How to stop Windows 10 automatically installing Realtek audio drivers?

Ripper said:

Apologies for reviving an old thread, I've been having problems with the Realtek audio driver for a couple of weeks, there are very distracting and annoying volume changes caused by some auto level control in the driver that cannot be disabled, so I've been trying to get rid of the POS for the past couple of weeks but it keeps coming back with every restart. I found this thread when Googling for possible solutions. This is also my first post on these forums.

The solution in this thread, to deny access to the Realtek folder worked for me, but on every restart/reboot Windows would try to install the driver, fail because folder access was denied, then re-install the Microsoft driver. I learned this from the Events tab in the properties dialogue. This extended the boot time and increased hard drive thrashing. So after a couple of hours thinking of options, this is what I came up with and its been working fine through several restart/reboots:

1- Do not deny access to the Realtek folder. Let the driver install and take over.

2- Go to Contol Panel>Advanced System Settings>Hardware tab. Click on Device Installation Settings and choose 'No (your device might not work as expected)' to prevent Windows from automatically downloading device drivers.

3- Go to Device Manager. Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device and choose 'Disable'.

4- Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device again and this time choose 'Update Driver'.

A Dialogue will appear with options to automatically search for the driver online, search on disk or select from a list. Choose to select from a list. A list will appear containing the Realtek driver and the Microsoft generic driver. Select the Microsoft driver (High Definition Audio Device) and OK. You will get a warning about compatibility but ignore it.

5- Restart. When the system comes back up open the sound mixer. You should see in the window titlebar that it is using the High Definition Audio Device.

6- Just one more thing to do. Right-click the speaker icon in the task bar and chose Playback devices. Select Speakers then click on Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and change the sample rate and bit depth to the highest possible on your system.

Happy listening.

God bless you bro this is the only solution I could find!
THIS WORKED ON A LENOVO YOGA 2 PRO RUNNING WIN 10 PRO

I'd use Computer Chicken's solution in using the wushowhide.diagcab tool from MS in hiding any Realtek audio driver updates plus setting all my internet connections to "metered" including ethernet/lan connections with Winaero Tweaker (although the Win10 Creators Update version finally has an official option of setting ethernet/LAN connections as "metered")

Win10 v1607 pro automatically installed a Realtek audio driver update on my old HP Pavilion M8417C computer (it installed v6.0.1.6662). Using both the wushowhide.diagcab tool to "hide" the audio driver update, setting all my connections to "metered" AND setting the Windows Update group policy from gpedit.msc titled "do not include drivers with windows update" to enabled also worked (see the tip here).

Ripper said:

Apologies for reviving an old thread, I've been having problems with the Realtek audio driver for a couple of weeks, there are very distracting and annoying volume changes caused by some auto level control in the driver that cannot be disabled, so I've been trying to get rid of the POS for the past couple of weeks but it keeps coming back with every restart. I found this thread when Googling for possible solutions. This is also my first post on these forums.

The solution in this thread, to deny access to the Realtek folder worked for me, but on every restart/reboot Windows would try to install the driver, fail because folder access was denied, then re-install the Microsoft driver. I learned this from the Events tab in the properties dialogue. This extended the boot time and increased hard drive thrashing. So after a couple of hours thinking of options, this is what I came up with and its been working fine through several restart/reboots:

1- Do not deny access to the Realtek folder. Let the driver install and take over.

2- Go to Contol Panel>Advanced System Settings>Hardware tab. Click on Device Installation Settings and choose 'No (your device might not work as expected)' to prevent Windows from automatically downloading device drivers.

3- Go to Device Manager. Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device and choose 'Disable'.

4- Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device again and this time choose 'Update Driver'.

A Dialogue will appear with options to automatically search for the driver online, search on disk or select from a list. Choose to select from a list. A list will appear containing the Realtek driver and the Microsoft generic driver. Select the Microsoft driver (High Definition Audio Device) and OK. You will get a warning about compatibility but ignore it.

