I Am Stopping Further Upgrades To Windows 10

[Fuzzy John]

As much as I like Windows 10 (and I have it installed on 2 non-testing computers) I am stopping further upgrades. A situation came up on one of the testing computers, an Acer Iconia W500 tablet. Today Windows Update installed an update for the touch screen in this tablet and completely broke the way it works. Normally that is nothing to really be concerned about, mainly since this is a testing machine. I uninstalled the device in Device Manager and normal operation was restored. However, and this is the real problem, Windows Update automatically reinstalled that update and broke the touchscreen again.

Microsoft, in all its wisdom, chose to take away all user control over updates. You cannot select when to install update. You cannot select which updates to install. You cannot hide updates that you do not need. You cannot hide updates that you know are detrimental to your system. This change to Windows Update was instituted just days before the general release of Windows 10.

This is completely unacceptable. Due to this I am stopping all further upgrades to Windows 10 until Microsoft resolves this issue. I hope that the 2 production computers I already upgraded will not fall to this issue.

And I am strongly recommending to all my family and friends to hold off on the Windows 10 upgrades.

 

[bonskibon37]

Have you checked this out? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930 I have also set my internet to metered so nothing gets updated.

 

[bonskibon37]

I run this program often and have successfully hid drivers from installing on my machine. I also hate the fact that all user control over updates have been taken away.

 

[TheCudder]

Take a look at this thread I posted: http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...e-automatic-updates-all-hardware-drivers.html

I'm all for "Always Up-to-Date" as far as patches & security goes, but the drivers side of things gets a little more tricky. Microsoft needs to figure that one out.

 

[Dewg]

You could also go to Start, then type: change device installation settings. Then disable device installs from Windows Update.

Edit: While your situation does suck, it represents a minority of the population. The vast majority will not experience this type of issue. It's well known that bad device drivers are the bane of Windows and the primary cause of malfunction and blue screens. To help reduce this, Microsoft is attempting to keep drivers up to date - so that some misguided user doesn't install 8 year-old Windows 7 drivers by accident and cause stability issues.

I would make sure you voice your frustration with Acer (or whomever released the driver) to ensure they release an updated, correct driver quickly.

 

[Fuzzy John]

You could also go to Start, then type: change device installation settings. Then disable device installs from Windows Update.

Sorry I didn't mention this in my original post but I had that already done. Yet Windows Update ignores it.

 

[Fuzzy John]

Take a look at this thread I posted: http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...e-automatic-updates-all-hardware-drivers.html

I'm all for "Always Up-to-Date" as far as patches & security goes, but the drivers side of things gets a little more tricky. Microsoft needs to figure that one out.

Done that already but that driver keeps coming in.

 

[bonskibon37]

Take a look at this thread I posted: http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...e-automatic-updates-all-hardware-drivers.html

I'm all for "Always Up-to-Date" as far as patches & security goes, but the drivers side of things gets a little more tricky. Microsoft needs to figure that one out.

 

[bonskibon37]

Take a look at this thread I posted: http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...e-automatic-updates-all-hardware-drivers.html

I'm all for "Always Up-to-Date" as far as patches & security goes, but the drivers side of things gets a little more tricky. Microsoft needs to figure that one out.

I have tried this and once I click save changes I go back and see it reverted back.

 

[DavidinCT]

.
Edit: While your situation does suck, it represents a minority of the population. The vast majority will not experience this type of issue. It's well known that bad device drivers are the bane of Windows and the primary cause of malfunction and blue screens. To help reduce this, Microsoft is attempting to keep drivers up to date - so that some misguided user doesn't install 8 year-old Windows 7 drivers by accident and cause stability issues.

I would make sure you voice your frustration with Acer (or whomever released the driver) to ensure they release an updated, correct driver quickly.

Not sure about that. I work in IT in the back ground, so I deal with Windows updates, on a server and desktop level. I see this all the time, a odd ball Windows update or Windows driver update that will break things.

