Optional Updates

MrBeaujhangles · Friday at 11:49 AM

While not concerned about typical security updates,while reviewing threads on optional updates, I saw conflicting info in threads I read, and they were quite old and has the "recommend start new thread" message. All our current Windows 7 Pro PCs are set to advise of all updates, over the years we'd generally install the important updates at the 1st opportunity. Can think of maybe 1 or 2 in a dozen or so years that we waited on (till known issues were resolved); but ...

a) What's the default status on optional updates
b) What if any options are available ? Was not all that unusual for example in WIN 7 Pro where the optional update came from say Intel, whereas the laptop manufacturers version has tweaks. Reading the policy explanations It seems that we can chose what we want to receive but don't explicitly say that e can receive them w/o them actually being installed when we do.

Rollback_Jockey · Friday at 11:55 AM

"Optional" means exactly that, take it or leave it.

glasskuter · Friday at 2:18 PM

MrBeaujhangles said:
a) What's the default status on optional updates

You will get them unless you disable this

Enable or Disable Get Latest Updates as soon as available in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available" in Windows 11. Starting with Windows 11 build 22621.1635, Microsoft added a new "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available" toggle under Settings > Windows Update. When you turn...

www.elevenforum.com

You will get driver updates unless you disable this. Most of us here manage our own drivers since WU has been known to install older drivers. The OEMs offer their own app for doing this (which is what I use) I also use Intel Driver Support Assistant for my graphics drivers since it usually takes a while for the OEM to put them on their site...but you do not have to. I do highly recommend you at least use your OEM updating app.

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

Marcus Vinicus · Friday at 3:04 PM

Thanks @glasskuter for the timely reminder about that Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates group policy. I completed a clean reinstall last week and forgot to turn that back on. Been bitten too many times in the past with WU and MS pushing unwanted, frequently out of date or obscure drivers onto my PC.

spapakons · Friday at 3:19 PM

The only way to avoid unwanted driver updates is to use a utility to hide (block) them, such as Windows Automatic Update Manager (aka WAU Manager). Of course you must do it before they are installed. If they are installed, just install latest official driver from manufacturer and then run the utility ASAP to hide the driver updates before they get installed again. If you regularly update your drivers, there will be no newer version Windows Update can install and screw your hardware. However it doesn't harm to run WAU Manager and check just in case.

Download WAU Manager - MajorGeeks

WAU Manager (Windows Automatic Updates Manager) is a free portable replacement for the default Windows Updating interface. WAU Manager is fully-featured providing you with full control over Windows Updates. This control includes when and how they are installed. It also has full uninstall and...

m.majorgeeks.com

PS: You can also hide (block) any other unwanted update, not only driver updates. Useful for older computers that an unsuitable update can cause trouble.

MrBeaujhangles · Friday at 4:24 PM

glasskuter said:
You will get them unless you disable this

Enable or Disable Get Latest Updates as soon as available in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available" in Windows 11. Starting with Windows 11 build 22621.1635, Microsoft added a new "Get the latest updates as soon as they are available" toggle under Settings > Windows Update. When you turn...

www.elevenforum.com

You will get driver updates unless you disable this. Most of us here manage our own drivers since WU has been known to install older drivers. The OEMs offer their own app for doing this (which is what I use) I also use Intel Driver Support Assistant for my graphics drivers since it usually takes a while for the OEM to put them on their site...but you do not have to. I do highly recommend you at least use your OEM updating app.

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

Yeah, I have read that many times while searching for an answer :) ... I'm taking it very literally, it says I will get them and I do **want** to get them ... what I want is to be able to see that they **are available** , and **not** have them auto-install (Like Win 7) ... and them get from manufacturers web site when I'm ready. If that's what happening,they should word it better ! As written, it seems 2 options: a) WU will notify, auto download and install 0rb) ha ha,if you don't want auto installs then we ain't gonna tell ya squat.

