diff --git a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/deviceinfo.go b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/deviceinfo.go
index 01a13e917..1bef5643e 100644
--- a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/deviceinfo.go
+++ b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/deviceinfo.go
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ type VfioDeviceInfo struct {
 	iommuGroup             int
 	iommuFDEnabled         bool
 	addressableMemoryBytes uint64
+	preConfigureDriver     string
 }
 
 // CanonicalName returns the nameused for device announcement (in ResourceSlice
diff --git a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/nvlib.go b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/nvlib.go
index 8e596f350..cc77ef726 100644
--- a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/nvlib.go
+++ b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/nvlib.go
@@ -621,6 +621,16 @@ func (l deviceLib) enumerateGpuVfioDevices(perGPUAllocatable *PerGPUAllocatableD
 	for idx, pci := range gpuPciDevices {
 		klog.Infof("Adding VFIO device for discovered GPU PCI device: %s", pci.Address)
 
+		driver, err := getDriver(pciDevicesPath, pci.Address)
+		if err != nil {
+			klog.Warningf("Skipping VFIO device %s: unable to read driver: %v", pci.Address, err)
+			continue
+		}
+		if driver != vfioPciDriver {
+			klog.Infof("Skipping VFIO device %s: bound to %q, not %q", pci.Address, driver, vfioPciDriver)
+			continue
+		}
+
 		parent := perGPUAllocatable.GetGPUDeviceByPCIBusID(pci.Address)
 		if parent != nil && !parent.Gpu.vfioEnabled {
 			klog.Infof("Skipping VFIO device for discovered GPU PCI device: %s, vfio is not enabled", pci.Address)
diff --git a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-cdi.go b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-cdi.go
index 8e5e4cdf9..fbde23b62 100644
--- a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-cdi.go
+++ b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-cdi.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -59,7 +60,13 @@ func (h *vfioCDIHandler) GetCommonEdits(enableAPIDevice bool, preferIommuFD bool
 		},
 	}
 
-	// IOMMU API device is not requested. Exit early.
+	// Always include /dev/vfio/vfio for legacy VFIO — it's required by
+	// libvirt to detect VFIO support. enableAPIDevice controls whether the
+	// preferred IOMMU backend device is also added.
+	edits.DeviceNodes = append(edits.DeviceNodes, &cdispec.DeviceNode{
+		Path: filepath.Join(vfioDevicesRoot, "vfio"),
+	})
+
 	if !enableAPIDevice {
 		return edits, nil
 	}
@@ -69,10 +76,6 @@ func (h *vfioCDIHandler) GetCommonEdits(enableAPIDevice bool, preferIommuFD bool
 		edits.DeviceNodes = append(edits.DeviceNodes, &cdispec.DeviceNode{
 			Path: iommuDevicePath,
 		})
-	} else {
-		edits.DeviceNodes = append(edits.DeviceNodes, &cdispec.DeviceNode{
-			Path: filepath.Join(vfioDevicesRoot, "vfio"),
-		})
 	}
 
 	return edits, nil
@@ -85,18 +88,14 @@ func (h *vfioCDIHandler) GetCommonEdits(enableAPIDevice bool, preferIommuFD bool
 // We automatically assume we want the legacy device if PreferIommuFD policy is not selected.
 // If more policies are added in the future, the handler needs to be enhanced to support them.
 func (h *vfioCDIHandler) GetDeviceSpecsByPCIBusID(pciBusID string, preferIommuFD bool) ([]cdispec.Device, error) {
-	nvpci := nvpci.New()
-	pciDeviceInfo, err := nvpci.GetGPUByPciBusID(pciBusID)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting PCI device info for GPU %q: %w", pciBusID, err)
-	}
-
 	devNodes := make([]*cdispec.DeviceNode, 0)
 
