Windows 10: An open letter to Microsoft regarding device drivers

Your partner Intel reneged on its early promise to support Windows 10. Intel small business marketing blogged in January 2016: "You might be resisting [migrating to Windows 10] because you're worried Windows 10 won't work with older computers. But rest easy, it's backwards compatible, meaning it's designed to work with older and newer computers alike. Upgrading your hardware can be expensive, so start with a free operating system update."

But after Intel's beancounters realized just how much it would cost, small business marketing slinked away from its promise, even going so far as to delete the offending blog entry from its website.

It was never officially announced, though two former Intel employees mentioned it in Intel forums, that Intel does not support Windows 10 on processors and related graphics before Ivy Bridge (3rd Generation Core). Intel's Windows 10 support page indicates this.

Customers with Sandy Bridge (2nd Generation Core) or earlier processors can install a graphics card to get around the restriction, as NVIDIA and AMD offer Windows 10 graphics and audio drivers for their graphics cards. Microsoft offers a Windows 10 graphics driver for Sandy Bridge, though it's actually a modified version of a similar driver, probably Ivy Bridge, with it working for most purposes.

But as Intel would admit, modifying and qualifying drivers are two very different things.

Microsoft took it upon itself to provide drivers for orphaned hardware, but management appears to not understand the implications, as a driver modified to work on an 8-series chipset, for example, will not necessarily work on a 6-series chipset.

Many drivers have appeared for older hardware via Windows Update since Windows 10 was introduced. Every now and then, a driver will be offered for Windows 7 or 8.1. However, when the driver is researched, i.e. when More Information is invoked within Windows Update, the description is either blank, generic, "coming soon," or pertaining to a completely different issue.

This author suspects that in this case a Microsoft developer was attempting to solve a problem on a specific platform. However, he neglected to test the driver on all platforms to which it would be offered, a major blunder of assumption.

Many users have decided that Microsoft can no longer be trusted. It's common now to read comments from users regarding their firm belief that Windows updates can safely be ignored. This was a major contributor to WannaCrypt infections.

Users of Windows 7 and 8.1 have a choice, albeit one that requires constant vigilance; they can set Windows Update to not install updates automatically and not accept recommended updates. This isn't a practical solution for the millions of people for whom computers are magic, however.

Windows 10 neurotically cannot leave some old hardware, e.g. Creative sound cards, alone. After the proper driver is installed, Windows continues to meddle, notifying the user that it intends to "Finish installing device software," after which the sound card no longer functions.

HP's Windows 10 policy states: "If you purchased your computer prior to August 2013, HP has not tested or developed drivers for your computer model. Some features might not work, or the installation might not be successful."

HP's ProBook 4540s laptop was released early in 2013, so it's technically not supported by HP. Immediately after the recent HP divorce, all drivers for this laptop disappeared from HP's website. Eventually most, but not all drivers reappeared. To clean-install Windows 10, five drivers must be borrowed from other laptops and repositories of Windows 8.1 drivers. For four of them, the latest one is the best, but for the fifth, the latest one is not accepted, with the second-latest one working okay. However, Windows 10 insists on installing the wrong drivers.

Enterprise versions allow for the refusal of updates, but the ones for the great unwashed do not. Windows 10 Pro does offer a way to refuse future drivers: open Control Panel, click on System and Security, click on System, click on Advanced system settings, click on the Hardware tab, click on Device Installation Settings, and select No.

However, this refusal policy needs to be set as soon as a Windows 10 system is created with working drivers to prevent Windows from interfering. And it will, almost immediately.

Microsoft must make a firm commitment that this setting to refuse drivers will be maintained in all future editions of Windows 10. Otherwise, systems with old hardware will break.

And for the record, this is not a paranoid, irrational rumination, as the refusal policy was reset when transitioning from 1607 to 1803.



P.S. With the exception of certain distributions, e.g. Debian which suffers heartburn over proprietary drivers, Linux does not have problems with drivers. During installation, users can choose to stay with free drivers or install proprietary ones. And as time goes on, Linux does not replace their drivers with ones that break functionality. Take a note.

:)

 

Question regarding Playback devices for Windows 10

We suggest that you run the hardware and device troubleshooter to identify the cause of the issue and to fix it. Please follow these steps:

• Open the Control Panel.
• On the top-right corner, type Troubleshooting.
• Click on Troubleshooting from the list of result.
• On the left pane, click on View all link.
• From the list, click on Hardware and Devices.
• The troubleshooter will now open. Follow the on-screen guide.

If you need further assistance, let us know.

 

synaptics Pointing Device Driver

Try Uninstalling your device first, restart and then Install again.

Step 1:

• Open device manager by right clicking This PC and select Manage. On the left pane, click the same.
• Under Mouse and pointing devices, right click the synaptics driver and click Uninstall.

Step 2:

Restart when prompted. Remember, Restart!

Step 3:

Install the synaptics driver again using the setup utility provided by the manufacturer

 

USB microphone show up under "Other Devices" in the Device Manager

Hi Luke,

We suggest that you update the device driver. You can do that by following these steps:

• 
  Select the Start button, type Device Manager, and select
  it from the list of results.
  
• 
  Expand the category where your device is located, then right-click on the name of your device, and select Update Driver Software.
  
• 
  Select Search automatically for updated driver software.
  

If Windows doesn't find a new driver, you can try looking for one on the device manufacturer's website and follow their instructions.

If updating the device driver doesn't work, we suggest that you reinstall the driver:

• 
  Open Device Manager.
  
• 
  Right-click on the name of the device.
  
• 
  Select Uninstall.
  
• 
  Restart your PC and Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver.
  

Let us know how it goes.

Regards.