Yes, won't connect anything to internet until I'm all tweaked.

Marcus Vinicus · Friday at 4:32 PM

The issue is with these driver updates via Windows Updates [at the default settings], is some drivers like AMD Radeon GPU drivers install automatically without any warning and no chance to prevent WU from pushing them onto the user's computer. So the stuff from MS about 'optional' is bunkum.

I have an Asus motherboard in my PC and I use MyAsus which NEVER installs anything including firmware and drivers without the users direct intervention.

EDIT: Words added in the first line inside the []

Dru2 · Friday at 4:51 PM

Marcus Vinicus said:
The issue is with these driver updates via Windows Updates, is some drivers like AMD Radeon GPU drivers install automatically without any warning and no chance to prevent WU from pushing them onto the user's computer. So the stuff from MS about 'optional' is bunkum.

Not true here. If you use Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates in Windows 11, it will bock GPU drivers (at least for desktop users, and those with custom builds). I've never gotten GPU updates through Windows update with that setting enabled. Disabled yes. Enabled no.

You can also check this by looking under Windows Update, Update History, Drivers. In fact you can use History to see all updates recently installed.

Marcus Vinicus · Friday at 4:54 PM

Hi @Dru2

I have that policy you mentioned turned on, I discussed this in my post #4 above. My previous post I was talking about the default settings without the policy enabled.

spapakons · Friday at 5:19 PM

MrBeaujhangles said:
Yeah, I have read that many times while searching for an answer :) ... I'm taking it very literally, it says I will get them and I do **want** to get them ... what I want is to be able to see that they **are available** , and **not** have them auto-install (Like Win 7) ... and them get from manufacturers web site when I'm ready. If that's what happening,they should word it better ! As written, it seems 2 options: a) WU will notify, auto download and install 0rb) ha ha,if you don't want auto installs then we ain't gonna tell ya squat.

Yes, won't connect anything to internet until I'm all tweaked.

WAU Manager shows you a list with the available updates and lets you choose which ones to install. Just like Windows 7. It can also disable Windows Update so it doesn't install anything automatically, only the ones you choose in WAU Manager.

Dru2 · Friday at 6:29 PM

Marcus Vinicus said:
Hi @Dru2

I have that policy you mentioned turned on, I discussed this in my post #4 above. My previous post I was talking about the default settings without the policy enabled.

Got it. Yeah for me that's the first thing I do when installing Windows as I don't need my GPU drivers overridden by Windows Update. Also that you may run into a game issue where you need older drivers to eliminate an issue a new driver brought.

Marcus Vinicus · Friday at 7:03 PM

Dru2 said:
Got it. Yeah for me that's the first thing I do when installing Windows as I don't need my GPU drivers overridden by Windows Update. Also that you may run into a game issue where you need older drivers to eliminate an issue a new driver brought.

Exactly, in the case of the AMD GPU drivers, WU doesn't update the Radeon Control Panel which is critical. It then becomes a pain to update the Control Panel manually.

spapakons · 2025-07-12T04:00:11-0400

Marcus Vinicus said:
Exactly, in the case of the AMD GPU drivers, WU doesn't update the Radeon Control Panel which is critical. It then becomes a pain to update the Control Panel manually.

That's why I always recommend to manually download and install the latest driver directly from AMD (or Intel or nVidia) and not rely on Windows Update. It is either easy but not ideal (Windows Update) or a little more involving but best performance and access to all features (official drivers). You cannot have both.

hdmi · 2025-07-12T05:57:46-0400

Some time ago I wrote myself a simple batch script that uses inline PowerShell to hide the Intel Display driver from Windows Update—if it is available. I only had to run it one time, as Windows Update appears to have completely stopped automatically downloading and installing an Intel Display driver update [each time after I use the Intel Driver and Support Assistant to update my Intel Iris Xe Display driver] ever since.