 	if preferIommuFD && h.iommuFDEnabled {
-		// The IOMMUFD cdev is located at /dev/vfio/devices/<vfioX> and is
-		// expected to be available if IOMMUFD is enabled on the node and the GPU is
-		// bound to the vfio driver.
+		nvpci := nvpci.New()
+		pciDeviceInfo, err := nvpci.GetGPUByPciBusID(pciBusID)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting PCI device info for GPU %q: %w", pciBusID, err)
+		}
 		if !strings.HasPrefix(pciDeviceInfo.IommuFD, "vfio") {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing iommufd cdev for GPU %q", pciDeviceInfo.Address)
 		}
@@ -104,8 +103,14 @@ func (h *vfioCDIHandler) GetDeviceSpecsByPCIBusID(pciBusID string, preferIommuFD
 			Path: filepath.Join(vfioDevicesPath, pciDeviceInfo.IommuFD),
 		})
 	} else {
+		// Read IOMMU group directly from sysfs — works for GPUs on any
+		// driver including vfio-pci (nvpci may not find vfio-bound GPUs).
+		iommuGroup, err := getIommuGroupFromSysfs(pciBusID)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error getting IOMMU group for GPU %q: %w", pciBusID, err)
+		}
 		devNodes = append(devNodes, &cdispec.DeviceNode{
-			Path: filepath.Join(vfioDevicesRoot, fmt.Sprintf("%d", pciDeviceInfo.IommuGroup)),
+			Path: filepath.Join(vfioDevicesRoot, iommuGroup),
 		})
 	}
 	devSpecs := []cdispec.Device{
@@ -117,3 +122,12 @@ func (h *vfioCDIHandler) GetDeviceSpecsByPCIBusID(pciBusID string, preferIommuFD
 	}
 	return devSpecs, nil
 }
+
+func getIommuGroupFromSysfs(pciBusID string) (string, error) {
+	iommuLink := filepath.Join(pciDevicesPath, pciBusID, "iommu_group")
+	target, err := os.Readlink(iommuLink)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to read IOMMU group symlink for %s: %w", pciBusID, err)
+	}
+	return filepath.Base(target), nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-device.go b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-device.go
index 54c935daa..c21192ef9 100644
--- a/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-device.go
+++ b/cmd/gpu-kubelet-plugin/vfio-device.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -147,6 +148,7 @@ func (vm *VfioPciManager) Configure(ctx context.Context, info *VfioDeviceInfo) e
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error getting driver details for GPU %q: %w", info.PciBusID, err)
 	}
+	info.preConfigureDriver = driver
 
 	// Skip if the GPU is already bound to the vfio-pci driver.
 	if driver == vm.driver {
@@ -192,6 +194,14 @@ func (vm *VfioPciManager) Unconfigure(ctx context.Context, info *VfioDeviceInfo)
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// If the GPU was pre-bound to vfio-pci (either tracked from Configure
+	// or detected via kernel cmdline vfio-pci.ids), leave it on vfio-pci.
+	// Rebinding to nvidia on NVLink systems hangs indefinitely.
+	if info.preConfigureDriver == vfioPciDriver || isVfioPciPrebound(info.deviceID) {
+		klog.Infof("GPU %s was pre-bound to vfio-pci, leaving on vfio-pci", info.PciBusID)
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// Change the GPU driver to nvidia.
 	err := vm.changeDriver(info.PciBusID, nvidiaDriver)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -295,19 +305,19 @@ func (vm *VfioPciManager) disableGPUPersistenceMode(pciAddress string) error {
 
 // Check if the vfio_pci module is loaded.
 func checkVfioPCIModuleLoaded() (bool, error) {
-	f, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(hostRoot, sysModulePath, vfioPciModule))
-	if err != nil {
-		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
-			return false, nil
+	for _, root := range []string{hostRoot, ""} {
+		f, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(root, sysModulePath, vfioPciModule))
+		if err != nil {
+			if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+				continue
+			}
+			return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to check if vfio_pci module is loaded: %w", err)
+		}
+		if f.IsDir() {
+			return true, nil
 		}
-		return false, fmt.Errorf("failed to check if vfio_pci module is loaded: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	if !f.IsDir() {
-		return false, nil
 	}
-
-	return true, nil
+	return false, nil
 }
 
 // Load the vfio_pci module.
@@ -322,10 +332,20 @@ func loadVfioPciModule() error {
 
 // Check if IOMMU is enabled.
 func checkIommuEnabled() (bool, error) {
-	f, err := os.Open(filepath.Join(hostRoot, kernelIommuGroupPath))
-	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		return false, nil
+	for _, root := range []string{hostRoot, ""} {
+		enabled, err := checkIommuEnabledAt(filepath.Join(root, kernelIommuGroupPath))
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if enabled {
+			return true, nil
+		}
 	}
+	return false, nil
+}
+
+func checkIommuEnabledAt(path string) (bool, error) {
+	f, err := os.Open(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
@@ -337,10 +357,38 @@ func checkIommuEnabled() (bool, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
-
 	return true, nil
 }
 
+// isVfioPciPrebound checks if a device ID is in the kernel cmdline
+// vfio-pci.ids parameter, indicating the GPU was pre-bound to vfio-pci
+// at boot and should not be rebound to nvidia during Unconfigure.
+func isVfioPciPrebound(deviceID string) bool {
+	if deviceID == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	cmdline, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(hostRoot, "/proc/cmdline"))
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	// Strip 0x prefix for comparison (vfio-pci.ids uses bare hex).
+	id := strings.TrimPrefix(deviceID, "0x")
+	for _, param := range strings.Fields(string(cmdline)) {
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(param, "vfio-pci.ids=") {
+			continue
+		}
+		ids := strings.TrimPrefix(param, "vfio-pci.ids=")
+		for _, entry := range strings.Split(ids, ",") {
+			// Entries are vendor:device, e.g. 10de:2330
+			parts := strings.Split(entry, ":")
+			if len(parts) == 2 && strings.EqualFold(parts[1], id) {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // Check if IOMMUFD is enabled.
 // We correlate the IOMMUFD support with the presence of the /dev/iommu API device.
 func checkIommuFDEnabled() (bool, error) {