Finally found a way to disable automatic driver updates in Windows 10

As you know, Windows 10 ignores the fact that you set the option in the device installation tab to never install drivers from Windows updates, no registry tweak or group policy rule works. The moment you connect to the internet, it will update every driver it can if it finds an update even if it's not an OEM approved driver which may or may not cause a lot of headaches..

So this time, I formatted and installed Windows 10 but before connecting to the internet, I installed all the latest driver from my motherboard download site + latest GeForce drivers + latest Audio Drivers form Creative for my Sound Blaster Zx, etc....

Then I ran O&O ShutUp10 to disable telemetry, Windows Feedback, WiFi sense, and all the other rubbish. I also chose to never install drivers from Windows updates just to see if it works for the heck of it.......

After rebooting once, you will notice that one of the Telemetry disabling settings needs to be re-selected.....so I did that and rebooted yet again

now I connected to the internet and ran Windows Updates. Normally, Windows updates will start downloading and update for my Creative SoundBlaster Zx Sound Card, updates for my Microsoft HD Lifecam 3000 and an update for my Western Digital My Passport external 2TB HDD. This time it didn't! All it downloaded were a few Windows updates and that's it. Rebooted, checked for updates again, nada! No driver updates

Just wanted to share this with you guys:



Also ensure you disable Driver updates in the System / Hardware / Device Installation Settings:

 

I found out which registry entry it adds to achieve this if you wanna do it yourself:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching]
"DontSearchWindowsUpdate"=dword:00000001

Now save the file and name it anything you want, for example: Disable Automatic Updates.txt

Now rename the extension from .txt to .reg then double click on it to merge it with your registry

Restart your computer

 

yupyup, shutup10 actually works and its a golden tool

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Kudos for research and the effort that you've put in, Matrix Leader.

With that said, two questions that I'm asking myself, first and foremost...

a) Is W10 really worth the amount of tweaks it requires to run without being a pain?

b) How long before MS starts disabling these registry hacks remotely?

Staying with W7. But that's me.

 

Forget Unix/Linux. Windows 10 requires so much tweaking, it is truly an "enthusiast's OS".

 

You know I am the number one hater of Windows 10, so why did I decide to finally install it? because my X-99 Deluxe motherboard already takes about 15 seconds to initialize from the moment you hit the power button, it's super slow, last time I'll ever touch anything ASUS but besides that, I didnt want another slowdown in the boot with Windows 7 taking another 15 seconds....with Windows 10 it takes 8 seconds after I see the ASUS splash screen.

The amount of tweaks WERE too many that it would take you a good hour to get Windows 10 to behave right, after using O&O ShutUp 10, it takes that down to a few seconds and 2 reboots, then just set up your settings in Control Panel, Libraries folders (as in I put them on another partition), install drivers and you're done. no 200 updates to perform like in Windows 7

 

at least not yet@200 updates also, theres always those good old offline update packages for windows OS

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Fair enough.

I normally work with W7 images that I've created for particular platforms over the years, so I'm not dealing with a zillion updates at any given time.

Presuming all of these hacks hold up, I might give W10 another shot in a few months - once again on an "expendable" system - and see how I like the experience.

 

Great work, Matrix Leader!

Interesting that the registry key is: "DontSearchWindowsUpdate". Sounds like it probably still goes through the process of thinking about updates, but you're preventing it from looking in windows update. Nice though that it actually respects this setting, given that it ignores the others.

 

I'm still gonna wait for at least 3-6 months, and see if all the countermeasures are worth it or not. After all, the ONLY reason I want to upgrade to Win10 is because of DX12. In certain games with DX12 optimisation, there are claims for up to 20% performance increase in gaming. Not exactly sure how it translates in terms of FPS / graphics quality, but we'll see.

 

I agree. DX12 is the ONLY thing. Just never let W 10 be your primary OS.
Unless one likes every element of administrative control removed from your hands.
Not the personal computer experience I paid for. I it's not bad enough they use your computer as a network slave drive.
Might as well flush the internet down the drain and watch Cyberdine Systems, go on line. And boooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMmmbbbbbbbbb.

 

I must download this when I install win 10

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

You know what's going to happen. Someone is going to get ahold of the source code to Windows, release it in China and then it will be free for everyone and actually work like people want it to.

 

haha that would be nice wingnut

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I have dream..... I have a dream.

 

Hello, have been trying to control driver invasion, but no luck (w10 home on my test-setup). Using shut-up and 'never install driver' set, reg entry is there. But still as soon as w update is initiated it installs drivers.

Testing with conexant audio, deleting it, machine goes back to 'high definition audio', all fine. Then a little later, the Ghost in the Machine takes control and installs conexant\dolby etc again. argh.

Same experiment with the camera. KGB no longer granting permission to use a pc without camera software\driver lol+++

Apart from disabling wu service (or sending w10 to the scrapyard), anything more to test to get back ownership of this pc?

Thanks

edit: build 10586.17

 

yes theres a workaround, albeit a bit finicky:

- download this tool from microsoft to be able to block / hide specific windows updates
- important: before ure able to hide / block a specific update, u have to install it at least once on your machine! following an uninstall of the same, u can then use that tool
- also important: if a specific driver update is available in a new version (say, audio driver 1 update is blocked, now audio driver 2 update is downloaded and installed), u have to first remove / unhide the driver 1 update within the microsoft tool, then uninstall the driver 2 update and only THEN will u be able to specifically hide / block the driver 2 update

so yeah, its finicky but doable

 

^^^ Thanks for the info. The "cowhide.diagcab", proof that making windows user-friendly is high on ms' agenda :O) Will test and try to find some practical routine.