain full access to the Windows desktop inside GeForce NOW, allowing him to use it as a normal computer that can (ironically) run local AI models on it.

For context, GeForce NOW is only meant for gaming; Nvidia does not advertise it as a general, all-purpose cloud streamer like Shadow PC, for instance. Hence, doing all this is certainly against the terms of service, and you run the risk of your account getting banned. With that being said, ethically, you are paying for renting hardware, so trying to gain desktop access is predicated on how far your own moral scruples allow you to go.

Anyhow, the exploit begins with an I2P (Install-to-Play) game that you download from Steam — Zortos uses Trove. You click on the publisher’s name to open the built-in browser, from where you go to your C: drive through the address bar and essentially hijack the index. You open the steamapps folder that was just created for Trove and copy the path of the main executable from the contents.

This file is replaced with a decoy that deceives Steam into thinking you’re actually starting Trove when you click on the “Play” button. In reality, it’s a modified executable developed by another modder, dpadGuy, that just opens the desktop instead. Once inside, it really is the full Windows environment with no apparent restrictions. The video below even shows Zortos installing Wallpaper Engine and customizing the taskbar.

However, users have reported some discrepancies between their experiences, such as GeForce NOW simply closing the session when it sees the File Explorer open, or the service blocking file downloads, which is a necessary step to replace the executable. Zortos insists that the exploit is still working on his X account, and he even says that if you have persistent storage, the exploit will remain active between different sessions.

Keep in mind that you need a paid tier of GeForce NOW to be able to pull this off, and even if you do, it’s against Nvidia’s ToS as you’re not allowed to venture beyond games. Running local AI models on a setup like this doesn’t make sense because of the session rate limits, but the Ultimate tier Zortos used does give you access to 48GB of VRAM (thanks to an RTX Pro 6000D) so it might be worthwhile for some.