Windows 10: Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10

How to: Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10

How to Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10


By default, Windows 10 will automatically download and install drivers in Windows Update when they are available.

Starting with Windows 10 build 14328, there's a new policy included that you can use to enable or disable to include drivers with Windows updates. This can be handy if you prefer to download and install your drivers from the device manufacturer instead.

Starting with Windows 10 build 15002, Microsoft has added an option in Settings that will now allow you to turn on or off including driver updates when you update Windows. This option was removed in Windows 10 build 15019.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable including driver updates in Windows Update in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Eduction edtions.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to enable or disable including driver updates in Windows Update.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update using Group Policy
• Option Two: To Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update using a REG file

OPTION ONE [/i] To Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update using Group Policy
*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

If this option doesn't work for you, then use Option Two below instead.
1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Update




3. In the right pane of Windows Update in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Do not include drivers with Windows Updates policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Enable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured[/B] is the default setting.

6. To Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update
A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)




7. When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update using a REG file
*note This option is more thorough than Option One.

The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD values in the registry keys below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate DWORD

0 = Enable
1 = Disable

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Update\ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate

value DWORD

0 = Enable
1 = Disable
1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update
*note This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_Drivers_in_Windows_Update.reg

Download

3. To Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_Drivers_in_Windows_Update.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. Restart the computer to apply.

8. If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Enable or Disable Automatic Updates for Windows Update in Windows 10
• How to Hide or Show Windows Updates in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Download Device Software over Metered Connection in Windows 10
• How to Block or Unblock Legacy File System Filter Drivers in Windows 10
• How to Roll Back a Device Driver to a Previous Version in Windows 10
• How to Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 10
• Enable or Disable Allow Automatically Download Updates over Metered Connections in Windows 10

:)

 

stop 1709 update

Controlling Windows updates in Windows 10 especially home is pretty limited, but you can see the following to disable driver updates:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/48277-enabl...

 

Realtek Drivers freeze videos

Can you check the update history and see if any driver update is installed? If so, uninstall that and disable driver updates:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/48277-enabl...

 

I like the "Do not include drivers with Windows updates" option there! Too often the 10 upgrade or clean install will simply grab the first available but not the actual working driver sets. Had to look up 8.1 64bit drivers from support sites to see working results on some older expansion cards here. But this will also make for selective updates as well as not seeing any like a build change if not opting for the Slow ring as far as the Insider builds go.

 

Fantastic guides Thank you so much .

 

Does anyone happen to know if this also precludes updating a driver manually via Device Manager (not talking here of using your own drivers), or is this strictly for the formal Windows Update only? It would be nice if it didn't affect DM, but it probably taps the same source, so it's hard to know.

 

Hello rseiler, *Smile

This policy will only affect having drivers available in Windows Update.

 

I have an even more interesting problem to work out on the latest 7 to 10 upgrade being seen. On a sibling's mini tower similar to the second test pc here but with an older Asus board forget even getting online! The original ISP was Netzero dial-up and even the usb WiFi adapter couldn't be made to work before the upgrade went on 7 while that is used for the 7 side on the second pc.

The onboard Lan is out as well. It the board won't take a Cat 5 RJ-45 size plug. Will now have to use a ethernet to usb adapter in a couple to see about getting the 10 upgrade activated as well as manually tracking down the possible 8.1 x64 driver sets for onboard sound, chipset, etc. When no 10 drivers are to be found that is the closest alternative to use.

 

Hi Brink, I found this perhaps the real & only solution to blocking unwanted driver updates onto an upgraded Win10 from Win7 or 8. I spent a full week trying the stop the forced nVidia GeForce G210M driver download/install which turn the screen blank - thus making any attempt to remove the driver update impossible. The Win10 Home edition does not have "gpedit.msc' capability to block driver installation based on hardware Id. And changing HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching to "0" does NOT block driver download/install either. I spent over 8 hours to test and verify the exact moment when the new G210M driver (actually 2 with different dates) were downloaded and crashed the display. That supposed to work as you pointed out in another thread <Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10> and many others.

I set up my other laptop (Win10 Home) with only WiFi connection and turn on "metered connection" to hold off all waiting downloads. But, I cannot get rid of the G210M drivers and allow others to go through. The "Hide or Show Updates" troubleshooter does not work either.

I am going to test your solution, and would appreciate some explanation on what it does to Registry. Many users don't know what Registry is, and can be dangerous if not done correctly. I also checked my Win10 Pro registry. There is no ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate key. I need to understand this wonderful solution.

