How to disable W7 automatic driver installation?

[-Slacker-]

Yeah, so I don't know how Microsoft managed to make all that money, or even stay afloat in the business world for more than 4.5 seconds before crashing and burning, but I'll assume it was all thanks to a Djini that they tricked into granting them infinite wishes (the poor bastard), because there's now way they could have accomplished all this with their company's won talent and leadership.

So I guess most of you know the drill: you uninstall your current video driver (forceware in my case) to replace it with a different one, restart the pc first, and then windows immediately goes ahead and installs whatever piece of crap driver it has stored somewhere (no idea where) in it's fiery pits of hell -which you never told it to do.

So how do I stop this?

And I don't mean just stop it from downloading the drivers form the internet, I mean stop it from installing whatever there is already on the HDD.


edit: Nevermind, I decided to try that gpedit.msc crap and got it to work after a mind numbing 1 and a half hours of frustration.

A piece of advice for microsoft's unsuspecting victims: after you disable the auto install function and restart, windows will still try to install it's stock drivers by itself, but it will fail; You should then re-enable the autoinstall function the same way you disabled it, before you install the proper video drivers for your card - otherwise that driver installation will fail, too (at least that's what happens with nvidia drivers).

 

[rgallant]

nv drivers now have a clean install option check box and ms does not have a chance to load it's default drivers.

 

[-Slacker-]

So I can uninstall a driver and install a new one without restarting in-between?

 

[MTDEW]

I think the Nvidia drivers just remove any tweaks you have to game profiles and set everything to defaults when you select the clean install option.

I just UN-install drivers and dont reboot right away and go into device manager and install the Standard VGA adapter drivers.
Then reboot and install new drivers.

Sometimes i also use something like driver-sweeper and Ccleaner after uninstall reboot, then reboot and install new drivers, if i wanna be sure there are no leftovers from old drivers.

 

[Zxian]

That's a lot of rage at Microsoft over an option that would likely only be used by enthusiasts. Microsoft has stuck around for this long because nobody else could provide the same level of support and backwards compatibility.

Also, if you think Group Policies are "crap", you really need to go back and have another look at what they're intended for. There's a reason I run at domain at home (hint: it makes options and customizations easier to apply to all computers).

I also don't understand what's so terrible about having a default driver provided for you. If you're uninstalling an existing driver to update to a new one, you'll be using the new nVidia drivers in the end anyways. Why is having an interim solution bad?

 

[-Slacker-]

That's a lot of rage at Microsoft over an option that would likely only be used by enthusiasts. Microsoft has stuck around for this long because nobody else could provide the same level of support and backwards compatibility.

There is never enough rage toward microsoft. GPU drivers require clean installs and uninstalls, and if there aren't enough people that care about updating to the newest drivers, that's microsoft's problem, not mine - especially when their os could just ask me weather or not I should let it install crap on my hard drive.

Also, if you think Group Policies are "crap", you really need to go back and have another look at what they're intended for. There's a reason I run at domain at home (hint: it makes options and customizations easier to apply to all computers).

The reason I'm dissatisfied with the gpedt workaround is because it's an obscure operation that's attached to the proper functioning of a basic function (clean driver updates). It's silly that I have to look for something like that on the internet when it could have been a more intuitive and accessible option in the control panel, for instance.

I also don't understand what's so terrible about having a default driver provided for you. If you're uninstalling an existing driver to update to a new one, you'll be using the new nVidia drivers in the end anyways. Why is having an interim solution bad?

Do you usually install new video drivers over other video drivers?

 

[Zxian]

There is never enough rage toward microsoft. GPU drivers require clean installs and uninstalls, and if there aren't enough people that care about updating to the newest drivers, that's microsoft's problem, not mine - especially when their os could just ask me weather or not I should let it install crap on my hard drive.

If your GPU drivers require clean installs and uninstalls, blame the creator of the installer and uninstaller packages for leaving crap behind after "uninstalling". If nVidia and AMD actually removed all the files they installed we'd have no need for driver cleaners in the first place. That's no fault of Microsoft. Microsoft's default video drivers should have zero impact on your system and should not negatively affect the performance once you do have the latest drivers installed from nVidia or AMD.

The reason I'm dissatisfied with the gpedt workaround is because it's an obscure operation that's attached to the proper functioning of a basic function (clean driver updates). It's silly that I have to look for something like that on the internet when it could have been a more intuitive and accessible option in the control panel, for instance.

The feature you're complaining about is an obscure feature (and IMO, an unnecessary one from Microsoft's standpoint). I'd rather keep the Control Panel clean and simple with the more commonly used tasks and leave highly selective tweaks out of sight for the common user. If the average Joe can break it, they usually will. That doesn't change the fact that group policies are very useful for those that know how to use them.

Do you usually install new video drivers over other video drivers?

I do actually. I haven't had any issues with installing new Catalyst drivers over old ones for quite some time now. Again, if installing a newer nVidia driver requires you to completely remove and scrub clean your system then it's nVidia's fault - not Microsoft's.