Windows 11 updating drivers and bios through Windows update

Ugly

Ugly

Ugly

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Having just acquired an Asus Helios gaming laptop this is my first experience of Windows 11, having used 10 up to now.

The laptop revision first appeared Jan 2024 and my bios is on 1.6 which seems to date from May 24. So I'd assume all my asus drivers are also from around that time.

Running Windows update I was shocked to see a long list of available updates to drivers and the bios update I am being offered pre dates what I have !!!

That makes me very nervous about applying any driver updates just in case it's forcing older versions on me. Why is Microsoft offering this when it can't even get the basics right offering me an old bios!?

Is there anyway to stop win 11 offering driver updates? It was an option in Windows 10. Also there's no description with each driver update so I've no idea what it relates to.
 
kitfit1 said:
No, it's not dead. But expecting Windows of any description to offer driver or god forbid Bios updates says to me that that you are certainly brain dead . You joined in 2017......................................have you not read any thread on here since?
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Currently, lenovo are rolling out bios updates through Windows updates.
 
The only way to 'stop' Windows offering driver updates is by beating it to them. Most of the time Snappy Driver Installer Origin is reasonably up-to-date, but I don't use it for my sound, graphics or bluetooth drivers.

What is the exact motherboard do you have? A link to the motherboard manufacturer's website would help even more.
 
kitfit1 said:
No, it's not dead. But expecting Windows of any description to offer driver or god forbid Bios updates says to me that that you are certainly brain dead . You joined in 2017......................................have you not read any thread on here since?
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Yep joined in 2017...but didn't need help with win 11 until now cuz as my post explains I've just got a new laptop. Didn't need any advice in those intervening years so didn't post any unnecessary dribble. 'Brain dead?" More like a case of pot calling kettle black. Cheers
 
Ugly said:
Obviously this forum is dead then?
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Getting the make & model mixed up probably doesn't instil people with confidence, neither does getting upset just because you've not had a reply within 24hrs.

I'll probably regret suggesting it as you come across as rather antagonistic, but have you checked the manufactures site for updated drivers/BIOS.

Do you know the model of the Acer (not Asus) Helios laptop?
 
Murphy said:
Getting the make & model mixed up probably doesn't instil people with confidence, neither does getting upset just because you've not had a reply within 24hrs.

I'll probably regret suggesting it as you come across as rather antagonistic, but have you checked the manufactures site for updated drivers/BIOS.

Do you know the model of the Acer (not Asus) Helios laptop?
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Apologies for the antagonism...and yes your correct Acer Helios. I'm aware that acer offers driver downloads....its just that going from win 10 to win 11 I was surprised to see nearly 2 pages of driver updates, an outdated bios and a couple of windows updates mixed up in there. On Win 10 the driver updates were offered separately to windows updates so easy to ignore. Whereas now in 11 everytime I run windows update I'm going to be faced with this 20 plus list of driver updates that I can't be confident aren't earlier versions. Just want to know if there's a way to stop the driver/bios updates showing up in Win 11 home.
 
There's two settings you can change, that I'm aware of, the group policy one definitely does block drivers, but BIOS updates I'm not sure about.
www.windowscentral.com

How to customize mouse settings on Windows 11

Here are virtually every mouse customization settings you can configure on Windows 11.
www.windowscentral.com www.windowscentral.com

If you check the BIOS you might be able to disable firmware updates via Windows update, the OEM PC I'm typing on right now has 3 options: "block all", "only OEM software" or "OEM software and Windows update".
 
Ugly said:
Whereas now in 11 everytime I run windows update I'm going to be faced with this 20 plus list of driver updates that I can't be confident aren't earlier versions.
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If you updated the drivers from the Acer site for your model of laptop then you'll know for sure that you're running the latest drivers/BIOS then you can be confident that Windows update are earlier versions.
Ugly said:
Just want to know if there's a way to stop the driver/bios updates showing up in Win 11 home.
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There is but i would suggest you update your drivers/BIOS.
www.elevenforum.com

Enable or Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates in Windows 11 Tutorial

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 www.elevenforum.com
 
I know MS do this because of driver bugs of security vulnerabilities but I really hate that this happens. Drivers have issues or bugs and firmware updates should be done carefully. I've had my laptop on battery before and I casually rebooted and it started doing a firmware update. If my battery was poor and it died while reporting a decent level then it could cause some issues.

Most people don't bother with bios or driver updates so MS forces them on everyone, unfortunately.

As mentioned above, there is a group policy to turn updates off and the bios settings to disable updates is a good call too. I've not seen this on my laptop but it's probably there somewhere!

I'd just leave Windows to do it's thing and 2 pages of driver updates is totally normal when doing a fresh or new update. It's probably normal if there's been a major bug or security fix as well! :cry:
 
I've had issues in the past with Windows updating drivers to an older version when I already had a newer version installed (AMD drivers in particular).

Was a right faff as it broke the AMD Software every time requiring a full uninstallation and reinstallation. They should make it easier to turn this off for advanced users so Windows doesn't touch any drivers or firmware.
 
Can you not stop driver updates with Winaero anymore or is that no longer a thing with 11?

MichaelAwkward said:
I've had issues in the past with Windows updating drivers to an older version when I already had a newer version installed (AMD drivers in particular).

Was a right faff as it broke the AMD Software every time requiring a full uninstallation and reinstallation. They should make it easier to turn this off for advanced users so Windows doesn't touch any drivers or firmware.
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Had an issue where an ethernet driver the one that shipped with the motherboard was fine but WU kept applying an update that stopped it working entirely. Installed original driver and WU promptly broke it again. I've disabled driver updates ever since if theres a new driver on the manufacturers site I'll take it otherwise it stays as it is.
 
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