Driver Updating issue

[NoTRite]

Hi guys,

I wanted to let Windows Update find the drivers for my system, and then let me choose whether to install them. So, I tried setting "Update device drivers" to "Always" and then set "Updates" to "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them".

Unfortunately, it didn't work. After running windows update my start menu got blasted with a couple dozen drivers, along with their bloated GUIs.

I would like to have windows update find drivers, but ask me whether to install them. How do I do that?

And, why are there three different device driver update settings? What's the difference between "Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet", "Include drivers with Windows Updates" and "Update device drivers"?

View attachment 1761

Thanks!

 

[Desmond]

Windows has a habit of forcing driver installations, to prevent that I use O&O ShutUp10 but I also use Comodo firewall.
It is best to download drivers yourself and not thru WU.

 

[NoTRite]

Honestly, getting drivers through WU would be great, if it didn't install GUIs and all this other stuff I don't need. For example, if you use WU for drivers, you don't need to worry about updating them later since they will update automatically.

That's why my original question was, how can we get the "ask me whether to install them" functionality working. If I could let WU install just the drivers I choose, then it would be perfect.

Of course, it's a matter of personal preference, but using WU for drivers would be best in my case.

 

[NoTRite]

Hi nuhi

Can I get some help on this?

What's the difference between "Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet", "Include drivers with Windows Updates" and "Update device drivers"?

 

[nuhi]

I don't see the option to prompt only for automatic driver installation. Maybe you mixed it with the Windows Updates option in general.
That option was changed so many times in Win10, should become the delay updates option.

Back to the topic at hand, the driver installation.

Attached below is how it looks like in the Windows 1903, they removed the optional driver installation GUI option at some point.

"Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet" is self-explanatory, same as below picture.
"Include drivers with Windows Updates", better to be named "Include drivers with Quality Updates", done in next version.
"Update device drivers", should be self-explanatory.

Now the question is why do we need all 3. True that maybe I should merge them.
See this picture as to how it was before in Windows and why it made sense.

To disable automatic driver installation try this:
"Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet" - Disabled (this is necessary for the manual settings below to be enabled, as noted in the tweak description)
"Include drivers with Windows Updates" - Disabled
"Update device drivers" - Never



View attachment 1764

 

[NoTRite]

"Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet" is self-explanatory, same as below picture.
"Include drivers with Windows Updates", better to be named "Include drivers with Quality Updates", done in next version.
"Update device drivers", should be self-explanatory.

(...)

To disable automatic driver installation try this:
"Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet" - Disabled (this is necessary for the manual settings below to be enabled, as noted in the tweak description)
"Include drivers with Windows Updates" - Disabled
"Update device drivers" - Never

Thanks nuhi!

So what would happen if I did this:

"Include drivers with Windows Updates" - Disabled
"Update device drivers" - Always

Or this:

"Include drivers with Windows Updates" - Enabled
"Update device drivers" - Never

???

And, what would happen if I did this:

"Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet" - Disabled
"Include drivers with Windows Updates" - Enabled
"Update device drivers" - Always

Would that make Windows update my drivers, but keep it from installing the driver GUIs and bloat? That's what I'm trying to do.

 

[NoTRite]

Update: I just tried making an ISO with that last option: "Update drivers" and "Include drivers" enabled, but "Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet" set to Disabled.

It still included all the driver GUIs and metro Apps...

 

[nuhi]

[edit]

Wait, so if your goal is not to install drivers, why select install drivers in any of the options?
Are you hoping that there is install driver and install driver + gui bloat separate options? There isn't, it's all or nothing.

 

[NoTRite]

[edit]

Wait, so if your goal is not to install drivers, why select install drivers in any of the options?
Are you hoping that there is install driver and install driver + gui bloat separate options? There isn't, it's all or nothing.

Yes, that is what I hoped for... Thanks for explaining

What would happen if I applied those 3 different settings I asked about though?

 

[nuhi]

Looking at the screenshot above, if you select "Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet", it's always installed.
Only if set to disabled, does the "Update device drivers" has an effect, then see its values for what it does.
Lastly, the "Include drivers with Windows Updates", which should be renamed to "Include drivers with Quality Updates", is the cumulative update packaged drivers, not the same as WU ones, just uses WU service to deploy.

 

[NoTRite]

Looking at the screenshot above, if you select "Automatically update device drivers and icons over the internet", it's always installed.
Only if set to disabled, does the "Update device drivers" has an effect, then see its values for what it does.
Lastly, the "Include drivers with Windows Updates", which should be renamed to "Include drivers with Quality Updates", is the cumulative update packaged drivers, not the same as WU ones, just uses WU service to deploy.

Ok, so how are the cumulative update packaged drivers from "Include drivers with Windows Updates" different from the drivers included in "Update device drivers"?

Are the ones from "Include drivers with Windows Updates" generic drivers, while the "Update device drivers" drivers are host-machine specific? Or is the difference something else?

 

[nuhi]

Ok, so how are the cumulative update packaged drivers from "Include drivers with Windows Updates" different from the drivers included in "Update device drivers"?

Are the ones from "Include drivers with Windows Updates" generic drivers, while the "Update device drivers" drivers are host-machine specific? Or is the difference something else?

As far as I understand it, cumulative update packaged drivers are those that come with the official update for all machines, while device drivers over Windows Update are machine specific, and are not by default in all cumulative updates.

 

[NoTRite]

As far as I understand it, cumulative update packaged drivers are those that come with the official update for all machines, while device drivers over Windows Update are machine specific, and are not by default in all cumulative updates.

Oh ok, thanks!

It might be a good idea to add that explanation to NTLite. "Include drivers with Windows Updates" and "Update device drivers" sound like they're saying the exact same thing in English, like "Include butter with toast" and "Butter the toast".

 

[nuhi]

Alright, renaming "Update device drivers" to "Automatic driver update mode", so that it's near the parent "Automatically update device drivers and icons over the Internet", and it's more clear what's the difference (switch vs mode).