Discussion on:

Keep device drivers updated with Windows 7 Device Installation Settings

Do you let Microsoft update your drivers or do you do it yourself? I let Microsoft update everything but video drivers because I prefer the Nvidia supplied reference drivers.

This caused big woes on my HP laptop. I made the mistake of letting this automated process take place.

This process tried to update my bios and rendered it a paper weight. Even though i told it not to update any bios files ever.

I did manage to get it replaced through HP tech support but this was not without issues.

If your laptop/computer is working never update your bios,

I now turn off all updates for my system.

If there is a driver change is needed i will download it and do it manually myself.

Trusting these updates is a huge mistake.

It has been for many years to trust these wizards.

Until MS can fix there huge amount of holes in there O/S then it will still continue to be issues regarding these.

I was honestly impressed by the ability of Win7 to get any device I own up and running on the first boot. This does not mean that I want it to automatically push an update that could brick my devices. I like to be notified of updates and there are some stock drivers that I use that could benefit from this update service.

The settings need to be granular and managed. There are certain devices that you must use the developer drivers for and there are certain devices that have extra features only available through a control panel that installs with the manufacuter's drivers. These helper applications usually get an update along with the driver and I don't want MS to ruin this for me.

I've had a lot of trouble with "updated" drivers under Win7 x64. Many of them don't work reliably under this OS and the "update" trashes my PC.

Given that I work on computers all day, when I get home to discover that MS have trashed the drivers for my sound card and TV tuner, and I can't watch TV without spending an hour reloading the versions that work, I'm not a happy camper.

My only issue is that I tend to use the drivers from Nvidia for and Windows Update is always at least a few versions behind. That and it will try to install "new" drivers for any network devices I have disabled. Otherwise I have not had any problems with it.

you do know that intel went with xfire insted of nvidia sli

I will be honest here. I can't trust the Driver Updates from the Windows Update site. Video Driver updates tend to blow up the video subsystem. Audio Driver updates cause quirks with the audio subsystem. Drivers for mouse, keyboard, NIC and Monitor are about all I do. Oh, and the fact that so much hardware, Windows can't find drivers for anyway doesn't help. Good in theory, bad in practice.

Great article, didn't know about that feature.

I would use this feature if driver updates were presented in the same way as windows updates:

1. Get the update list.
2. Present the list to me.
3. I choose what to install.

Done deal.

On a second thought, would the driver updates be presented in exactly this way if I enable driver updates and have "notify before install" enabled on windows updates?

agree

I built my new system with asus mb and win7 64 and have none of your problems due to the fact that intel now suports amd video and in xfire but has left nvidea behind you should fallow up to find what you need at this time because things are always changeing and ms is not your problem most likley.

Ok, so all I need now is to get rid of all the PCs in the office and buy new ones. Sounds good! Who's sponsoring?

He may lack sense and English skills but I'll bet you would fail at the Hindu spelling B.

I'm a bit perplexed with the usual MS bashing comments. I think you folks think everything in this world should be perfect, especially anything MS puts out. Windows is and always has been an operating system for the masses. It is by design flexible enough to work on a multitude of different manufacturers products and run most any peice of crap software some geek wants to market. To expect perfection is unrealistic to say the least. If you want that, buy an Apple product. Ooops! There are issues there also, not? So far for me, everytime an update was installed that didn't work, Windows removed it and reverted to the old driver. Are you wizards missing something? Of course I use my computers for productive work, not silly kids games. So TR, keep up the good work. Some of us appreciate it.

Quote: ".... So far for me, everytime an update was installed that didn't work, Windows removed it and reverted to the old driver. "

How did you configure Windows to do that? Which versions of Windows have that "feature"? I've never found such a feature in Windows XP (32-bit) or in Windows 7 (64-bit). (I am not someone who considers himself a "wizard" and no doubt my questions reveal that I am not one.)

In my experience with Windows XP, Windows Update offered three "optional" driver updates respectively for the monitor, the printer, and the mouse. Each of them caused problems for which there was no remedy, other than manually replacing each one with the driver that was previously installed.

