Enable or Disable Driver Updates in Windows Update in Windows 10  

With that stubborn update that continued to cause reverting back issues I simply disabled the WU by way of the Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services>Windows Update for a temporary stretch until that particular update was no longer showing up.



Following the green line shows each step of the process there to change the WU active role back and forth from Automatic or Automatic with delayed start another option, manual, or totally disabled from running at all. That is an option for when wanting to get rid of a stubborn driver update by preventing the WU from putting one that causes problems before you go direct to a manufacturer's support site to look what alternative updates are available. Of course you can also very easily right click on the device listing in the Device Manager there to temporary disable a particular hardware. device which will then prevent the WU from any automatic driver search.

When 10 initially goes on the setup process will selectively seek out the newest driver, driver set for each hardware detected. The removal and then secondary check by the user for updates may see the exact same driver update downloaded simply due to the user having Windows redetect the hardwares as it also checks the MS servers for available updates.

With 10 now as well as with previous versions you will tend to find that it's kind of a touch and go type situation that varies between the endless combinations of hardwares that have come out where each system could either see smooth sailing from the start or have to be custom tweaked as you go along. OEM systems will generally have their own specific driver sets the Windows installer will use on the spot while with custom cases and who knows what is in each it's a spin of the wheel to see if Windows will get it right the first few times or be lost in limbo.

Now if you happen to roll back what the 10 installer finds on first sight and manually seek out a different update at the manufacturer's support site and put that on instead often Windows will be satisfied with not having the need to look something up. The WU will simply skip past that particular item since the hardware would have a working driver set already in use. This won't be limited to strictly one type of driver only note. For the sound card in use here for example while for the tv tuner card a substitute app mentioned earlier solved that problem the trip to the Creative support site to look up the 8.1 update resolved the software side since the 10 installer only locates each driver as it goes along. For the video card however the WU was what brought in the Catalyst Control Center as well as driver update to overwrite the initial driver find by the 10 setup installer. While the sound card is a PCIe type compared to the long discontinued PCI tuner card it is still an older model card for this 2010 build.

The one consistency seen most often is looking things up for someone's laptop compared to any custom build since once you look the model number up everything is right there to pick and choose from. The first thing I tend to recommend to anyone before any upgrade of OS is seen to is to make a list of all hardwares and visit each support to find out just what is available and how new are the drivers/software for each item in order to be prepared. I typically grab everything found to back up on a flash drive right before a drive wipe or new drive goes in which has often been the case when someone has asked for help with one where malware forces a wipe or the drive has DOA. That was the case on one old Vista model that went through a few drives!

I've run into that type of situation on a few occasions where the latest out proved to be problematic typically seen more with a video card however. The NVidia GeForce updates as well as occasionally a bad now AMD/ATI no longer ATI CCCs would stir the frying pan up a bit where you would have to revert backwards to something you knew worked. Likewise you now have to look backwards there for what you did have working well and revert back to that.

As far as the ATI Catalysts go these days once AMD took over things saw a rapid improvement with the updates not being rushed out as fast! The last Catalyst I had any problem with needing replacement was seen about 5-6yrs. ago. For some time either one or both manufacturers would be running into that problem. People still run into hiccups at times while both companies had to start looking at how they had been rushing updates out that simply weren't being tested enough in prerelease!

At this point however you hear about this type of rush to make mistakes occurring with smart phones seeing recalls due to each newer model needing a new battery design rather then continuing to work with the existing reliable forms available. To add some new thrills on each new model you can see how that goes.

If you are seeing this on the unspecified laptop in your system specs one thought would be looking up that model at the manufacturer's support for a browse over all updates to find which one worked as well as which is the latest offender also listed in the Update history section where you can match things up. If the previous is no longer seen a support request for it would be the next step since companies generally tend to archive each update as they go along in case such a request comes in. So you won't be totally lost but need to jump through an extra hoop or two to see results. If the update happens to be for the onboard graphics you may even find what you need at the AMD or NVidia support that will match up with what had been on since the WU will again only pursue the latest available at the time of the check.

Oubadah said:

The question was: does the setting actually work? The same setting has been in the Group Policy Editor since the AU, but it doesn't reliably prevent diver installation. Only some drivers are prevented, while others are still installed automatically. This looks like just another front end for the same thing, so unless they've fixed the underlying issue, this new checkbox is going to be worthless.

If you're talking about the option check box in Windows Update that says "Download Drivers also", or something to that effect, it doesn't even exist in Insider builds anymore....not that I can find. You're talking AU, I'm sure. Maybe doesn't pertain. I've had to use WuShowHide. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...-in-windows-10

The WUShowHide tool works on most driver and other update issues while I was forced to disable the WU entirely when an AMD LanguageFeature type update keep going to the 100% installed mark and then reverted back completely taking any other regular WU updates along with it. A look at the Update history points that one particular item having been the problem.

For the sound card still in use here the 10 installer as well as WU will find a particular Creative driver but not the software portion which requires a visit to the Creative support site each time any newer build goes on. For the main the last for the time being will be the Redstone 1 Anniversary update still in use while a second build is used as a test vehicle there. The snipping here shows just what is seen in the Advanced options in the RS 1's WU where you won't anything particular for drivers there. You can stop updates for new features and other MS products only.



The recommendation for other stubborn driver issues is to pay a visit to that particular hardware manufacturer's own support site and look for if not any 10 updates what is found for 8.1 and then uninstall what the WU brings with it manually in order to see that latest or incorrect version replaced by the previous version's update. Often once found to work the WU will then skip past that particular item being satisfied with what is then installed and move on to the next thing on the list of checks.

In other words you have to fool the WU into thinking everything is all set so it will move onward. Had to do this on previous versions going almost back to XP but more so between Vista and later 7 at times as well in order to trick Windows into thinking that way. You could easily fool 7 with Vista drivers at times when not finding any for 7 when that was first new and nothing was out for it at the time. Backward compatibility to the immediately previous version is the often found solution there.

Code:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate" /v "ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate" /t "REG_DWORD" /d 1 /f

registry setting in "W10 RedStone 1" using gpedit.msc

Option 4 in tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...a.html#option4