Sometimes, when using new equipment on computers with Windows systems on board, it is necessary to disable the automatic installation of drivers. Windows 10, like all of its predecessors, installs management software and driver databases, which often leads only to the fact that the equipment does not work correctly or does not work at all. Because of this, all kinds of black and blue screens appear, the computer does not exit sleep mode and hibernation. Very often, even conflicts between installed devices can be observed.
The following is a few basic techniques that even ordinary users can use. Looking ahead, one can note the important fact that most of the basic actions very much resemble the deactivation of the automatic update of the control software, so you can use some methods to solve this problem.
How to disable automatic driver installation in Windows 10 through system settings?
To deactivate this feature in Windows, the first thing you need to do is set a ban in the main system settings. To do this, call the standard panel to control the main parameters and options of the system (in Windows 10 it is easiest to do this through the “Run” console with the control command ), go to the devices and printers section, and then through the PCM on the system unit icon, call the context menu.
In it, use the item for the installation of equipment (devices), and then in the window with two options, activate the item indicating that the drivers do not need to be installed automatically.
Similarly, through RMB on the icon of the computer terminal, you can go to the properties section, call up additional parameters, click the device installation button on the equipment tab, and then set the ban in the same way. The method is completely identical to the first.
How to disable driver installation in Windows 10 through group policies?
You can also set a ban in the group policy settings (gpedit.msc). Speaking about how to disable the automatic installation of drivers in Windows 10 in this way, it should be borne in mind that you can use two options.
The first is to get to the subfolder of restrictions on installing devices through the PC configuration, administrative templates, and the system section, and on the right go to edit the ban option, enable it, and click the Show button below.
Now call the “Device Manager” (devmgmt.msc), select the necessary equipment, through the RMB menu and the property item, go to the information tab, select the display of the equipment ID in the list and copy the longest line with the VEN and DEV parameters.
After that, return to the policy editor and paste the copied data into the appropriate fields, and then save the changes.
But in this way, a ban is set only for one or more devices. How to disable automatic driver installation for all equipment in Windows 10 so that the "Update Center" does not participate in this? Easy too!
In the same section of the system, select the driver installation section, and on the right for the parameter to disable the request to use the "Update Center", set the included value. But this method is usually used to set prohibitions on updating management software.
Note: after setting the necessary options, it is not necessary to restart the entire computer system, but for complete confidence that the parameters will be changed in full, the reboot will not damage.
Deactivating driver installation through the registry
Now let's see how to disable automatic driver installation in Windows 10 using the registry settings (regedit), which duplicates policy settings, but has a higher priority.
In the editor, through the HKLM branch and the SOFTWARE subfolder, go to the policies section, find the DenyDeviceIDs section there, on the right in the window for each device, create a string parameter with a name from "1" and higher (in order) and a value in the form of a copied string from "Device Manager" .
Note: if you want to turn off access to the “Update Center” of the system, find the DriverSearching subkey, in the right part of the editor create a 32-bit DWORD parameter with the name SearchOrderConfig and a value of zero. When performing any actions in the registry, a restart of the system is required.
Techniques using policies and the registry are very similar, only in the registry, a parameter is usually deactivated by disabling it by setting a value of zero, and the prohibition is enabled in policies, which is why many people constantly get confused.
Disabling System Update Services
Just in case, you can generally deactivate the Update Center itself. To do this, find the following components in the services settings (services.msc):
- Windows Update Center.
- Windows installer.
- Module installer.
- Delivery Optimizer.
For each service, when editing options, first click the stop button of the active process, then select the disabled start type from the list and save the changes.
What to do with unsigned drivers?
In theory, the actions taken in most cases are enough. It is easy to see that they are quite similar to deactivating the installation for drivers of various updates that may be contained in some packages designed for the system itself.
But when trying to install management software that does not have a digital signature or an appropriate security certificate, the system may begin to resist. In addition, the installed software may contain dangerous undetectable virus codes. But how in Windows 10 to disable the installation of unsigned drivers, which could theoretically harm the system itself (not to be confused with deactivating signature verification, since this is the opposite action in which any driver will be installed)? You can do this as follows.
In group policies, already in the user configuration, through the sections described above, find the driver installation folder, and on the right for the digital signature parameter, first enable it, and then set either an alert or a full lock as an action. After that, it will be impossible to install any unsigned driver into the system.
Note: if you need to deactivate verification, simply disable the ban in the above parameters or use the advanced download options, and then select the same option to disable permanent signature checks in the action menu.
To protect the system from integrating drivers of doubtful origin or their updated modifications into it, use automated applications, among which you can recommend the unique DriverPack Solution and Driver Booster packages. In the process of searching for missing or updated software, they refer only to the official resources of the software developers and device manufacturers or use their own databases containing exclusively legal drivers and completely safe, proven software.