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lostindark / DriverStoreExplorer

Driver Store Explorer [RAPR]
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Windows Update Automatically Restores Deleted Old Drivers #169

Closed GitAlexToTheGreek closed 3 years ago

GitAlexToTheGreek commented 3 years ago

Hi there,

DSE v0.11.72.0 Windows 10 Home, v21H1

After a scan, these two old drivers are identified:

With "Force Deletion" enabled, they're removed...

(And confirming that the most recent version of the driver is already installed):

Following a system restart, Windows Update automatically restores those deleted files...

And as expected, they're back in DSE:

-> Can anyone advise on how to resolve this loop and effectively clear the outdated files?

Thanks in advance.

sylveon commented 3 years ago

Leave them here, and install the new driver. Windows Update will stop trying to install the old drivers that way.

GitAlexToTheGreek commented 3 years ago

Leave them here, and install the new driver. Windows Update will stop trying to install the old drivers that way.

(And confirming that the most recent version of the driver is already installed):

So impossible to remove the old files? Isn't that the objective of this software?

sylveon commented 3 years ago

You can remove the ones that WU isn't trying to reinstall.

nkh0472 commented 3 years ago

So impossible to remove the old files? Isn't that the objective of this software?

Of course, you can remove it with DSE. Of course, windows will insist on reinstalling it. This can be said to be a bug of Windows (or a feature). :)

nkh0472 commented 3 years ago

I don't know what logic windows judges the driver needs to be updated. As we all know, there are often some specific release dates for Intel driver updates: 07 / 18 / 1968, 1 / 1 / 1970 and 6 / 21 / 2006, which can be explained as Microsoft's intention for compatibility.

However, I have also observed that for my Intel Core graphics driver, sometimes after installing the latest driver package, Microsoft insists on installing an older version with version number and release date, and makes the new driver package disabled, which is very puzzling.

Even now, it's still happening. image

For the solution of this, you can use group policy to disable the automatic driver update of specific devices. However, it seems that group policy is only on the edition above Windows Professional Edition.

Such modification seems to be beyond the functional scope of the software, but perhaps the method can be added to the readme of the software.

Update: Here is an article from Intel - Support: Windows* Update Reverting to an Older Graphics Driver According to the suggestions, the solution to such a problem is to install the new version of the driver without deleting the old version of the driver (but only apply to DCH driver). Therefore, except using group policy, this is the only way to solve the problem.