I have actually seen a security update break an Exchange server (Microsoft pulled it with in 6 hours or so but, still it happened). Then about 3 months ago, Microsoft had a update that killed DRM based content (it was a root update) so if you ordered DRM music, movies or have Windows Media Center running with DRM protected cablecard shows, all content was unavailable to be viewed.

Then you have the other side of it, Microsoft pushed an update that offered people Windows 10 if they were on WIndows 7 or Windows 8.1, like it hate it, Microsoft used a system update channel (to fix bugs and security issues) to send an Advertisement down. This is how it's being viewed by a lot of people and companies (seen reports by very high level people NOT to take it as it's not tested).

Yes, windows update can help on security issues and possible features but, the end user should be able to manage in control them. I also leave my home computer on and have been bitten by the auto reboot bug, where I had a app open that I was working in (saved it a few hours before), but, went to bed, Microsoft took it on itself to reboot my computer and I lost data. I fear this is going to be a bigger issue once time moves along and could be a big issue in the IT world.

Microsoft does this because MOST end users don't update their computer, most people don't care about updates, they just care of their computer works (home users, not hobbyists) and does what they need. So Microsoft took back control of it.

I wonder if the Group policy configuration still works in Windows 10, It set so no auto reboots for updates when a user is logged in, it will anny the hell out of you but, it WILL NOT reboot the computer. I'll have to see if that key works or not.

 

[David Feifer]

This is why I manually upgrade systems to 10 to make sure all is good and then point them to our internal wsus server. This way I know they are only getting updates I approve and are not going to gum up the works.

 

[Dewg]

Then you have the other side of it, Microsoft pushed an update that offered people Windows 10 if they were on WIndows 7 or Windows 8.1, like it hate it, Microsoft used a system update channel (to fix bugs and security issues) to send an Advertisement down. This is how it's being viewed by a lot of people and companies (seen reports by very high level people NOT to take it as it's not tested).

My only comment on this is that Windows 10 is not offered to computers joined to domains, or Enterprise versions. The only systems seeing the "Get Windows 10" app should be home users, or SMB's that do not use a domain. The vast majority of companies should not see the upgrade offer. My entire company of nearly 300 people have yet to see the offer. The only time I see it is when I'm setting up a new computer. The "Get Windows 10" app shows up briefly before I join the domain - then it disappears.

 

[realwarder]

I have a similar issue with sound drivers actually.

My PC has Conextant SmartAudio drivers and Windows nicely installed them during setup. Except they don't work as the microphone volume is too low even with Boost maxed. I'm assuming the Lenovo drivers has some vender specific option to gain even more...

Anyway, if I uninstall them - they install as a control panel removable driver/app package - then reboot at the end, on reboot the things auto-reinstall.

I've tried killing the installer process on startup but it's too quick. While Lenovo have a download package, it errors after trying to 'update' the Microsoft one - possibly because it's older. If I manually remove the drivers in device manager and then refresh, it re-installs again.

All very annoying.

Oh, this is an Enterprise build, so driver install issues are not 'home' version related.

Edit: I missed this link already in the thread: http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...e-automatic-updates-all-hardware-drivers.html

I'll try and disable that and see if I can get my own drivers on...

 

[Dewg]

I have a similar issue with sound drivers actually.

Two possibilities. 1) the driver for your sound card is baked into Windows 10 (it's not downloading it from Windows Update), in which case it will keep re-installing it on restart. 2) the driver is being downloaded from Windows Update, and is the incorrect driver (which would be a bummer).

The only thing I can think of - find the correct Windows 10 driver for your audio card from the manufacturer website (hopefully there is one). Download it and prepare it for install (don't install yet). Now, go into Device Manager and find your audio card there. Right click on it and choose Uninstall. Check the box to remove software as well. Once it's removed - unplug your network cable (or disable WiFi), and restart your computer. Sign back in, and install the downloaded driver. Check audio and make sure you're happy - then plug back in the network.

