Understanding Windows Update rules for driver distribution

This article describes how you can control when Windows Update distributes your driver.

When submitting a driver to Windows Update, the Driver Delivery Options section presents two radio buttons: Automatic and Manual

Under the Automatic option there are two checkboxes: Automatically delivered during Windows Upgrades and Automatically delivered to all applicable systems. Automatic is the default setting for all new shipping labels.

When the first checkbox is selected, the driver is classified as a Dynamic Update (a term that applies to upgrade scenarios). Windows automatically preloads drivers in this category when upgrading the OS.

When the second checkbox is selected, the driver is downloaded and installed automatically on all applicable systems once it is released. All Automatic drivers must first have been evaluated by Microsoft through Driver Flighting.

For more info about the Manual option, see Publish a driver to Windows Update.

User plugs in a device

When a device is connected to a Windows system:

Plug and Play (PnP) looks for a compatible driver already available on the computer. If one exists, Windows installs it on the device. Then, during the next daily scan of Windows Update, Windows searches for a more up-to-date version of the driver. This can take up to 24 hours from when the device is plugged in.

If there is no compatible driver on the computer, Windows searches Windows Update for the highest-ranking Automatic driver.

When searching Windows Update:

In Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier, if no Automatic driver is available for the device, Windows proceeds to the highest-ranking Manual driver.

Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, Windows does not search for a Manual driver when an Automatic driver is not available. For info on how to access Manual drivers, see the Windows Update section of this page.

Device Manager

In Device Manager, when a user selects Update driver:

• In Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier, Windows installs the highest-ranking driver from Windows Update, regardless of whether it is classified as Automatic or Manual.
• Starting in Windows 10 version 2004, Windows only searches the local computer.

When it fails to find a driver, Device Manager shows a button labeled Search for updated drivers on Windows Update, which opens the Settings app to the Windows Update page. To find this button, right-click a device and select Properties. On the Driver tab, select Update Driver and then Search automatically for drivers.

• Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, click Search for updated drivers on Windows Update and then select View optional updates->Driver updates to download Manual drivers.
• In earlier versions of Windows, Device Manager downloads Manual drivers on its own.

Windows Update

During a Windows Update scan (scheduled or user-initiated):

In Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier, Windows Update automatically distributes Manual drivers in either of the following scenarios:

• A device has no applicable drivers available in the Driver Store (raising a «driver not found» error), and there is no applicable Automatic driver
• A device has only a generic driver in the Driver Store, which provides only basic device functionality, and there is no applicable Automatic driver

Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, Windows Update distributes only Automatic drivers for a system’s devices. When Manual drivers are available for devices on the computer, the Windows Update page in the Settings app displays View optional updates .

Summary

The following table summarizes the information above. Windows Update is abbreviated WU.

Windows Update: FAQ

Note: If you’re looking for Microsoft Office update info, see Install Office updates.

In Windows 10, you decide when and how to get the latest updates to keep your device running smoothly and securely. When you update, you’ll get the latest fixes and security improvements, helping your device run efficiently and stay protected. In most cases, restarting your device completes the update. Make sure your device is plugged in when you know updates will be installed.

If other questions come up when you update Windows 10, here are some other areas that might interest you:

When you only want info about updating Windows 10, you’ll find answers to many of your questions here:

When the Windows 10 May 2020 Update is ready for your device, it will be available to download and install from the Windows Update page in Settings. Choose a time that works best for you to download the update. You’ll then need to restart your device and complete the installation. After that, your device will be running Windows 10, version 2004.

To manually check for the latest recommended updates, select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Update .

To get help updating to the latest version of Windows 10, go to the Microsoft software download page and download the Update Assistant.

Some updates may not be available on all devices at the same time—we’re making sure updates are ready and compatible.

To stay up to date, select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Update , and then select Check for updates.

If a feature update is available for your device, it will appear separately on the Windows Update page. To install it, select Download and install now.

Here are a few things you can try if you’re having trouble installing updates:

Make sure that your device is connected to the internet. Downloading updates requires an internet connection.

If you’re connected the internet, try to install the updates manually. Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Update , and then view available updates.
Check for updates

Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter. Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot . Under Get up and running, select Windows Update.

The time required to download updates primarily depends on internet connection speed, network settings, and update size. Make sure your device is plugged in and connected to the internet to download updates faster.

You can’t stop updates entirely—because they help keep your device safe and secure, updates will eventually need to be installed and downloaded, regardless of your update settings. Here’s how to temporarily pause updates from being downloaded and installed. Note that after the pause limit is reached, you’ll need to install the latest updates before you can pause updates again.

In the Windows 10 November 2019 Update (version 1909) or later, or in Windows version 1809 for Pro or Enterprise, select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update . Then choose one of the following options:

Select Pause updates for 7 days.

Select Advanced options. Then, in the Pause updates section, select the drop-down menu and specify a date for updates to resume.

