If you go into Old Control panel>System>Advanced System settings and the HARDWARE tab.. There is a setting called "device installation settings" this allows Microsoft to automatically update drivers. We are looking to deploy Windows 10 to machines but, we have drivers for hardware that CAN NOT BE UPDATED or the program will no longer run (very specialized programs and need special drivers to run). It's a big deal, almost a deal killer for Windows 10. As we are deploying brand new machines pretty soon (hardware is here), if we cant address this one issue, it's back to Windows 7, personally we would like to move forward and not behind so we are looking for an option here. Anyone find a way via group policy or registry to set this to disabled and something that wont be changed to enabled every time we get a update ?
Administrative Templates\System\Device Installation\Specify search order for device driver source locations\Enabled|Do not search Windows Update IIRC this is the same option that was removed in that menu from W10 th1 to th2, but it should also be accompanied by setting windows updates to notify, so the offending driver updates can be hidden manually. I believe the first policy since W10 will only affect situations like plugging a new device missing a pre-included driver, or having windows immediately downloading drivers missing in device manger after an uninstall (like the display driver), but won't prevent updating drivers with a newer date when it looks for updates for everything in WU and they pop along other CU's, etc. Someone more knowledgeable should confirm this.
None of GPs or registry settings worked for me, even the new one presented in 14393: Code: Windows Update \ Do not include drivers with Windows Updates
I saw that. We don't want it hidden, we want driver updates to be completely disabled on Windows update...on the Anniversary update or higher We will be deploying 48 machines, we cant be hitting hide updates on each machine.
Thanks. We are trying to deploy it. If we cant set this via GP or registry, we have to go back to Windows 7.... Anyway possible to disable this ? Ugh...starting to look like Windows 7 is the OS for ever....
10240 (that's an old version if I am correct) ? We need to be able to do this going forward... We are on 1607....
As I looked into it, I don't want to disable Windows updates, "Turn off access to all Windows update features" sounds like it will disable Windows update from the user end. I don't want to disable updates, I just want to disable Windows from installing NEWER drivers. If the drivers are there, I don't NEED them updated...
It also doesn't seem to work in here, a LAN driver update I don't want to install is still listed when searching with WUMT. But it isn't listed on the WU via "check for updates" (no matter the "Do not include drivers with Windows Updates" setting), probably because of the "Specify search order for device driver source locations" policy set to Do not search WU.
Note: This policy setting is replaced by "Specify Driver Source Search Order" in "Administrative Templates/System/Device Installation" on newer versions of Windows.
These driver update settings in gpedit are redundant for Pro version from 14393 build onwards. The automatic driver updating stays on no matter what setting you have there. We need Pro Education, Enterprise or LTSB versions of Windows 10 for those settings to take effect now from RS1 builds.
So we ordered 48+ machines that came with Windows 10 Pro and we are required to get a more expensive version just to completely disable driver updates ? It's really sounding like back to Windows 7, as we are not going to spend the extra money for licenses for Enterprise and if there is no way to disable this.
I'm curious, what did you order 48+ machines for with a consumer version of W10, and why do you have to use W10 (and not say Linux)?
With gpedit.msc go to Computer Configuration, Administrativ Templates, System, Device Installation, Device Installation Restrictions There you will find: "Prevent Installation of devices using drivers that match these device setup classes" Read the Description carefully. With the right settings you can get exactly what you want.
The machines NEED to be on Windows, the special app can ONLY be run on Windows with special drivers, I believe I said this in the first post. The machines came with dual license it will run Windows 7 Pro OR Windows 10 pro. We are trying to see if we can do this with Windows 10 pro, or it's back to Windows 7 pro... so far it's not looking good for 10...
As I've said before, force driver installation is one of the most stupid non-sense Microsoft ever did. Many times Microsoft nor even the manufacturer itself tests the drivers throughly before posting it in Windows Update. DavidinCT, wish you good luck! Hope you can find a way around the issue.