Windows Update reinstates settings that I had deliberately changed

thelordgiveth · 31 Dec 2017

The big Windows updates seem to think they know better than me!

I have set Windows Update not to download driver updates. This is because I have had problems losing sound (on a laptop) and with the display (on a desktop) and as far as I can see there is no means of rolling these back within Windows Update itself, unlike updates of Microsoft software.

Hey presto, Fall update or whatever comes along and I find my display is messed up again, for example. I can sort it by rolling back the driver but that's not the point. If I disable automatic driver updates, that should be for life, not till Microsoft decide otherwise. (The loss of sound was much more problematic and I am dreading that going wrong again.)

Has anyone else had similar issues?

Caledon Ken · 31 Dec 2017

Hi thelordgiveth. Welcome to the TenForums @thelordgiveth

Short answer, yes.

While these Feature Updates are called updates they are essentially an OS replacement. You will also see that during the update it will install the latest driver for your devices. I have a wireless card and after every Feature update the driver is updated and I know I have driver updates off.

After each Feature update I reset the option to not get driver updates and I install the working version. Your working driver is very likely on your machine, mine is saved through the process.

Go into device manager, right click device, update driver then Browse my computer and then Let me pick. I also keep the exe in a safe place.

You might want to look at this tool Topgundcp posted.

Drivers 101

Please don't get me wrong. You will see enough of my postings where I say don't update drivers just because. You will also see lots of issues where video driver updates implemented during the Update result in machines not functioning. So I'm in your camp.

Other may have a different experience.

dalchina · 31 Dec 2017

Various settings may be changed on these major build upgrades.

Why? Surmise, but one basic precept is to try to keep systems running stably - whereas Win 7 had hundreds of updates and 3 major service packs, Win 10 replaces all system files and rewrites some registry settings. This is intended, I suppose, to provide a more consistent user experience. Which all sounds great- until you find they've actually broken sthg that wasn't a problem before.

In your case disabling driver updates would be exceptional, and in any case, an upgrade means you get a new set of drivers. So disabling driver updates given that makes no sense - in general.

However it is also the case that some users find on new driver now causes a problem- and they have to revert to an older one- not often, but typically it's a video driver.

You can disable specific updates, rather than all driver updates.

The fact we have to face is that there's a huge non-standard range of hardware out there- and a lot of it is not validated for Win 10, but users upgrade to Win 10 regardless.

Upgrades may break some installed programs- e.g. security programs. Possibly one or two others in my experience.

System Restore is always turned off with a major upgrade. That seems wrong.

Sadly a degree of defensiveness and technical awareness is required- this is not a true consumer product in my view. If it were, the OS and user drivers, folders, programs would be totally isolated from the OS, and one could upgrade and reinstall the OS independently of programs. I doubt Windows will ever be such an OS. We have to live in a non-ideal world.

thelordgiveth · 01 Jan 2018

Thanks for responses. Very much as I feared. Before I upgraded from Win 7 the compatibility tool assured me that all my kit was compatible with Windows 10. The Canon website was insistent that the scanner element of my MFP was not. I put off the upgrade until the device broke. But it left me not trusting Microsoft's assessments of compatibility, something borne out by the Feature Updates insisting on replacing a driver which does work with one which does not. The only answer seems to be to know where the correct (i e working) drivers are and roll them back, if necessary uninstalling first.

One other point I noticed. I have both normal and safe mode as options on my boot menu (plus a Macrium recovery option, I think). From time to time safe mode goes missing and the usual methods for reinstating ti do not work. Then, hey presto, it comes back, without any further action on my part. I am wondering whether that is also something to do with Feature Updates. Given that going into safe mode is recommended when problems arise, its non-availability is a bit worrying, though perhaps it is necessary to prevent an update going wrong when the computer is powered up.

It may well be that this sort of behaviour is the lesser of two evils but it does bug me that we are sold the idea that everything in the garden is lovely and the possibility of such issues only becomes clear once they have happened.

Caledon Ken · 02 Jan 2018

Not sure about safe mode disappearing from menu. Not sure why a Feature update would alter and then restore,

There are other ways to achieve like holding shift key down and clicking restart, takes you to Advance Startup Options, or two failed boots.

dalchina · 02 Jan 2018

If you can at least boot to a login screen, you can get to Restart, so that's the earliest you can reboot to Safe Mode without the boot menu option.

You have probably used this, but FWIW:
Add Safe Mode to Boot Options in Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

thelordgiveth · 07 Jan 2018

I forgot one other annoyance! The Feature updates also seem to reinstate hybrid shutdown, something I had switched off because the first boot after a shutdown was frequently failing. Again, easy to put right but another indication of the process's lack of respect for the user.

I dare say that some of my problems are to do with having a computer that is seven years old (with a replacement motherboard) and getting s-l-o-w-e-r...

Caledon Ken · 07 Jan 2018

Yes older gear isn't as fast but I think we all have to stop thinking of Features updates as patches. You are installing an OS, a changing OS.

Could they do better, sure.

dalchina · 07 Jan 2018

thelordgiveth said:

I forgot one other annoyance! The Feature updates also seem to reinstate hybrid shutdown,
I dare say that some of my problems are to do with having a computer that is seven years old.

- I noticed the same. Mine's about 18 months old.

It's best just to keep a list of things that are changed on upgrading ready for next time. I keep a simple text log of changes, so if I need to revert to an earlier disk image, say, I know roughly what changes I've made since that image.

thelordgiveth · 07 Jan 2018

Trouble is, the Feature Updates come in the same way as patch updates and if you are not concentrating (or if you are most users?) they just sort of happen.

Now I am wise to it I do have a list of what needs checking, so I should be OK. While I was aware that Windows 10 was being managed in a different way to earlier versions, I don't recall having seen any warnings that settings that the user wanted (or in some cases absolutely needed) to change could get trashed. You find out the hard way. It is particularly hard when getting earache from an (even) less computer savvy family member whose laptop is misbehaving following an update.

I sort of understand that for many users it probably is safest to work it this way but I rather resent Microsoft deciding we should all be treated as idiots! I half expect Donald Trump to be tweeting that we are going to have a Great Features Update...

In an ideal world I would want to identify what is actually causing the various issues that reoccur after Features Updates - dodgy drivers, hybrid shutdown and (though it may be unrelated to updates) the safe mode issue but life is too short!

Thanks for the replies anyway.

Windows Update reinstates settings that I had deliberately changed

Windows Update reinstates settings that I had deliberately changed

And another thing...