Have you ever had situations where you had to disable driver updates in Windows 10? Of course, many will answer this question in the affirmative, since it was simply impossible to work in the system of this particular modification due to the installation of the October update (and not only it), because updates, despite all user actions, are installed in a forced manner and regardless of your desires. Actually, in the service packs themselves, designed exclusively for the operating system, quite often you can find the presence of updates for the management software of some hardware or virtual components. But to the user they are completely unnecessary, because after installing them with the equipment (and the entire system as a whole), a lot of problems arise.
Why is it necessary to deactivate automatic driver updates?
To begin with, let's see what specific reasons may require user intervention. The most basic problem is that with active automatic driver updates, it searches for control software exclusively in its own databases or on Microsoft servers, after which it installs only the driver that seems most suitable to itself. Such "optimization" often leads only to the fact that the computer or laptop stops correctly waking up from sleep mode, and instead of the "Desktop" or the password entry window, a black screen appears, when the system starts up or during its operation the blue death screens "fly out" , and in general, the system begins to terribly slow down, now and then freezing 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 must be abandoned. You can do this 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 as detailed as possible.
Disabling automatic driver installation through system settings
So, before starting to consider the main issue, you need to make some important settings. First, call the standard “Control Panel” (the control command in the Run console), and then go to the devices and printers section.
After that, through the PCM, on the icon of your computer, indicated by the icon in the form of a stationary system unit, use the item for installation of devices, and in the request for automatic download and installation of drivers check the box "No". Then save the changes and, just in case, perform a full restart of the system.
Prevent Windows 10 driver updates using a proprietary utility
Now we proceed directly to the prohibitions. It is believed that disabling driver updates in Windows 10 in the simplest way is possible by using a special program from Microsoft called Show or hide updates. The application is downloaded from the official site 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 for deactivating the installation of unnecessary driver updates is to use group policy settings. To begin, consider the deactivation of the automatic installation of updates for individual devices. Let's take a graphic adapter as an example (the procedure for other equipment is no different).
Before disabling the update of video card drivers, in Windows 10 you need to call the “Device Manager”, go to the details tab through the properties of the graphics adapter and copy the longest line containing the DEV and VEN identifiers from the list of equipment 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 restrictions section on installing devices, as shown in the picture above.
On the right, go into the settings for the prohibition on installing devices with the specified codes, turn it on, click the "Show" button in the window on the left, insert the previously copied data in a new window, and save the exposed options twice. Restart of the system without fail is not necessary.
Group Policy Actions: Option Two
If you want to disable updating Windows 10 drivers 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 disable the request to the “Update Center”.
Then simply enable this option and apply the changes made again.
Deactivating the automatic update of hardware drivers through the registry: method one
Now suppose that in your edition of the system the editor is unavailable (locked). But after all, both the standard limited modification of Windows 10 and Windows 10 Pro still duplicate the policy options in the registry. Thus, in the case of a separate device, for which it is required to perform a ban, you can use the proposed solution further.
You 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 the number in the order from one unit onwards, 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 updating Windows 10 drivers with deactivating the use of the "Update Center", in the same branch and main section, navigate to the Windows folder and find the DriverSearching directory in it. Again, if it is not there, you need to create it yourself.
On the right through the RMB in the free area of the window, create a new DWORD parameter with a bit of 32, assign it the name SearchOrderConfig, and set it to zero in the value field, and then confirm the configuration change.
IMPORTANT! When performing any operations with the system registry after installing the required options and parameters, the system is rebooted without fail.
What can be done with the services responsible for updating?
How to disable driver updates in Windows 10, figured 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 to disable it in the main settings of the "Control Panel" or through the settings section is not recommended. It will not give a tangible effect anyway.
You will need to call the services section (services.msc), where Windows Update is not presented as a single service, but as four active processes:
- Update Center itself;
- Windows Installer
- Windows Installer
- delivery optimization.
For all four services, sequentially double-click to enter the parameter editor, click the stop button, and only then select the disabled startup option from the drop-down list. As in the case of politicians, a reboot is not mandatory, but just in case, so to speak, to be completely sure, restarting will not hurt.
And only after completing all the above steps, it will be safe to say that the drivers will not be automatically updated. But the updates for the system itself, whether you want it or not, will still be installed with enviable constancy. Alternatively, in the update settings available for change through the options menu, you can specify the time for which the installation may be delayed.