5- Restart. When the system comes back up open the sound mixer. You should see in the window titlebar that it is using the High Definition Audio Device.

6- Just one more thing to do. Right-click the speaker icon in the task bar and chose Playback devices. Select Speakers then click on Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and change the sample rate and bit depth to the highest possible on your system.

Happy listening.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much! I've been having trouble with my RealTek audio for maybe 6 months. I got my laptop and it updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and after that my RealTek audio was extremely loud every time I played any sounds. I had to do this trick where I uninstalled the realtek driver and quickly restarded so it wouldnt have time to reinstall the driver.

BUT NOW I DONT HAVE TO DO THAT EVERY TIME I USE MY LAPTOP THANKS TO YOU! Ive tried literally everything except this and you honestly saved my life tbh. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Ripper said:

Apologies for reviving an old thread, I've been having problems with the Realtek audio driver for a couple of weeks, there are very distracting and annoying volume changes caused by some auto level control in the driver that cannot be disabled, so I've been trying to get rid of the POS for the past couple of weeks but it keeps coming back with every restart. I found this thread when Googling for possible solutions. This is also my first post on these forums.

The solution in this thread, to deny access to the Realtek folder worked for me, but on every restart/reboot Windows would try to install the driver, fail because folder access was denied, then re-install the Microsoft driver. I learned this from the Events tab in the properties dialogue. This extended the boot time and increased hard drive thrashing. So after a couple of hours thinking of options, this is what I came up with and its been working fine through several restart/reboots:

1- Do not deny access to the Realtek folder. Let the driver install and take over.

2- Go to Contol Panel>Advanced System Settings>Hardware tab. Click on Device Installation Settings and choose 'No (your device might not work as expected)' to prevent Windows from automatically downloading device drivers.

3- Go to Device Manager. Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device and choose 'Disable'.

4- Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device again and this time choose 'Update Driver'.

A Dialogue will appear with options to automatically search for the driver online, search on disk or select from a list. Choose to select from a list. A list will appear containing the Realtek driver and the Microsoft generic driver. Select the Microsoft driver (High Definition Audio Device) and OK. You will get a warning about compatibility but ignore it.

5- Restart. When the system comes back up open the sound mixer. You should see in the window titlebar that it is using the High Definition Audio Device.

6- Just one more thing to do. Right-click the speaker icon in the task bar and chose Playback devices. Select Speakers then click on Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and change the sample rate and bit depth to the highest possible on your system.

Happy listening.

That moment when you make an account just to thank someone for being an absolute f'ing badass.

Ripper, you are an absolute f'ing badass: ​THANK YOU

Ripper said:

Apologies for reviving an old thread, I've been having problems with the Realtek audio driver for a couple of weeks, there are very distracting and annoying volume changes caused by some auto level control in the driver that cannot be disabled, so I've been trying to get rid of the POS for the past couple of weeks but it keeps coming back with every restart. I found this thread when Googling for possible solutions. This is also my first post on these forums.

The solution in this thread, to deny access to the Realtek folder worked for me, but on every restart/reboot Windows would try to install the driver, fail because folder access was denied, then re-install the Microsoft driver. I learned this from the Events tab in the properties dialogue. This extended the boot time and increased hard drive thrashing. So after a couple of hours thinking of options, this is what I came up with and its been working fine through several restart/reboots:

1- Do not deny access to the Realtek folder. Let the driver install and take over.

2- Go to Contol Panel>Advanced System Settings>Hardware tab. Click on Device Installation Settings and choose 'No (your device might not work as expected)' to prevent Windows from automatically downloading device drivers.

3- Go to Device Manager. Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device and choose 'Disable'.

4- Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device again and this time choose 'Update Driver'.

A Dialogue will appear with options to automatically search for the driver online, search on disk or select from a list. Choose to select from a list. A list will appear containing the Realtek driver and the Microsoft generic driver. Select the Microsoft driver (High Definition Audio Device) and OK. You will get a warning about compatibility but ignore it.

