Is Windows Update supposed to be able to update Nvidia and Intel drivers?

alibi · Apr 14, 2022

Hey folks,
Having a bit of an issue with this clean Windows 11 install.
Since a picture speaks a thousand words, here's a screenshot of WU and the corresponding driver software:

I'm unsure why, but WU installed some wildly ancient drivers - talking 3-4 y.o.
I realize it may lag behind by a version or two due to testing (or so I've read), but the ones currently offered for my CPU and GPU are 30.0.101.1660 and 512.15 respectively.

I was never a huge fan of downloading the drivers manually and was hoping MS have finally solved the issue and automated the whole thing.
Was I wrong in my assumption?

AddRAM · Apr 14, 2022

No. You can use GeForce Experience to let you know when a new GPU driver is out.

Update Drivers & Optimal Playable Settings

NVIDIA GeForce Experience Auto Update Drivers and Optimise Game Settings

www.nvidia.com

Stigg · Apr 14, 2022

Intel Driver & Support Assistant will handle many of the Intel drivers for you.

Download Intel Drivers and Software

Download new and previously released drivers including support software, bios, utilities, firmware and patches for Intel products.

www.intel.com

FrancoDT · Apr 14, 2022

AddRAM said:
No. You can use GeForce Experience to let you know when a new GPU driver is out.

Update Drivers & Optimal Playable Settings

NVIDIA GeForce Experience Auto Update Drivers and Optimise Game Settings

www.nvidia.com

Stigg said:
Intel Driver & Support Assistant will handle many of the Intel drivers for you.

Download Intel Drivers and Software

Download new and previously released drivers including support software, bios, utilities, firmware and patches for Intel products.

www.intel.com

You may have to disable automatic driver updates in Windows 11 as WU kept installing old drivers over my latest Nvidia and intel drivers.

jbcarreon123 · Apr 14, 2022

WU installs some of the drivers that needed to make your PC usable. So it may install a Intel UHD driver, chipset drivers, and much more.
dedicated GPUs default driver (without install) on Windows is the Windows Basic Display Adapter or WU installs the older version of the official driver.

alibi · Apr 14, 2022

I've used those in the past, and honestly I'd rather download the drivers directly than go the GFE route haha

What I was going to do initially is uninstall both Intel and Nvidia drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode.
Then hopefully Windows realizes they're not there anymore and picks the right drivers this time around.

Before attempting that I'd of course like to read other people's opinion on whether this course of action makes sense (or is utterly stupid) and possible alternatives.
Sounds like that may be a waste of time, and it would grab the same drivers all over?

AddRAM · Apr 14, 2022

Yep, you can get GPU drivers any way you like.

Ghot · Apr 14, 2022

alibi said:
I've used those in the past, and honestly I'd rather download the drivers directly than go the GFE route haha

What I was going to do initially is uninstall both Intel and Nvidia drivers with Display Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode.
Then hopefully Windows realizes they're not there anymore and picks the right drivers this time around.

Before attempting that I'd of course like to read other people's opinion on whether this course of action makes sense (or is utterly stupid) and possible alternatives.
Sounds like that may be a waste of time, and it would grab the same drivers all over?

The only way to stop Win 11 from installing the driver it wants, is to unhook the internet, then use DDU.
So... as long as the internet is hooked up... Win 11 will supply the drivers it wants, after you run DDU.