Located a method to turn off automatic driver updates in Windows 10
Located a method to turn off automatic driver updates in Windows 10
You’re aware that Windows 10 doesn’t respect the settings you placed in the device installation section about avoiding drivers from updates. Even registry changes or group policies won’t help. As soon as you go online, it will automatically install any available drivers, regardless of whether they’re OEM-approved or not—this can lead to many issues. This time I cleaned up and installed Windows 10, but before going online I downloaded the newest drivers from my motherboard site, the latest GeForce drivers, and the newest audio drivers for my Sound Blaster Zx, plus others. I ran O&O ShutUp10 to silence telemetry, feedback, WiFi sensing, and similar features. I also decided never to install driver updates just to test their functionality. After a reboot, I noticed one of the telemetry settings had to be re-selected. I did another reboot and connected to the internet again. Windows updates didn’t start as expected—they only downloaded a few updates and then stopped. No driver updates were found.
I wanted to share this experience with you.
The top tech enthusiasts might be happy, but regular folks still require software updates.
Among all the privacy tools I've used, this one stands out as the only safe option that functions effectively and has a user-friendly interface. The additional features, such as turning off automatic driver updates, are just nice extras.
System updates are okay and I didn’t turn them off. What I mean is you configured your setup as you prefer—installing the newest drivers from manufacturers like your motherboard or laptop site, VGA, sound cards, etc. Then Windows updates automatically install drivers, which often causes touchpads to malfunction, audio issues, or other complications. This was my main concern about Windows 10: even after disabling automatic driver updates in the device settings under SYSTEM Properties, Windows still applies updates that ignore those changes. With this tool, you can get drivers not covered by Windows updates while still benefiting from other updates.
I discovered the registry change needed to do this yourself. Simply edit the file, switch its extension from .txt to .reg, save it, and run the program again after rebooting your system.
Winaero tweaker handled that back a while ago... I didn’t experience that automatic update problem before.