PS. Using old cars as analogy to older Windows, drivers are like internal gears and moving parts. Now Microsoft is forcing all older gears and moving parts to fit Win10 power train. What's the point, if the updated drivers break Win 10? And what Microsoft will gain from migrating older Windows only to crash working PCs - even it is free until 7/29/2016? No one would buy unfit parts to fix cars. I fortunately made backup and can recover.

Thanks!

 

Hello BlindUpgrader, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

If you haven't already, you should be able to use OPTION ONE below to disable automatic updates to be able to hide the driver for now. I find setting you Internet connection to be metered in step 1 works best.

Windows Updates - Hide or Show in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

 

That sibling mini tower went well once I put in a new nic card to resolve the problem with that wanting to see the upgrade tended to after having made the image of the original 7 install while there won't be any concerns about reverting backwards from 10. The WU option will simply be left intact since there are no separate old expansion cards or other devices the updates would see problems with.

Can't say that for the main here however with the old tuner card and other old Sound Blaster model where I had to direct to Creative followed by the web updater tool for each newer build that came in. The rest of the updates coming in however so far haven't seen any problems while some have reported the WU kept bringing in the wrong one causing a few problems.

This is where the option to disable and manually go look up the correct ones at a support site will be what sees the better results. After the initial corrections are made the option to enable them again should tell if the initial problem had been resolved.

 

Hi Brink, Thanks for the quick reply. I installed the ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate key into the Registry and reboot the system. I verified the new Key and clicked on "Check for updates" under Update & Security > Windows Update to activate the search/download. The GeForce G210M driver (x 2) and Elan Input Device were still waiting for download and install along with 16 other downloads. I have version 1511, Build 10586.

Here is the unfortunate result: Both DriverSearching > SearchOrderConfig key & ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate key failed to block the driver downloads and install. There were 3 drivers downloaded and installed: (Note the different dates of NVIDIA drivers)
NVIDIA driver update for NVIDIA GeForce G210M (2/‎28/‎2016)

ELAN driver update for ELAN Input Device (12/‎18/‎2015)

NVIDIA driver update for NVIDIA GeForce G210M (11/‎19/‎2015)


After the first NVIDIA driver (11/29/2015) install, the screen turned to low resolution and required restart to "restore" the graphic display. I checked the display driver. The version became 9.18.13.4192, with date 10/13/2015. It caused low resolution display. After restart, the screen went blank. I presume it happened after the second NVIDIA driver install (2/28/2016), the screen went blank with a flashing circle and pointer. The disk is very active for 2+ hours before I forced power off. PS. The "Hide or Show Updates" troubleshooter does not work either. It found nothing.

Instead of waiting for automatic updates, I used Windows > Settings > UPDATE & SECURITY and click on "Check for updates" to activate the search, download and install. I don't know whether this made any difference.

Your explanation is clear that users can control and take the responsibility of installing drivers that fit Win10.
As you pointed out that this new KEY will be added to the anniversary update in early August. I think Microsoft has very serious work to do. I've activated my Win10 and rolled back to Win7 after this extremely frustrating experience. I hope Microsoft truly understand the serious damage on its strategic business strategy. NVIDIA is not any better as one driver eliminated the working display, and the next kill the display all together. I repeated the tests 3+ times with undeniable evidence of failures.

 

The policy in this tutorial will only work starting with build 14328, or with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update on Aug. 2nd.

 

He would definitely need to enable the Get Insider builds option and proceed to the latest 14393 now version 1607 build or one of the other more recent builds that proceeded but newer then the 14328. The 385, 383, 379 possible would be the few others. The 14393 however is apparently the equivalent Insider Preview of the Redstone 1 anniversary build as the 10585 was out just before it's own general release form two weeks later last November. The one week wait goes quick for the major update out next monday!

 

Thanks! I am not in Insider Review and don't know the association between the inside releases vs. the the publicly released version 1511, Build 10586.494. This new Key, by its name, suggests the "quality" with respect to Win10, but not with respect to customers' working PCs (for legacy upgrades and future updates). I am not a lawyer, but this policy change will certainly invite legal disputes over who can/should "intrude" on customers' PCs? My car analogy would be appropriate to explain the significance. If Tesla were to force automatic download to "fix" the auto pilot which result to death, who would be criminally liable? (PS. That hacking technology is already demonstrated on several other brands of cars, but not auto pilot.) Computers are in convenience and mission-critical applications. There are already lawsuit for which Microsoft had lost on this forced Win10 upgrade. Looks like Microsoft needs to learn its way as more applications are moving into "mission-critical" category for which Microsoft probably should not want to control "quality".

This new insider information give me some hope. I'll test again next month for the interest of many others.