To finish installing an update, your device will need to restart. Windows will try to restart your device when you’re not using it. If it can’t, you’ll be asked to schedule the restart for a more convenient time. Or, you can schedule anytime by following these steps:

Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Update .

Select Schedule the restart and choose a time that’s convenient for you.

You can set active hours to make sure automatic restarts for updates only happen when you’re not using your device. Learn about active hours for Windows 10.

Try deleting files you don’t need, uninstalling apps you don’t use, or moving files to another drive like an external USB drive or OneDrive. For more tips on freeing up disk space, see Free up drive space in Windows 10.

We recommend keeping devices like laptops and tablets plugged in when you’re not using them. This way, if updates are installed outside active hours, your device will have enough power to complete the installation. Windows updates don’t consume more battery than other typical system processes.

An update history is available so you can see which updates were installed, and when. You can also use this list to remove specific updates, although we don’t recommend this unless it’s necessary.

Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Windows Update > View update history .

For more info about what’s included in updates for Windows 10, see Windows 10 update history.

We don’t recommend that you remove any installed updates. However, if you must remove an update, you can do so in update history.

Select Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View update history > Uninstall updates.

Select the update you want to remove, then select Uninstall.

Feature updates are typically released twice per year and include new functionality and capabilities as well as potential fixes and security updates. Quality updates are more frequent and mainly include small fixes and security updates. Windows is designed to deliver both kinds of updates to devices through Windows Update.

To double check that your device is up to date, open Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and see your update status and available updates.

To find which version of Windows you’re running, see Which version of Windows operating system am I running?

Reserved storage is not automatically turned on by Windows in any update scenarios. It is only turned on for new devices with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903) or later preinstalled, or devices on which a clean install was performed.

Note: If you’re looking for Microsoft Office update info, see Install Office updates.

The best way to keep Windows 8.1 up to date is to turn on automatic updates. With automatic updates, you don’t have to search for updates online or worry about missing critical fixes or device drivers for your PC. Instead, Windows Update automatically installs important updates as they become available.

To turn on automatic updates:

Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), select Settings > Change PC settings > Update and recovery > Windows Update. If you want to check for updates manually, select Check now.

Select Choose how updates get installed, and then, under Important updates, select Install updates automatically (recommended).

Under Recommended updates, select Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates.

Under Microsoft Update, select Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows, and then select Apply.

Click the questions below to see answers about how Windows Update keeps your device up to date.

Note: If your PC is connected to a network where updates are managed by Group Policy, you might not be able to change settings related to Windows Update. For more info, contact your organization’s technical support.

Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), select Settings > Change PC settings > Update and recovery > Windows Update. To check for updates manually, select Check now.

An update history is available so you can see which updates were installed, and when. You can also use this list to remove specific updates, although we don’t recommend this unless it’s necessary.

To see your PC’s update history, open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), select Settings > Change PC settings > Update and recovery > Windows Update > View your update history.

We don’t recommend that you remove any installed updates. However, if you must remove an update, you can do so in update history.

Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), select Settings > Change PC settings > Update and recovery > Windows Update > View your update history.

Select the update you want to remove, then select Uninstall.

Here are a few things to try if you’re having problems installing updates:

Make sure that your PC is connected to the internet. Some updates can’t be installed if you’re using a metered internet connection.

If you’re connected the internet and updates aren’t installed automatically, wait a few minutes and then try to install the updates manually.

See the Fix Windows Update errors guided walkthrough to try to fix the problem.

Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020

We recommend you move to a Windows 10 PC to continue to receive security updates from Microsoft.

Click the questions below to see answers about how Windows Update keeps your device up to date.

How to Update Drivers in Windows

A complete tutorial on updating drivers in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP

You might need to update drivers in Windows when a new piece of hardware you’ve installed doesn’t work automatically or maybe after upgrading to a new version of Windows. Updating drivers is also a great troubleshooting step when the device is having some kind of problem or is generating an error, like a Device Manager error code.

A driver update isn’t always a fix-it task, either. An updated driver might enable new features for the hardware, something we see on a regular basis with popular video cards and sound cards.

It usually takes around 15 minutes to update a driver in Windows, even less time if the driver is self-installable or you get it via Windows Update (more on all of that below).

Updating drivers yourself isn’t difficult, but there are programs that will more or less do it for you. See our List of Free Driver Updater Tools for reviews of the best ones out there.

These steps can be used to update drivers in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP:

How to Update Drivers in Windows

Optional Walkthrough: If you’d like to follow the process below, but with more details and screenshots for each step, use our Step by Step Guide to Updating Drivers in Windows instead.

Locate, download, and extract the latest drivers for the hardware. You should always check with the hardware manufacturer first when looking for an updated driver. When downloaded direct from the hardware maker, you’ll know the driver is both valid and the most recent for the hardware.​

If no drivers are available from the hardware maker, check Windows Update or even the disc that came with the computer or piece of hardware, if you received one. There are also several other driver download options if those ideas don’t work.

