What Are the Pros and Cons of Allowing Windows Update to Download and Install (New) Drivers?

The title makes my question clear (I hope).

I ask this because over the years Windows Update on one occasion on Windows XP and on one occasion on Windows 7 messed my system up by installing driver updates downloaded and installed by Windows Update. I was a pure novice a the time these events occurred and the only way I could see out of the mess was to restore my boot partition from a System Image File I made at the beginning of setting up the two systems. I'm thinking now that Windows Update might have improved on this situation in Windows 11, but I want ask for opinions and see what other users have to say.

My current practise, even in Windows 11, is to disable Windows Update from downloading and installing driver updates. Twice bitten, three times shy.

WU is waaaay better with drivers than it used to be, but still not infallible. We have seen cases where WU installs outdated drivers, especially graphics.
For users not familiar with handling drivers and who never manually update them, WU is better than nothing.
Personally, I manage my own along with the help of my OEM or Motherboard updating tool. I want to now what driver is updated and control when it does.
Even when one disables including drivers thru WU, you can still see what WU finds under "optional updates". Then you can choose whether or not you want to let WU handle it or do it yourself from your mobo support site.

As @glasskuter says, W10/11 are far superior to earlier Windows versions handling drivers.

As a rule, updates are fine. Once in a while, you can get an issue where a newer driver update gets replaced by an earlier version.

This is mainly because driver vendors do not inform MS that the drivers MS are delivering via WU are out of date.

Even then, there are ways to block specific updates e.g. diagcab (MS do not supply this anymore but plenty of 3rd party places you can get a copy).

Re. optional updates, I usually install them anyway.

It is always a good plan to export your drivers to a usb flash drive or similar.

So by and large, let WU do its job and only start taking steps if something goes wrong or you really need an updated driver ("if it ain't broke don't fix it" is always worth remembering).

In my experience most issues arise because people zealously block driver updates then wonder why things do not work down the line after a significant update of windows.

So, go with the flow BUT protect yourself against a bad driver update by making regular image backups of pc as well.

Hi BuddhaNature,

I always go to the manufacturer for proper drivers. If I have an off the shelf PC or laptop, I go to the PC manufacturer. If I have a home/DIY build, I go to the component manufacturer. I don't trust MS/Windows for my technical/hardware updates. Even their own updates can wreck havoc.

Kind regards,

tecknot

glasskuter said:

Personally, I manage my own along with the help of my OEM or Motherboard updating tool.

Click to expand...

Did you develop this tool yourself or did you download it from github or another site?

x509 said:

Did you develop this tool yourself or did you download it from github or another site

Click to expand...

No I'm referring to Dell Command Update for my OEM stuff (all Dell) along with Intel Driver Support Assistant.
Dell releases a LOT of bios updates and their tool has never failed me Most OEMs provide an updating tool.
I run the tools manually when I want to check. I can either accept any update or not. I trust these tools much more than Windows update.

It doesn't apply to me, but I believe for system builders mobo manufacturers provide their own tools for maintaining drivers, Like MyAsus, Gigabyte App Center , MSI Live Update. etc.