Wifi disabled in BIOS but W10 still installs drivers and enables Wi-Fi

I don't use Wi-Fi. Never have, never will. I've disabled it in BIOS, but Windows 10 still sees the adapter and installs drivers for it and Bluetooth.

If it didn't result in the Airplane mode button showing in the Network Connections list I would probably find a way to cope with it. It seems the only way to get rid off that button is not to have Wi-Fi. My last board, an MSI X99A Tomahawk had no wi-fi at all and the button was not there.

So - If Windows rudely ignores the fact that it is disabled it in the BIOS how can I completely get rid of the Wi-fi connections and software such that it doesn't re-install after a reboot, and gets rid of the Airplane mode button?

Thanks

Lol, that seems counter-intuitive. If you disable a device in the BIOS one would assume that is because you don;t want it to be available to the OS.

Additionally, when I install W10 I *always* disable my Ethernet adapters in the BIOS so that I don't have to deal with drivers being downloaded and installed during the install stage, or have to deal with a Microsoft account. Windows does not detect and install drivers for the Ethernet adapters - Only the Wi-Fi adapter.

Once the OS is installed I can then make the necessary changes to stop drivers being installed. However, for the Wi-Fi adapter there seems to be no way to completely and permanently get rid of it.

Very strange indeed!

You mention that it can be blocked. Could you please provide more details on how..

thanks

To temporarily or permanently turn off windows driver updates this link may be useful:
Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10 Windows 10 Windows Update Activation Tutorials

bro67 said:

You are looking way too deep into this. Just disable the onboard wifi adapter if there is one if you can in the bios. Otherwise disable and uninstall the device in Device Manager and set in System under Control Panel for Windows to not control Devices and update drivers.

The on board Wifi WAS disabled in the BIOS. I'm so sick of Microsoft ignoring my settings, resetting my settings and so on whenever it feels like it. If I disable something in the BIOS it's because I don't want it accessible to the OS.

It was not just sitting there in the inventory of Device Manager. Every time I install the cumulative updates Bluetooth was be re-enabled. The Airplane button was showing and I couldn't get rid of it, to mention just a couple of irritating symptoms.

In any case; I have found a workaround.

Firstly, I had to block the installation of the Class GUID for the Wifi adapter in my local GPO, and also for the matching device ID, reboot, then I could uninstall the Wifi Adapter from Device Manager. Then I had to also uninstall the Bluetooth adapter (and uninstall the driver software for it - this option was not available for the Wifi Adapter).

Reboot again, and viola. The drivers and software are not reinstalled. The Wifi and Bluetooth adapters are gone and stay gone.

And what prompted all this is the damn Airplane Mode button that was showing at the bottom of the network connections list.. Was driving me nuts. But thankfully it's now gone! What a PITA.

The GPO restrictions is the only thing that works. The uninstall of drivers simply resulted in them being reinstalled next boot (Even with the adapter disabled in the BIOS). Setting device Installation Settings to No (off) didn't work. Turning off the installation of drivers from Microsoft didn't work.

Problem solved.