Many drivers are integrated with software that automatically installs them, making the below instructions unnecessary. If there’s no indication of that on the driver download page, a good bet that you’ll need to manually install a driver is if it comes in the ZIP format. Drivers obtained via Windows Update are automatically installed.

Open Device Manager. There are several ways to get to Device Manager in Windows but doing so from the Control Panel (the method outlined in the link) is pretty simple.

Device Manager is one of the shortcuts on the Power User Menu in Windows 10 and Windows 8. Just press WIN+X to open that handy tool.

With Device Manager open, select the > or [+] icon (depending on your version of Windows) to open the category that you think contains the device you want to update the drivers for.

If you don’t find the device you’re after, just open some other categories until you do. Windows doesn’t always categorize hardware the way you’d think about a device and what it does.

Once you’ve found the device you’re updating drivers for, the next step depends on your version of Windows:

• Windows 10 & 8: Right-click or press-and-hold on the hardware’s name or icon and choose Update Driver (W10) or Update Driver Software (W8).
• Windows 7 & Vista: Right-click on the hardware’s name or icon, choose Properties, then the Driver tab, followed by the Update Drive button.

The Update Drivers or Update Driver Software wizard will begin, which we’ll completely step through to finish the driver update for this piece of hardware.

See What Version of Windows Do I Have? if you’re not sure which you’re running.

• Windows XP Only: Right-click on the hardware item, choose Properties, the Driver tab, and then the Update Drive button. From the Hardware Update Wizard, choose No, not this time to the Windows Update question, followed by Next >. From the search and installation options screen, choose Don’t search I will choose the driver to install option, again followed by Next >. Skip to Step 7 below.

To the How do you want to search for drivers? question, or in some versions of Windows, How do you want to search for driver software?, choose Browse my computer for driver software.

On the next window, select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer (Windows 10) or Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, located near the bottom of the window.

Select Have Disk, located on the bottom-right, under the text box.

On the Install From Disk window that appears, choose Browse on the bottom-right corner of the window.

On the Locate File window you see now, work your way to the folder that you created as part of the driver download and extraction in Step 1.​

There may be several nested folders within the folder you extracted. Ideally, there will be one labeled with your version of Windows (like Windows 10, or Windows 7, etc.) but if not, try to make an educated guess based on what you’re updating the drivers for, as to which folder might contain the driver files.

Select any INF file in the file list and then choose Open. INF files are the only files that Device Manager accepts for driver setup information and so are the only types of files you’ll be shown.

• Find several INF files in one folder? Don’t worry about this. The driver update wizard loads information from all the INF files in the folder you’re in automatically, so it doesn’t matter which one you choose.
• Find many folders with INF files? Try an INF file from each folder until you find the correct one.
• Didn’t find an INF file in the folder you chose? Look through other folders, if there are any, until you find one with an INF file.
• Didn’t find any INF files? If you haven’t found an INF file in any folder included in the extracted driver download, it’s possible that the download was corrupted. Try downloading and extracting the driver package again.

Choose OK back on the Install From Disk window.

Select the newly added hardware in the text box and then hit Next.​

If you get a warning after pressing Next, see Step 13 below. If you don’t see an error or other message, move on to Step 14.

There are a number of common warnings and other messages that you might get at this point in the driver update process, several of which are paraphrased and listed here along with advice on what to do:

• Windows cannot verify that the driver is compatible: If you’re sure this driver is the right one, select Yes to continue installing it. Choose No if you think you might have the driver for the wrong model or something like that, in which case you should look for other INF files or maybe an entirely different driver download. Checking the Show compatible hardware box, if available, located on the window from Step 12, can help prevent this.
• Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software: Choose Yes to continue installing this driver only if you received it directly from the manufacturer or from their installation disc. Choose No if you downloaded the driver elsewhere and didn’t exhaust your search for a manufacturer-provided one.
• This driver hasn’t been signed: Similarly to the publisher verification problem above, choose Yes only when you’re confident about the driver’s source.
• Windows requires a digitally signed driver: In 64-bit versions of Windows, you won’t even see the above two messages because Windows won’t let you install a driver that has a digital signature issue. If you see this message, end the driver update process and locate the correct driver from the hardware maker’s website.

While on the Installing driver software screen, which should only last a few to several seconds, Windows will use the instructions included in the INF file from Step 10 to install the updated drivers for your hardware.

Depending on the drivers you happen to be installing, you may be required to enter additional information or make certain choices during this process, but this isn’t very common.

Once the driver update process is complete, you should see a Windows has successfully updated your driver software window.

Select Close. You can now also close Device Manager.

Restart your computer, even if you’re not prompted to do so. Windows doesn’t always force you to restart after updating a driver but it’s a good idea. Driver updates involve changes to the Windows Registry and other important parts of Windows, so restarting is a good way to make sure that this update hasn’t negatively impacted some other part of Windows. If you do find that the driver update caused some kind of problem, just roll back the driver to the previous version and then try updating it again.