How to Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10
By default, Windows 10 will automatically download and install drivers in Windows Update when they are available.
Starting with Windows 10 build 14328, there's a new policy included that you can use to enable or disable to include drivers with Windows updates. This can be handy if you prefer to download and install your drivers from the device manufacturer instead.
Starting with Windows 10 build 15002, Microsoft has added an option in Settings that will now allow you to turn on or off including driver updates when you update Windows. This option was removed in Windows 10 build 15019.
Update: Microsoft updates Driver Shiproom Schedule for 2020 in Windows 10
Microsoft is continuing to look at ways to improve the update experience on Windows 10 PCs. As part of this effort, Microsoft is conducting an experiment related to how they deliver driver updates through Windows Update. During this experiment, drivers categorized as “optional” will not be automatically downloaded and installed on Windows Insider’s PCs running Build 19536 and newer. To install any new optional drivers available for a PC that’s involved in this experiment (including drivers for new devices that might get plugged in to a PC), Insiders can go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View optional updates and manually download these drivers. This experiment will be running now through March 5th, 2020.
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 enable or disable including driver updates in Windows Update in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
This does not apply to the Windows 10 Home edition.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to enable or disable including driver updates in Windows Update.
Contents
- Option One: To Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update using Group Policy
- Option Two: To Enable or Disable Including Driver Updates in Windows Update using a REG file
If this option doesn't work for you, then use Option Two below instead.
1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2 In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Update
3 In the right pane of Windows Update in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Do not include drivers with Windows Updates policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
Not Configured is the default setting.
7 When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
This option is more thorough than Option One.
The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD values in the registry keys below.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate (same as option 1)
ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate DWORD
0 = Enable
1 = Disable
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Update\ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate
value DWORD
0 = Enable
1 = Disable
1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Enable_Drivers_in_Windows_Update.reg
Download
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Disable_Drivers_in_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 Restart the computer to apply.
8 If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.
That's it,
Shawn Brink
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