5- Restart. When the system comes back up open the sound mixer. You should see in the window titlebar that it is using the High Definition Audio Device.

6- Just one more thing to do. Right-click the speaker icon in the task bar and chose Playback devices. Select Speakers then click on Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and change the sample rate and bit depth to the highest possible on your system.

Happy listening.

Sorry, I don't care if I'm bumping an old thread. This post saved me from potentially attempting to replace the actual headphone jack on my laptop. After numerous realtek driver updates I was almost convinced it was a hardware fault that caused the (sub)bass to no longer be present in the jack output. The windows driver is THE solution. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Made an account just to post this. You are a legend, dude. This issue was driving me insane and your answer worked. Easy to do. Thank you.

Another method in case anyone needs it to prevent install (hijacking) of any specific drivers via registry. Same result as using gpedit.msc, just faster:

Copy/paste to text file, name it "Whatever Blocked.reg", and "Whatever Unblockled.reg" and you can simply double click the one you want to use as a "toggle" for when/if you do want to update the driver (with internet disconnected to avoid Windows Update interference). Change the device ID (second line "1"="device-id-here") to the device you want blocked. This one is for my Realtek ALC892 Audio. If more than one, add numbered lines, like my video card would be:
"2"="PCI\\VEN_10DE&DEV_21C4&SUBSYS_1347196E"

ALC892 Blocked.reg:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceInstall\Restrictions]
"DenyDeviceIDs"=dword:00000001
"DenyDeviceIDsRetroactive"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceInstall\Restrictions\DenyDeviceIDs]
"1"="HDAUDIO\\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0892&SUBSYS_18499893"

ALC892 Unblocked.reg:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceInstall\Restrictions]

To get the device id:
Device manager > right click the device > properties > details tab > pulldown=hardware ids >

may work?--- HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0892&SUBSYS_18499893&REV_1003
this works--> HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0892&SUBSYS_18499893

Ripper said:

Apologies for reviving an old thread, I've been having problems with the Realtek audio driver for a couple of weeks, there are very distracting and annoying volume changes caused by some auto level control in the driver that cannot be disabled, so I've been trying to get rid of the POS for the past couple of weeks but it keeps coming back with every restart. I found this thread when Googling for possible solutions. This is also my first post on these forums.

The solution in this thread, to deny access to the Realtek folder worked for me, but on every restart/reboot Windows would try to install the driver, fail because folder access was denied, then re-install the Microsoft driver. I learned this from the Events tab in the properties dialogue. This extended the boot time and increased hard drive thrashing. So after a couple of hours thinking of options, this is what I came up with and its been working fine through several restart/reboots:

1- Do not deny access to the Realtek folder. Let the driver install and take over.

2- Go to Contol Panel>Advanced System Settings>Hardware tab. Click on Device Installation Settings and choose 'No (your device might not work as expected)' to prevent Windows from automatically downloading device drivers.

3- Go to Device Manager. Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device and choose 'Disable'.

4- Right-click Realtek HD Audio Device again and this time choose 'Update Driver'.

A Dialogue will appear with options to automatically search for the driver online, search on disk or select from a list. Choose to select from a list. A list will appear containing the Realtek driver and the Microsoft generic driver. Select the Microsoft driver (High Definition Audio Device) and OK. You will get a warning about compatibility but ignore it.

5- Restart. When the system comes back up open the sound mixer. You should see in the window titlebar that it is using the High Definition Audio Device.

6- Just one more thing to do. Right-click the speaker icon in the task bar and chose Playback devices. Select Speakers then click on Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and change the sample rate and bit depth to the highest possible on your system.

Happy listening.

I see a lot of people thanking this post, but if I am understanding the instructions correctly, this disables ALL driver updates forever. Is this not a terrible idea, especially regarding security?