Dumbfounded by Hardware manager forced updating criterion

Hello.

I have formatted a 5th gen. i5 machine today.

After Windows 10 was up to date (18362.418) and everything installed I went on the quest of updating drivers. I just used Windows Update itself and then from hardware manager, clicking on automatically update hardware for those things that felt not up to date.

Anyway, what puzzled me is for some machines Hardware Manager does:

E.g. It installed Intel's ahci driver for the hard disk. Fine. But on another also 5th generation pc I have it says msahci standar driver is the latest one.
Then I discovered that you can copy/paste VENVID and DEVID from hardware manager details on catalog.update.microsoft.com and then you can find updated drivers not previously seen in auto mode.

I have just updated Intel's ahci driver, Intel's Managament Engine Interface and my Creative sound card (newer drivers by one year).

What gives? Why neither Hardware Manager nor Windows Update can find those updated versions, even if they come from MS catalog?

eLPuSHeR said:

Hello.

I have formatted a 5th gen. i5 machine today.

After Windows 10 was up to date (18362.418) and everything installed I went on the quest of updating drivers. I just used Windows Update itself and then from hardware manager, clicking on automatically update hardware for those things that felt not up to date.

Anyway, what puzzled me is for some machines Hardware Manager does:

E.g. It installed Intel's ahci driver for the hard disk. Fine. But on another also 5th generation pc I have it says msahci standar driver is the latest one.
Then I discovered that you can copy/paste VENVID and DEVID from hardware manager details on catalog.update.microsoft.com and then you can find updated drivers not previously seen in auto mode.

I have just updated Intel's ahci driver, Intel's Managament Engine Interface and my Creative sound card (newer drivers by one year).

What gives? Why neither Hardware Manager nor Windows Update can find those updated versions, even if they come from MS catalog?

Good tip but where do you find the VENVID and DEVID references?

Inside the driver tab -> Details -> Hardware IDs

spunk said:

In Device Manager, do you see any yellow flags? If not, then You don't need any drivers. Unless the hardware is not working correctly.
Computer and motherboard manufacturers have drivers for their hardware available on their site. It may not be the latest, but they are drivers Specifically written for this board. Updating them to a newer version doesn't always work. Sometimes, a newer driver updated thru Windows Update or the Catalog are not compatible with the older hardware and the drivers that were written for it originally when it was built.are more suitable. Other then GPU drivers, most cases it doesn't make a difference. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Good tip but I am updating ONLY those drivers that are vanilla and I am pretty sure there are better alternatives available, even from Windows Update itself.

Too much obsession about drivers being up to date and assuming they are better. Not always the case.
Information on hardware is sent to MS via the telemetry, people moan on about that.

Some of my drivers from MS updates are not in the MS Catalogue nor in the Manufacturers driver list including Beta ones.
I don't care, it all works, which is what matters. Just about no effort on my part, great, no worries.

Those hardware IDs cannot be taken in isolation as all hardware has connections with other hardware and software. The context has to be taken in to account, a user won't know what that is.

I have had conflicts before between certain Intel drivers and those supplied by MS. The Intel driver causing problems with a DVD burner. The MS driver was OK. On closer research found out that the Intel driver was actually not required at all, neither did it improve performance.
If I had obsessively updated the Intel driver then the conflicts would have remained for some imagined benefit.