Windows 10 'Device Installation' Still Needs Some Work

[Ketchup]

They may have changed the name in the Anniversary Update, but that doesn't mean that Windows 10's need to unnecessarily update drivers is working any better. It finally got me last week.

I have mentioned on the boards that I finally did a fresh install of 10 a few months ago on the desktop, as the weaknesses of the "upgrade" were really starting to show. When I did that, I neglected to disable Windows 10's Auto Update for Devices.

I didn't even notice until last week, when it updated my video card driver. My son complained about the sound not working, then I noticed the new items in the start menu, then I remembered it reboot on it's own the night before. Nice trick MS.

As far as fixing the issue, the sound came back with I removed the Nvidia HD audio driver, but went away after a reboot. Manually installing the latest Nvidia drivers (telling it to remove old settings) didn't help, but when I wiped all the drivers and let Windows install what it wanted after a reboot, sound is back to normal. Playing with the sound card drivers had not effect on the issue, oddly enough.

If there is anything humorous about this, it's that the driver update was for my video card, which is one of the oldest components in my rig right now. So let this serve as a reminder to those of you who are reading this that its probably the best practice to switch Device Installation Update to No.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

They may have changed the name in the Anniversary Update, but that doesn't mean that Windows 10's need to unnecessarily update drivers is working any better. It finally got me last week.

I have mentioned on the boards that I finally did a fresh install of 10 a few months ago on the desktop, as the weaknesses of the "upgrade" were really starting to show. When I did that, I neglected to disable Windows 10's Auto Update for Devices.

I didn't even notice until last week, when it updated my video card driver. My son complained about the sound not working, then I noticed the new items in the start menu, then I remembered it reboot on it's own the night before. Nice trick MS.

As far as fixing the issue, the sound came back with I removed the Nvidia HD audio driver, but went away after a reboot. Manually installing the latest Nvidia drivers (telling it to remove old settings) didn't help, but when I wiped all the drivers and let Windows install what it wanted after a reboot, sound is back to normal. Playing with the sound card drivers had not effect on the issue, oddly enough.

If there is anything humorous about this, it's that the driver update was for my video card, which is one of the oldest components in my rig right now. So let this serve as a reminder to those of you who are reading this that its probably the best practice to switch Device Installation Update to No.

Yes! We've all stumbled onto this in different or partial ways. I was lucky for pushing the little slider to "Off" earlier in the game.

Windows 10 can be "stealthy." Now . . . imagine that you have a dual-boot system, with different system partitions and even different data partitions. Suppose you only give the partitions/volumes drive-letters for the relevant operating system -- assigned within the respective OSes.

If you look at Windows 7, it can only defragment the drives that have letters: the defragmenter doesn't recognize drives that don't. Now, you go into Windows 10, and you find that it has been defragging the drives that are unlettered and which you didn't want it to touch!

There are enough advantages and improvements in Win 10 that make it wonderful in potential. But even with a single-boot system -- ya gotta be careful.

Ketchup! Did you hear the story about the Papa, Momma and Baby Tomato walking down the street? Your "handle" is the punch-line!