In this guide, we will show you the steps to stop the automatic driver updates on your Windows 10/11 PC. Drivers are software programs that are needed for the proper working functioning of their associated devices. Be it for keyboard, mouse, network adapters, or GPU, each of these hardware components needs its software counterpart. Moreover, it is recommended that you should be on the latest build of these drivers.
This is because the latest versions tend to fix some underlying bugs and bring in performance enhancement. In this regard, you don’t have to perform any manual methods as Windows automatically download and install them with each new cumulative update that it brings to its OS. However, in some instances, that might not prove to be a good idea as a newer build might break the functionality of its associated device.
Likewise, it might also lead to a few compatibility issues. In this regard, one course of action is to roll back or downgrade the driver to its earlier build. But you would then have to do so every time you face any issue with the driver upgrade. So a much better alternative would be to stop the automatic driver updates on your Windows 10/11 PC. And in this guide, we will show you how to do just that. Without any further ado, let’s get started.
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How to Prevent Automatic Driver Update Installation in Windows
First off, you will have to get hold of your Hardware Device Driver ID. This ID will then be supplied to the Group Policy Editor and the latter will then be instructed to stop the updates from downloading for that particular ID. Both these steps have been discussed in-depth below, follow along [the instructions are the same for both Windows 10 and 11].
STEP 1: Find Device Driver ID
- Use the Windows+X shortcut key combination and select Device Manager from the menu that appears.
- Within that, expand the desired device section. Then right click on the associated device and select Properties.
- Now to the Details tab and under the Property tab, select Hardware Ids.
- It shall bring up multiple driver IDs. Right-click on the first value from the list (which would usually be the longest one) and select Copy.
- Once the value has been copied to the clipboard, you may move over to the next step to prevent the automatic driver update installation on Windows 10/11.
STEP 2: Stop Automatic Driver Update via Group Policy Editor
- Bring up the Run dialog box via Windows+R shortcut keys.
- Then type in gpedit.msc and hit Enter. This shall launch the Local Group Policy Editor.
If it doesn’t open, then please refer to our guide: Enable Group Policy Editor in Windows 10 Home | Enable Group Policy Editor in Windows 11 Home.
- Now go to the following location from the left menu bar:
Computer configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation > Device Installation Restrictions - Then double-click on the “Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs” setting present on the right-hand side of the screen.
- Now change its value to Enabled from the top left menu.
- After that, click on the Show button under the Options section.
- Now paste the device ID (that you have copied in the first section) under the Value field.
- Finally, click OK > OK and restart your PC for the changes to take place.
That’s it. These were the steps to stop the automatic driver updates on your Windows 10/11 PC. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution at the earliest.