So, I have configured Windows 7 to never install driver updates automatically. I assume that they will be offered as "optional" updates -- although the wording for that option, in the context in which it is presented, could imply that they will not be offered at all. (So it appears to me to betray a hostile attitude from MS).

If Microsoft Update or Windows Update presents a driver update as an optional update, then I will consider it on a case-by-case basis.

That said: so far, the Windows 7 updating procedure's attempt to install each of three downloaded important updates has failed (out of a long list of updates which it installed successfully). Microsoft tech support continues to insist that if I simply run Windows Update again, then it will download the failed updates and install them. Unfortunately, though, Windows 7 has never done that. As far as I can determine, once an update has been downloaded, it is never offered subsequently, for any reason.

MS tech support did find a separate way to update the software with two updates which Windows 7 failed to install. The procedure was long and somewhat complex, and, frankly, there was no way to independently verify that the software was actually updated with those patches.

However, the 90-day "free" support period has expired; I am not going to pay MS $60/hour to figure out how to install the third failed update that has occurred since then.

What really irks me is that MS will not acknowledge that running Windows Update again to re-install a failed update does not cause it to be downloaded again. So MS has not done anything to remedy it.

As far as I know, MS doesn't charge for issues related to updates. Maybe something has changed recently?
Also, for any updates that don't install automatically, I download and install the update manually. So far every one of them surrendered following this procedure.

I reported the most recent Win7 update failure to tech support before the 90-day support expired. We exchanged a couple of initial messages on the issue. Then the support expired before the issue was resolved, and MS tech support ceased to reply to my e-mail messages which were sent in reply to them.

That reminds me:
One time, I was on the phone with another company, which happened to be unionized. Their lunch break was from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. The second noon hit, the guy on the other end hung up the phone. We were in the middle of the conversation!

sounds like i net connection to me

When there are no caveats in the description of it's behaviour, then I can and do expect it to work correctly every time. As a developer, if my products failed as often as driver updates kill my PC, I'd be out of a job. I don't consider it unreasonable to expect MS to be at least as good as I am. They designed the system to work this way, they get to make it work reliably.

It's not bashing to state when you have had problems with any particular product's features, and Windows Update is one I give the decided thumbs down to - especially in the area of drivers. If it ain't broke - don't mess with it!

One of the major problems is Microsoft's so-called Driver Signing, which is nothing more than extortion of developers. You have to pay $1000 and wait weeks just to get Microsoft to look at your driver and issue a digital stamp of approval, but does Microsoft actually support the device? No.

Generic drivers should be the responsibility of the OS to maintain (generic USB bus, basic mouse, keyboard, default 800x600 monitor, etc. All others should be left to the device manufacturers to control, which is why you start seeing the major manufacturers of PC's like Dell, HP, and others including update utilities on their PC's now. They, too, recognize that Microsoft's update process for drivers is only about 50% reliable, whereas the drivers they release have been built specifically for certain PC's and certain hardware and have been tested rigorously to meet customer expectations of 100% reliability. They can also release these drivers without having to pay Microsoft to endorse them and make them available via their websites.

It is NOT unrealistic to expect drivers to work. It is NOT unrealistic to expect the update process to work - especially for signed drivers. Microsoft shouldn't even be touching the unsigned drivers and offering them via Windows Update.

Hi Ocie3

There are two ways you can restore previous drivers. The easiest way is via Device Manager. Select the device and under Properties/Drivers click 'Roll Back Driver'. This has worked for me when MS downloaded a bad nVidia driver. The second way is to do a System Restore.

ms supports xfire now not nvidea

First you said Intel, now you say MS? Microsoft supports everything. I am currently running an NVIDIA graphics card in an Intel Motherboard with Win7x64. Never had a single problem, in fact it works very well.

I'm not in for the MS bashing but I have fallen victim to the Win 7 SP killing off the video driver. Staking your reputation on an OS with a huge range of hardware to deal with seems like asking for trouble. Their track record is not without blemish but their rep can survive it whereas I can't afford to lose a client.

