How do I find the actual Device that uses this driver?

To find the actual device that uses a particular driver, you can follow these steps:


1. Open Device Manager:
- Press Win + X and select Device Manager
- Or type "Device Manager" in the Start menu search


2. Look for the Samsung driver:
- Expand the category tree on the left
- Search for entries related to Samsung or mobile devices


3. Identify the device:
- The device name will likely indicate what kind of Samsung hardware it is (e.g., phone, tablet, smartwatch)
- Common names might include "Samsung Mobile Device", "Samsung USB Composite Device", or "Samsung Smart TV"


4. Check properties:
- Right-click on the identified device
- Select Properties
- Go to the Details tab
- Look at the "Hardware IDs" field - this often contains clues about the exact device model


5. Use Device Manager filters:
- Click on View > Filter
- Enter keywords like "Samsung" or "Android" to narrow down the list


6. Check for unknown devices:
- Sometimes problematic drivers can cause devices to appear as "Unknown Device"
- These may be the ones causing conflicts


7. Use third-party tools:
- Software like Belarc Advisor or Speccy can provide more detailed information about installed hardware and drivers


If you're still having trouble identifying the device, you may need to:

- Check your computer's Event Viewer for any error messages related to the driver
- Review recently installed software or updates that might have added the Samsung driver
- Consider uninstalling and reinstalling the Samsung driver through Device Manager


Remember to be cautious when removing drivers or devices, especially if they're essential for your system's operation. Always keep backups of important data before making significant changes to your system configuration.

@antspants - Started using WAU Manager ever since November 9, 2024 at 7:00AM -800 GMT/UTC when all I did was did the the settings as follows and clicked on Save and Apply as shown below:



And this is the logs from WAU:


So it seems like the Windows Defender updates are updating and getting installed automatically even when WAU Manager is not even running. Looks like all the times are GMT/UTC so it's actually November 9, 2024 1:00PM GMT/UTC that I started using WAU Manager by just clicking on Disable built-in Windows Automatic Updates, Normal, Search for Both, Also updated Windows Defender daily. Save and Apply and then closed WAU Manager so everything from the November 9, 2024 2:45:06PM entry for Microsoft Defender was when WAU Manager was not even opened. The November 10, 2024 6:49:27AM event was the only thing when I opened WAU Manager and did the update to the new Beta Insiders build 22635.4445.

Here is the more interesting part:

Windows Update itself seems to updating the Last checked time/date stamp which was 39 minutes ago but the Windows Update History has no new entries since WAU had disabled built-in Windows Automatic Updates.

Also, online help says: " If you want WAU Manager to automatically reboot the computer to complete installing the updates that require a system reboot, tick the Automatically reboot if needed checkbox. Note that this will make your computer restart unexpectedly, so take precautions not to loose your work." so I guess it will reboot automatically whether you want it to or not.

The only bad thing I noticed is that with the built-in Windows Update, when I updated and install something like the Beta Insiders update or security update, the start menu will have the Update and Restart and Update and Shutdown entries but with WAU Manager, it only shows Restart and Shutdown. I wonder if it will still update as part of the Shutdown/Restart process.

So that’s good isn’t it?
It blocks windows updates but installs Defender updates because you’ve checked the box yes?
That’s what we want yes?

Not sure that I would do the auto reboot though, not just for a defender update. I manually check for and allow anything else. Auto update isn’t needed.

As I am reading this thread, I am sitting hear thinking outside the proverbial box here asking myself questions...

Let's say Windows 11, like Windows 10, will not comply fully with the user group policy settings to not install or let the WAU Manager be completely disabled according to the uaer's settings/recommendations, can you rename the main EXEcutable for the WAU Manager so that Windows cannot run or search for the automatic updates? If so, will that "break" windows because the WAU Manager is a mainstay maintenance application of Windows?

If you cannot rename the WAU Manager's main EXEcutable (which might "break" Windows) can a firewall setting block the WAU Manager from at least accessing the internet? If the Windows' firewall would ignore or override such a command would a third-party firewall help in blocking the WAU Manager?

Is the aforementioned questions asked not a moot point if users have any other version of Windows (like Home) but Pro installed because I thought the Group Policy feature access was only accessible through Pro? I suppose you could also introduce a registry hack to do the same thing, if the user does not choose to install or need Windows Pro installed, yes?

Just some ponderous thoughts I had...

Cheersa

I prefer to disable driver updates from WU with group policy.

antspants said:

So that’s good isn’t it?
It blocks windows updates but installs Defender updates because you’ve checked the box yes?
That’s what we want yes?

Not sure that I would do the auto reboot though, not just for a defender update. I manually check for and allow anything else. Auto update isn’t needed.

Click to expand...

Yes, it works the way I want it to work but ofcourse it's supposed to actually wait for me to check and approve the defender updates as it's supposed to follow the Normal policy.

I wonder since the Windows Power menu does not have the "Update and Shutdown" and "Update and Restart" options like when Windows Update requires rebooting, I wonder will it still apply the update if I just selected Shutdown or Restart, I'll provide the answer to that one on the next update that requires a restart.

In any case, I hope you recover soon since while you mentioned you got COVID in this thread, you never mentioned being in the hospital for the last 3 days until I saw it in the other thread. Oops, looks like I am confusing you with @Ghot.

KevTech said:

I prefer to disable driver updates from WU with group policy.

Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable including drivers with Windows Updates in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows Update will include drivers when available in Windows 11 by default. You can enable the Do not include drivers with Windows Updates policy to not include drivers...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

I don't because being in the Beta Insiders, sometimes there will be a new driver available not released yet. I am only blocking drivers because it is downgrading on the Intel Graphics Driver unless the system sees that version has been installed before. So WAU Manager works better because instead of disabling the update, it will tell me the version available and it's my choice on installing it or not so it gives a choice rather than just saying No.

I just had that same driver show up as an optional update for my XPS 17 9710 in Windows Update today.

According to Windows Update this driver was just installed automatically today on my custom built AMD Ryzen 5800X3D, Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master desktop PC. I don't have any RAID cards or anything made by Areca in this machine, so I am leaning towards this being a mistake by Microsoft (it's a mystery why they would do this). It's certainly not being installed exclusively on Dell machines.

I have Windows 11 Pro 23H2.

Almighty1 said:

Yes, it works the way I want it to work but ofcourse it's supposed to actually wait for me to check and approve the defender updates as it's supposed to follow the Normal policy.

I wonder since the Windows Power menu does not have the "Update and Shutdown" and "Update and Restart" options like when Windows Update requires rebooting, I wonder will it still apply the update if I just selected Shutdown or Restart, I'll provide the answer to that one on the next update that requires a restart.

In any case, I hope you recover soon since while you mentioned you got COVID in this thread, you never mentioned being in the hospital for the last 3 days until I saw it in the other thread. Oops, looks like I am confusing you with @Ghot.

Click to expand...

And I am back to provide the answers to the above. Shutdown and Restart even though it is not labeled with the "and update" like Windows Update does actually does do the updates after you select it. One thing I noticed that is strange. As we all know probably by now, Windows Update will always try to replace the Intel Graphics driver. What is interesting is in WAU Manager, I leave those updates unchecked and when I check on updates with WAU Manager after that, 99% of the time, it will not even show those as available updates and it will show them again so it seems like it will show those updates like once every 10 days or so.