Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10  

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    Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10

    Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10

    How to Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Windows Update & Activation
    18 Dec 2023
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Windows 10


    By default, Windows 10 will automatically search for, download and install driver updates when new devices are connected and installed on the computer via Windows Update.

    Device Installation Settings allow you to change if Windows is to automatically download recommended drivers and detailed information for your hardware and devices via Windows Update.

    Windows can find and download two kinds of updates for devices connected to your computer:

    Drivers - A driver is software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware devices. Without drivers, the devices you connect to your computer—for example, a mouse or external hard drive—won't work properly. Windows can automatically check if there are drivers available for new devices that you connect to your computer.

    For hardware that you've connected to your computer in the past, updated drivers might become available at a later date; but those drivers aren't installed automatically.

    Information - Windows can download high-resolution icons for many hardware devices that you connect to your computer, along with detailed information about them, such as product name, manufacturer, and model number—even detailed information about the sync capabilities of a device. These details can make it easier for you to distinguish between similar devices that are connected to your computer, such as different mobile phones.

    Update: Microsoft updates Driver Shiproom Schedule for 2020 in Windows 10

    UPDATE 2/19/2020: Windows 10 driver updates will now be manual Optional Updates

    Beginning with the August 2020 security update for Windows 10, when optional updates are detected by your device, they will be displayed on a new page under Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View optional updates. That means you no longer need to utilize Device Manager to search for updated drivers for specific devices.

    This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off automatically download and install drivers and information for new devices from Windows Update in Windows 10.


    You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to make changes in Device Installation Settings.



    Contents

    • Option One: Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Device Installation Settings via Devices and Printers
    • Option Two: Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Device Installation Settings via System Properties
    • Option Three: Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation using REG file






    OPTION ONE

    Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Device Installation Settings via Devices and Printers


    1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Devices and Printers icon.

    2 Under Devices, right click or press and hold on your PC icon with computer name, click/tap on Device installation settings, and close the Control Panel. (see screenshot below)

    Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10-device_installation_settings-1.jpg

    3 Select (dot) Yes (on for automatic - default) or No (off for manual) for what you want, and click/tap on Save Changes. (see screenshot below)

    Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10-device_installation_settings_10565.png

    4 You may also wish to Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10.






    OPTION TWO

    Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation in Device Installation Settings via System Properties


    1 Open Run (Win+R).

    2 Type SystemPropertiesHardware.exe into Run, and click/tap on OK to open System Properties to the Hardware tab.

    3 Click/tap on the Device installation settings button. (see screenshot below)

    Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10-system_properties.png

    4 Select (dot) Yes (on for automatic - default) or No (off for manual) for what you want, and click/tap on Save Changes. (see screenshot below)

    Turn On or Off Device Driver Automatic Installation in Windows 10-device_installation_settings_10565.png

    5 You may also wish to Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10.






    OPTION THREE

    Turn On or Off Automatic Device Driver Installation using REG file


    The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD in the registry key below.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Device Metadata

    PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork DWORD

    0 = Off
    1 = On


    1 Do step 2 (on for automatic) or step 3 (off for manual) below for what you would like to do.


    2 To Turn On Automatic Device Driver Installation

    This is the default setting.

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

    Turn_ON_install_driver_software_from_Windows_Update.reg

    Download


    3 To Turn Off Automatic Device Driver Installation

    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

    Turn_OFF_install_driver_software_from_Windows_Update.reg

    Download


    4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

    5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

    6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

    7 If you like, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

    8 You may also wish to Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10.


    That's it,
    Shawn Brink






  1. Posts : 550
    Windows 10 Pro x86 and x64 dual boot
       #1

    I turned off as per the tutorial to block new Nvidia drivers which crash my machine. Despite using rollback for the drivers so I can use the stable Win 8 V347.88 driver if I manually check for updates it installs the new buggy drivers then I have to rollback again. Also when turning off I dont seem to get any other updates as well like Virus Definitions. What did I do wrong?
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 68,545
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Hello banger, :)

    Did you uninstall the driver (option 2 at link) in Device Manager?
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 550
    Windows 10 Pro x86 and x64 dual boot
       #3

    Yes same result as rollback
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 68,545
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    In that case uninstall the driver again, then check to see if you have a C:\NVIDIA folder. If you do, then delete it as well. This folder contains the installation files for the NVIDIA driver, and could be used to reinstall from.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 147
    Windows 10 x64
       #5

    My understanding is that the device-driver automatic installation doesn't work exactly like this.

    If you set it to get drivers from Windows Update, I believe Windows gets drivers from Windows Update if Windows does not have an appropriate driver at the time of the device detection (PnP).

    From what I can remember, setting this would not directly impact whether you get driver updates from Windows Update when Windows Update searches for updates on a regular basis; it would only impact whether you get drivers from Windows Update when the device is detected. Routine Windows Updates and device detection are two separate events.

    I know this was the case at one point in the far past, but I do not know if this is still the case.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 68,545
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Hello jfreemont, :)

    It's to be able to get updated drivers all the time from Windows Update if/when available. The link below from Microsoft is for Windows 7, but still applies.

    Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware


    You can check Windows Update at any time to see if it found new drivers and icons for your hardware, especially if you recently installed a new device. If you want to have Windows Update automatically check for the latest drivers and icons, click Yes, do this automatically (recommended).
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 147
    Windows 10 x64
       #7

    Brink said:
    Hello jfreemont, :)

    It's to be able to get updated drivers all the time from Windows Update if/when available. The link below from Microsoft is for Windows 7, but still applies.

    Automatically get recommended drivers and updates for your hardware
    Maybe so.

    If that's still the case, I wish they'd move the setting to Windows Update as a checkbox rather than its current location.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 68,545
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Yeah, that would be nice. There was a setting for it in the Windows Update settings from the Control Panel, but of course that's long gone in Windows 10 now.
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 550
    Windows 10 Pro x86 and x64 dual boot
       #9

    Think this has worked now. I still get a desktop notification "Cannot install updates tap here to fix" but if I ignore that and ignore the install button on windows update the nvidia drivers dont get updated but windows updates still seem to get installed according to history.
      My Computers


 

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