If you are based on the client site you might go for it but if you operate on a drop-in basis then it's a "courageous" decision.

Plus custom built machines. XP was really bad as well, but 7 isn't much better in my opinion. I'm not sure why, maybe Greg is right about MS taking the manufacturers driver and stripping it down. I don't know why they would waste time doing that, if that's true, I would think it would be better for MS to look out for manufacturer's device drivers and pull those into Windows update and serve them to the user, especially since most folks go to the source anyway (nVidia, ASUS, etc) and get it from there, manually. As far as "testing to make sure they are 'Windows certified' ", the above companies test their own drivers, so why do double duty? If the manufacturer tested out their drivers for their hardware products, no need for MS to do it. I always tell folks to get them from the manufacturer, if its a custom built machine, or to get them from say, Dell, or HP.

I think MS would do a better service if they could grab an updated driver for say, that new AMD GPU and pull it from amd's website into Windows update.

Philip

as an end user, the last thing I need is for the OS to "take over" and create another "issue" that I then have "undo" to get back to being productive.
Agree with others here that controlling that feature or having it displayed as in XP before I make the decision is the only way to have it.
and automatic bios updates----------
Well, I think not.

The dozen or so times I allowed windows to update a video driver i ended up with 640X480 and 8 colors. Like running windows 3.0 on a 24 inch LCD screen. Best to not let the customer see that.

Easy enough to roll back, if someone has been smart enough to enable restore points.

For other drivers I really haven't "updated" from windows but more like "installed" missing drivers after doing a clean reinstall of the system. That is very convenient. I wish literally every driver there is would be made available this way.

Letting Windows Update automatically update device drivers is amazingly dangerous, IMHO. It often installs incorrect or out of date or less functional drivers. Try to only get such updates from the manufacturer.

"...update a video driver i ended up with 640X480 and 8 colors...."
Yes, with Windows XP. I have never seen it with Windows 7.

I think that what most are missing here is that you can get plenty of bad drivers from anyone, including the manufacturer. Anyone that hasn't had a bad driver from a the manufacturer hasn't worked with computers very long. As an owner of a PC service, I've had plenty, and found the only way to update a driver is to make sure you can revert back to the old one. Be sure to have a good backup plan whether you're getting the drivers from MS or the manufacturer.

all drivers update pages on most major PC mfg. (Dell, HP, IBM/Lenovo, etc.)

have basically the same phrase:

if your system is working correctly you don't need to update the driver
only update drivers to solve a problem with the current driver or if a security issue has been addressed by the update

...over 10 years of MS OS's on my self-built computers, have supported thousands of clients in that time frame (currently in corporation with over 25,000 of them!) and I remember the majority of problems caused by using manufacturer provided "crap". From video adapters to NIC's to specilaized use adapters (external SCSI, serial devices, etc.), etc., etc. I've always found the "generic" MS drivers to be the most stable (although not 100% of the time...) and have never missed any "stripped away" features. The only problem we ever encounter now are drivers for "out dated" hardware (spend a few bucks and get rid of that 10 year old USB-1 flatbeb scanner or 5 year old external hardrive - it's probably full anyway!) or very new hardware (often with video cards) that do not yet have an MS version.
Damn, I must be doing something correctly...guess I should switch to Linux :-o

When I click on a device icon, I do not get any options as shown in the Figure E. Thus, I never can select "Device installation settings."

Some old device drivers are not detected by windows update

There isn't an honest IT person out there that would recommend using Windows/Microsoft Update to update device drivers. You really are leading people down the wrong path here.

The reality is that the Microsoft make a very good job to create, maintain and to update the huge ammount of millions of device drivers to work with Windows! Issues or not, device drivers from Microsoft or Manufacturer, there so many variables and nobody can say what is the best combination! We have to take care/backup our systems/documents and to make - hopefully - the right choice

If there is a problem with the way the article says to update drivers: how about a detailed article about how to do it right?