How to disable driver updates via Windows Update

Automatic driver updates on Windows can cause problems for your computer due to potential conflicts. If you don't want to use this automatic setting, you can disable driver updates while allowing regular Windows updates to continue uninterrupted. Below are instructions on how to disable automatic driver updates.

 

Disable driver updates via Hardware Settings.

Step 1:

Press the Windows + X key combination and then select System from the list that appears.

 

On the new interface, users click on Advanced System Settings to access advanced system settings.

Step 2:

To display the System Properties interface, click the Hardware tab , and then select Device Installation Settings below.

Step 3:

In the Device Installation Settings window, click No , then click Save changes at the bottom to save the changes.

 

Disable automatic driver updates via Group Policy

Step 1:

Users enter the keyword gpedit.msc into the search bar and press Enter to access it. Next, navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Internet Communication Management -> Internet Communication settings .

Step 2:

Look to the side and double-click on "Turn off Windows update device driver searching" to adjust the settings.

Here, click Enabled to activate the setting to disable automatic Windows driver updates.

How to disable automatic driver updates via Registry Editor

Step 1:

Type "regedit" into the search bar and then access it. Once you've accessed the new interface, follow the link below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionDriverSearching

Look to the side and click on the SearchOrderConfig value to adjust it.

 

Step 2:

The default value is set to 1 to enable automatic updates. To change the value, enter 0 to disable it .

Use PowerShell options

Open PowerShell in administrator mode, then enter the command below and press Enter to disable automatic driver updates on your computer.

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionDriverSearching" -Name "SearchOrderConfig" -Value 0 -Type DWord -Force

To restart the automatic driver update process, enter the following command.

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionDriverSearching" -Name "SearchOrderConfig" -Value 1 -Type DWord -Force