How Do I Stop Windows Auto-Installing Drivers?

[Mulsiphix]

How do I stop Windows from auto-detecting hardware and then installing drivers for it? I'm trying to upgrade my sound card and video drivers. I uninstall the current "windows default" drivers, reboot, and before I can even start the installation process for the drivers I've downloaded, Windows detects the hardware and installs the default drivers on its own.

 

[Wishmaster]

How do I stop Windows from auto-detecting hardware and then installing drivers for it? I'm trying to upgrade my sound card and video drivers. I uninstall the current "windows default" drivers, reboot, and before I can even start the installation process for the drivers I've downloaded, Windows detects the hardware and installs the default drivers on its own.

open devices & printers from start menu
Right click the PC icon\
choose device installation settings
Check: No, let me choose what to do
Check: Never instal driver software from windows update

then


Open device manager
find your sound card
Uninstall the driver and check the box "Delete the driver" for this device
Press OK
reboot

 

[joeychan]

i would like to know the same thing.

 

[Jacee]

Hi joeychan

Did you read the post above yours?

 

[SIW2]

That's only for drivers from windows update - it doesn't stop 7 installing the drivers from it's driverstore.

Uninstall the driver - don't reboot - install your chosen drivers.

 

[aem]

It's always advisable to reboot your machine, however, the problem is to completely remove the driver from the system. I would disabled the device, and then uninstall the driver. Reboot and see if the device is still disabled. Then go into registry

HKLM > Software > Windows > CurrentVersion > Uninstall.

Check that the driver is not there (if it's there, just delete it).

Then enable the device. See what it's doing. If it scans and fail to find the driver. Go ahead and install the new driver.

 

[Mulsiphix]

This really does seem ridiculous. MS seems to be punishing the educated/computer-literate user by making the process of installing the driver of your choice a true hassle. When you've got to get into the registry to stop windows from forcing you to use its driverstore, soon to be outdated, driver... this is just wrong.

When it comes to my video driver I have to reboot. I have to uninstall, boot into safe mode, remove all the NVIDIA display drivers that the uninstaller does not remove, and boot back into Windows to install my driver of choice. You can't remove those "left over" drivers in normal Windows as several are still in use.

 

[aem]

I'm not saying to go into the registry to stop anything, i was refering to deleting a driver completedly and installing new.

 

[Mulsiphix]

I'm not at home at the moment so I haven't had a chance to test this out. I think I misunderstand what was being said. I'll give this a go tomorrow and see if it gives me any trouble. Until then,

 

[Mulsiphix]

open devices & printers from start menu
Right click the PC icon\
choose device installation settings
Check: No, let me choose what to do
Check: Never instal driver software from windows update

then


Open device manager
find your sound card
Uninstall the driver and check the box "Delete the driver" for this device
Press OK
reboot

Followed instructions to a tee. This method worked for my sound card but Windows continues to re-install the video. When it didn't work in standard Windows I booted into Safe Mode, uninstalled the drivers using method above, ran DriverSweeper to rid my system of the remnants, but had to reboot before I could install the new drivers.

Upon booting back into Safe Mode or Standard Windows, the drivers were re-installed. Except this time my display starts flickering and changing colors whenever I drag my mouse to select items on the desktop. Any ideas on how to get rid of these video drivers for good?

 

[chev65]

It sometimes helps to unplug the eithernet cable to keep those drivers from installing.

 

[Mulsiphix]

It sometimes helps to unplug the eithernet cable to keep those drivers from installing.

Still no luck

 

[Jonathan_King]

I cannot answer your question, but perhaps I can address your issue. Try not rebooting after you uninstall the drivers, and install your own drivers immediately.

 

[computersplus]

Plug and Play

try temporarily stopping the plug and play service

 

[Mulsiphix]

I cannot answer your question, but perhaps I can address your issue. Try not rebooting after you uninstall the drivers, and install your own drivers immediately.

Several driver uninstallers either fail to remove all files due to poor programming/configuring or are unable to remove files that are currently in use by the system.

try temporarily stopping the plug and play service

I would love to do this but am unsure how to disable this service. When I attempt to do so through the "services.msc" window I am met with a completely grayed out window.

 

[computersplus]

Do This

ok all you have to do is go to device manager and choose the device you want to install a driver for choose browse my computer for driver software then let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer then it will show you a list of drivers to choose from if you have installed several different drivers for a device you can choose which one you want to load at this screen hope this helps

 

[Mulsiphix]

ok all you have to do is go to device manager and choose the device you want to install a driver for choose browse my computer for driver software then let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer then it will show you a list of drivers to choose from if you have installed several different drivers for a device you can choose which one you want to load at this screen hope this helps

I did as instructed and found the list of drivers, two sets of Nvidia display drivers were found. For both driver sets I:

1. Chose NVIDIA driver from list
2. Checked Driver Details
3. Made a list of files associated with said driver
4. Deleted folder in DriverRepository linked to drive set
5. Rebooted into safe mode
6. Used list I made earlier of associated driver and manually removed them

Once both sets were removed in this fashion I ran DriverSweeper to clean up any file or registry remnants from the NVIDIA installers. Windows now automatically loads Standard VGA Graphics Adapter! Now I have a new problem. I am now unable to install new NVIDIA drivers. I have tried the latest drivers from NVIDIA.com (195.62) via two separate methods. Anybody have any idea on what may have gone wrong?

The Installer
I execute the 195.62 installer. It starts up, I agree to the EULA, I am told it is installing the drivers, two seconds later I receive the message "driver installation is complete" followed by this:

[image

Device Manager
In the Device Manager I right click on the VGA display adapter, select "Update Driver Softare", point it to the directory the NVIDIA installer temporarily unpacks files to for the installer installation process, it searches for a little bit and then this window pops up:

 

[computersplus]

Driver Sweeper

I think driver sweeper has caused your issue this has compounded the problem I would try to uninstall all device drivers for the device also check the remove programs list also I think that's where you went wrong video cards usually include uninstaller when you remove from remove programs list it completely removes everything.

 

[Mulsiphix]

Alright I'm going nuts.

• I've restored the folders deleted from the FileRepository folder
• I've restored the three files manually deleted from the System32 folder
• I downloaded my drivers from Windows Update and they restore my display. However, even with them installed I still get the same error if I attempt to install the latest drivers.
• I've tried add/remove program uninstallation after Windows Update drivers were installed

Windows is making no attempt to install its "comes with windows" drivers. I've used DriverSweeper for over three years in WindowsXP and I've never had a problem to date. I've even used it before this to uninstall NVIDIA Display drivers in Safe Mode. Windows would keep reinstalling the FileRepository version upon startup but the point is I've used it in the past successfully with no problems. DriverSweeper unfortunately is refusing to restore the backup it made earlier today. The program crashes when I attempt to do so and its log files for what it did are not in an ascii friendly format. I'm going nuts

EDIT
Wouldn't you know I don't have any backups and since I was testing Windows on this 40GB drive I chose to disable System Restore.

 

[computersplus]

Manual Install

when you choose to install the driver your self look for the microsoft video display driver in the list or is it not listed at all

you can always to a repair install of 7 if need be