Feature updates with incompatible driver(s) - how does it work?

Hello everybody,

does anyone have practical experience of how Windows 10 behaved in past automatic version/feature updates if an incompatible driver was installed?
Was the update simply not installed at all - without a message?
Was the concerned hardware or driver listed?
Was the update made and the incompatible driver was then replaced with the Microsoft "standard driver"?
Or has it been updated and the device simply no longer worked correctly?

I ask, because I sometimes install devices for friends and family to which I have no access until there is a problem.
So I would like to disable driver updates via Windows Updates, however they should still be able to manually initiate an update in the event of problems using the device manager.

Think that would be a good compromise.
The update frequency via Windows Update is (depending on the hardware installed) just sick.
I have devices here which according to the update history have received a good 40 drivers or extension infs over the past 6 months ... this can not go well in the long run.

Thank you for any feedback!

Greetings,
Martin

Hello dalchina,

yes, "just let it go" ... is a tempting option.
But I don't really know, as I said, with the high frequency (depending on the system) of driver and driver extension updates, something has to go wrong in the long run.
Basically, I see three possible variants:
WU = Windows Update; DM = Device manager/automatic installation of new hardware

1. WU 1, DM 1
Just let it run and fix problems when when they occur.
And yes, regular images are unfortunately mandatory for Windows 10 anyway.

2. WU 0, DM 0
Manual updates only in case of problems.
Possible, but only for own or devices which are managed directly myself.
Depending on the device variants and manufacturer support (missing/bad driver packs ...) time consuming and annoying.

3. WU 0, DM 1
The (hoped) compromise solution... no automatic updates except for feature updates, manually via the device manager or with new hardware.


"In the past" (up to and including Win7) I always put the drivers together manually, tested them and then the systems ran for many years - flawlessly.
And now I'm supposed to trust Windows Update ("of all things!") and get new drivers and extensions installed every few weeks... I just got a bad feeling in the stomach area.

But maybe I'm getting too old for the whole story... when I started with computers the drivers were delivered on floppy disks and there was no internet at all.

Greetings,
Martin

Using CMD script and VBScript to control Windows Update