So, at least for me, running my script one time when Windows Update is about to replace the driver with an older version has had the same effect as the Group Policy method to block Windows Update's driver updates for the device—without also blocking the ability to install a new Intel Display driver [via the Intel Driver and Support Assistant or via the latest .exe file that can be downloaded from the Intel Download Center webpage]. Basically, it is "set and forget"—at very, VERY long last...

spapakons · 2025-07-12T06:47:20-0400

Or you can beat Windows Update and install the latest driver from Intel first, before it has any chance to download the unwanted update. Having the latest driver Windows Update is satisfied and shouldn't try to replace it. That's what I do with my nVidia graphics drivers. Since I already have the same or newer driver, Windows Update won't touch it.

Helmut · 2025-07-12T07:34:19-0400

I assume this is for the two laptops in your first post. All you need to do is go to Windows updates and use the Manufacturers App/Website.
There will be optional updates from both, may include Firmware.
I just do selected the Optional ones eventually, they are not that important. Some never as they are unwanted Apps.

There are a few things of note:
1. The Reliability History has gotten much better on mine in 3 years.
2. Completely free of any downtime.
3. Excellent result with the minimum of effort, performance maintained.

Laptop hardware is much more integrated than most desktops therefore what works best is different.
This excludes any customisations/policies if they are for business use.

Dru2 · 2025-07-12T09:35:00-0400

spapakons said:
That's why I always recommend to manually download and install the latest driver directly from AMD (or Intel or nVidia) and not rely on Windows Update. It is either easy but not ideal (Windows Update) or a little more involving but best performance and access to all features (official drivers). You cannot have both.

Yeah, but the issue (and topic) is that if you don't disable Driver Updates, Windows can (will) override your "manual install" if the driver aren't newer than what WU has in it's data bank. As I pointed out earlier, not every wants the latest GPU drivers, and especially if you're a gamer.

There are occasions, where older drivers work better then new ones, and especially when first released, so you might hold onto an said driver instead of having Windows Update auto update them even if you didn't want to at that time.

And yes, disabling Driver Updates also insures the drivers are direct from AMD/NVidia's site, and not through Windows Update.

spapakons · 2025-07-12T11:55:34-0400

Use WAU Manager to block unwanted updates and choose which ones to install. See my previous posts.

Dru2 · 2025-07-12T12:00:31-0400

spapakons said:
Use WAU Manager to block unwanted updates and choose which ones to install. See my previous posts.

Or simply use the Enable/Disable feature built into Windows (thus no third party app) and still not worry about it

MrBeaujhangles · 2025-07-12T12:45:06-0400

Dru2 said:
Or simply use the Enable/Disable feature built into Windows (thus no third party app) and still not worry about it

AFAIK, the Windows feature does not allow the desired result.

For example:

Windows 11 2024 Update (24H2) Known Issues and Workarounds – July 10, 2025

UPDATE: A previous known issue “Error events are logged for Windows Firewall” was resolved and updated in the article. In this article, we’ll

www.askvg.com

"ISSUE: AutoCAD 2022 might not Open After Updating to Windows 11, Version 24H2"

So, if I am reading correctly, the "Compatibility Hold" would prevent this update from being installed; but on our new laptops, we haven't installed AutoCAD yet. So if I do connect to the internet, as I understand thew words on the page, I conclude that when WU runs, it's going to install 24H2 and that places use of my most used application in jeopardy.

This a "Been There, Done That"instance, when years back our office IT Manager was a "Day 1" kinds guy, let the update install and it disabled the Autodesk licensing service, leaving all employees twiddling the thumbs for almost a week...a very expensive problem. On my home PC, I didn't allow installation of anything until time had passed, I had a chance to visit sites like the above examine each KB for known problems and selecting them 1 by 1 for installation. I'd like to get as close to that as i can.

Another thing I liked is that when a optional update included a hardware driver, it triggered me monitoring that hardware site to check my driver versus their latest.

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