Have you ever had a situation where you needed to disable driver updates in Windows 10? Of course, many will answer this question in the affirmative, because in the system itself of this particular modification, due to the installation of the October update (and not only it), it became simply impossible to work, because updates, despite all user actions, are installed forcibly and regardless of your desires. Actually, in the update packages themselves, intended exclusively for the operating system, you can often find the presence of updates for the control software of some "iron" or virtual components. But they are completely unnecessary for the user, because after their installation with the equipment (and the entire system as a whole) a lot of problems arise.
Why do I need to deactivate the automatic updatedrivers?
First, let's look at exactly what reasons user intervention might be required. The most basic problem is that with the active automatic driver update, the control software looks exclusively in its own databases or on Microsoft servers, after which it installs only the driver that seems most suitable to it. Such “optimization” often only leads to the fact that the computer or laptop no longer correctly wakes up from sleep mode, and instead of the “Desktop” or the password entry window, a black screen appears, blue screens of death constantly “fly out” at system startup or during its operation., and in general, the system starts to slow down terribly, now and then hanging up or reporting some critical failures, errors or malfunctions in the functioning of both the OS itself and some of its components.
Thus, the search and installation of driver updates should be abandoned. This can be done either through the settings of Windows itself, or through group policy management, or through the system registry. On top of that, you can deactivate the Update Center itself. Further, all methods will be described in as much detail as possible.
Disabling automatic driver installation through system settings
So, before proceeding to the main issue, you need to make some important settings. First, call the standard "Control Panel" (control command in the "Run" console), and then go to the devices and printers section.
After that, through RMB on the icon of your computer, indicated by an icon in the form of a stationary system unit, use the device installation settings item, and in the prompt window for automatic download and installation of drivers, check the “No” item. Then save your changes and do a full system restart just in case.
Prohibition of updating Windows 10 drivers using a proprietary utility
Now let's go directly to setting the bans. It is believed that the simplest method to disable driver updates in Windows 10 is to use a special program from Microsoft called Show or hide updates. The application is downloaded from the official website for free, after which it is used as a portable version.
Run the executable file, click the "Next" button, and after receiving the results of the automatic scan, mark unnecessary updates and save the changes.
How to disable automatic driver updates in Windows 10 for a specific device through group policies?
Another technique to disable the installation of unnecessary driver updates is to use Group Policy settings. To begin with, let's consider deactivating the automatic installation of updates for individual devices. Let's take the graphics adapter as an example (the procedure for other hardware is the same).
Before turning offupdating the video card drivers, in Windows 10 you will need to call the "Device Manager", through the properties of the graphics adapter, go to the details tab and copy the longest line containing the DEV and VEN identifiers from the list of hardware IDs.
After that, through the "Run" console, call the policy editor (gpedit.msc) and through the computer configuration, administrative templates and the "System" directory, find the device installation restrictions section, as shown in the picture above.
On the right, enter the settings for the device installation prohibition parameter with the specified codes, turn it on, press the “Show” button a little lower in the window on the left, paste the previously copied data in the new window and save the set options twice. It is not necessary to restart the system without fail.
Group Policy Actions: Option Two
If you want to disable Windows 10 driver updates when the Update Center may be involved in the process, find the driver installation section in the same way, but on the right in the window, select the option to use disabling the request to the Update Center.
Next, just enable this option and apply the changes made again.
Deactivating automatic update of hardware drivers through the registry: method one
Now suppose that inyour system editor is unavailable (blocked). But after all, both the standard limited modification of Windows 10 and Windows 10 Pro still duplicate policy options in the system registry. Thus, in the case of a separate device for which you want to perform the installation of a ban, you can continue to use the proposed solution.
Call the editor from the "Run" menu (regedit), and then through the HKLM branch and the SOFTWARE section find the DenyDeviceIDs directory, as shown above (if there is no such section, you will need to create it manually). On the right in the workspace, through RMB for each device, create a new string parameter, specifying numbers in order from one onwards as the name, and set the equipment ID codes copied from the Device Manager as the value.
Actions with the registry: method two
If you want to disable Windows 10 driver updates with deactivation of using the Update Center, in the same branch and main section, go to the Windows folder and find the DriverSearching directory in it. Again, if it doesn't exist, you need to create it yourself.
On the right, through RMB in the free area of the window, create a new DWORD parameter with a bit depth of 32, give it the name SearchOrderConfig, and set the value field to zero, then confirm the configuration change.
IMPORTANT! When performing any operations with the system registry after installationthe required options and parameters, the system is rebooted without fail.
What can be done about the services responsible for updating?
How to disable driver updates in Windows 10, figured it out. As an additional method and to be completely sure that updates will be installed only for the system, you can also offer the option of deactivating the Update Center itself. But it is not recommended to disable it in the main settings of the "Control Panel" or through the settings section. All the same, it will not give a tangible effect.
You will need to call the services section (services.msc), where Windows 10 Update is represented not as a single service, but as four active processes:
- "Update Center" itself;
- windows module installer;
- windows installer;
- delivery optimization.
For all four services, double-click sequentially to enter the parameter editor, press the stop button, and only then select the disabled startup option from the drop-down list. As in the case of policies, a reboot is not mandatory, but just in case, so to speak, to be sure, it does not hurt to restart.
And only after all the above steps have been completed, it will be safe to say that the drivers will not be automatically updated. But updates for the system itself, whether you like it or not, will still be installed with enviable constancy. Howoption, in the update settings, available to change through the options menu, you can specify the time for which the installation can be delayed.