 

[Narse77]

Not sure about that. I work in IT in the back ground, so I deal with Windows updates, on a server and desktop level. I see this all the time, a odd ball Windows update or Windows driver update that will break things.

I have actually seen a security update break an Exchange server (Microsoft pulled it with in 6 hours or so but, still it happened). Then about 3 months ago, Microsoft had a update that killed DRM based content (it was a root update) so if you ordered DRM music, movies or have Windows Media Center running with DRM protected cablecard shows, all content was unavailable to be viewed.

Then you have the other side of it, Microsoft pushed an update that offered people Windows 10 if they were on WIndows 7 or Windows 8.1, like it hate it, Microsoft used a system update channel (to fix bugs and security issues) to send an Advertisement down. This is how it's being viewed by a lot of people and companies (seen reports by very high level people NOT to take it as it's not tested).

Yes, windows update can help on security issues and possible features but, the end user should be able to manage in control them. I also leave my home computer on and have been bitten by the auto reboot bug, where I had a app open that I was working in (saved it a few hours before), but, went to bed, Microsoft took it on itself to reboot my computer and I lost data. I fear this is going to be a bigger issue once time moves along and could be a big issue in the IT world.

Microsoft does this because MOST end users don't update their computer, most people don't care about updates, they just care of their computer works (home users, not hobbyists) and does what they need. So Microsoft took back control of it.

I wonder if the Group policy configuration still works in Windows 10, It set so no auto reboots for updates when a user is logged in, it will anny the hell out of you but, it WILL NOT reboot the computer. I'll have to see if that key works or not.

Our MS rep assured us we can still control updates and deploy them to Windows 10 via SCCM as we do now.

 

[Narse77]

Group Policy certainly works

 

[PepperdotNet]

My only comment on this is that Windows 10 is not offered to computers joined to domains, or Enterprise versions. The only systems seeing the "Get Windows 10" app should be home users, or SMB's that do not use a domain. The vast majority of companies should not see the upgrade offer. My entire company of nearly 300 people have yet to see the offer. The only time I see it is when I'm setting up a new computer. The "Get Windows 10" app shows up briefly before I join the domain - then it disappears.

Join the machine to the domain first, then update through WSUS, you'll never see it then plus it will update a lot faster.

 

[DavidinCT]

My only comment on this is that Windows 10 is not offered to computers joined to domains, or Enterprise versions. The only systems seeing the "Get Windows 10" app should be home users, or SMB's that do not use a domain. The vast majority of companies should not see the upgrade offer. My entire company of nearly 300 people have yet to see the offer. The only time I see it is when I'm setting up a new computer. The "Get Windows 10" app shows up briefly before I join the domain - then it disappears.

Right, if you want to take Windows 10 and your on a domain, you have to remove it from the domain, log into an local account and do your updates, it will show up, or you can manually go to the Windows 10 download pages and upgrade that computer. Then re-add to the domain later...

Still anyway about it, Microsoft used Windows update to send down an advertisement. This is the first of it's type. It's always been said by Microsoft that they would never use windows update for ads.

Like it or not, it is what would be called an ad through updates and this is wrong 100%...

If you open the door for this type of stuff, think about the next time a new version of Office comes out ? Other Promotions for a large app (IE or Edge), just think about it.... 5 years from now you could be blocking ads from Microsoft....

 

[mj0]

I feel your pain. I've actually had an optional driver update break my Thinkpad X220 twice before, once on Windows 7 (Thinkpad Ultranav driver installed via Windows update replacing the original Synaptics driver and rendering both the touchpad and trackpoint effectively useless for me) and once on Windows 8.1 (same issue as mentioned here before - update to the sound driver rendered the microphone effectively completely muted). Luckily enough in both instances I was able to uninstall the software, roll back the driver, then block it from reinstalling again.

No idea what I'll do in case this ever happens on Windows 10... I hope Microsoft will realize how bad mandatory automatic driver updates are as soon as possible and offer an opt-out (or even better: opt-in) for optional non-critical driver updates.