Question How to Disable Driver Updates during online Clean Windows install?

[gamotter]

How can I disable driver updates during an online clean windows install?

This all started Thursday when windows update pushed out a driver update that BSOD'd me, I was not able to recover from. I was able to determine it was a driver issue by doing an offline re-install and letting it set for hours before plugging in the network cable, but still need an online install to work to straighten out the offline login issues.

From what I can tell it starts doing driver updates during the clean install in the background right around where you enter your microsoft credentials and I've been able to confirm it is forcing me to take a bad driver that corrupts the install (this was confirmed through an offline install) and I can't start windows after that happens. I get a 'page fault in unpaged area' error and cannot start windows or reset it or restart it or remove the driver through the recovery menu.

I need to be able to disable a driver update as the online clean install is happening. I've googled and have not been able to find it.

I do have a support ticket opened and waiting for a call back from the escalation team but they've missed their time by 4 hours now.

Thanks if you have the answer.

 

[Math Geek]

do the install with no internet access so it completes. use a local account instead of ms one at first.

then set it to not update that driver once its up and running. then connect it to the web and let update do its thing. it's the best way to stop background stuff from happening. no access, means no unexpected/unwanted downloads.

once it's all good, then connect your ms account to it.

 

[gamotter]

I'd stumbled across doing it that way. How do you get rid of the local account once it's up and running then?

 

[USAFRet]

I'd stumbled across doing it that way. How do you get rid of the local account once it's up and running then?

From the other Admin account you create later, delete it.

 

[SkyNetRising]

How can I disable driver updates during an online clean windows install?

1. Install windows without online connectivity.
2. Disable driver updates.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10​

3. Enable online connectivity.​

 

[Math Geek]

once you connect to the web just go to the user settings and add the ms account. no need to remove the one made. it's an option in user settings to sign in to ms account. easy to do and no biggie. its in the settings app under users ...

once singed in, it's no longer a local account but is now a ms account

 

[gamotter]

So I had some time to get back to this and I'm just flummoxed. I still end up at the same BSOD.

I tried 2 different things after doing an offline install and creating a local account:

1. I disabled driver updates completely through the control panel. But... As soon as I plugged the cable in the driver updates still automatically installed and BSODd.
2. I found the MS Hide driver's utility and used that. I went in and hid all of the INTEL drivers it was showing. But then it still tried to install them. Even though it showed hidden, it also showed as non hidden after I scanned for active updates. It was like some of the INTEL drivers were showing up multiple times. Also now it seems that windows update is not remembering that a driver update failed and just keeps trying to install it over and over again. Even though I have it hidden in the utility.

 

[Math Geek]

you have to turn them off in the settings. here's how

Step 1. Open Control Panel

Step 2. Access Windows 10 System Settings

Next you can click System and Security -> System to enter into Windows 10 system settings page.

After that, click Advanced system settings in the left panel.

Step 3. Disable Automatic Driver Updates in Windows 10

Then you can tap Hardware tab, and click Device Installation Settings button.

In the pop-up Device Installation Settings window, you can tick No (your device might not work as expected) under the message “Do you want to automatically download manufacturers’ apps and custom icons available for your devices?”

Click Save Changes, restart your Windows 10 computer, and Windows 10 update drivers automatically feature will be turned off.

from this how to
https://www.minitool.com/news/disable-automatic-driver-updates-win-10-009.html

this is what you need to do before allowing the system on the web. and now windows update will never auto-download driver updates. well at least until the next major update when everything gets reset but hopefully by then they have it fixed.

good luck

 

[gamotter]

That's exactly what I did and they still are still auto-installing. I'm very surprised also.

On the window that says "Do you want to automatically download manufacurers' apps and custom icons available for your devices?" I changed that from yes to "No (your device might not work as expected)" and have rebooted multiple times but it is still installing.

I then later went and used that Hide updates tool from Microsoft, but even those are still updating even though I hid them.

I'm at a loss.

I am going to try one more time and make sure I did a reboot before initially plugging it in, but pretty sure I did.

 

[gamotter]

Did it one more time and confirmed that I rebooted after setting it to 'no' before plugging in the network cable.|

Same result, it installed intel drivers and bsod'd the system

Then did a system recovery. It removed a driver. But before I even got in again it had tried to install it again and crashed the system.

Other ideas?

 

[gamotter]

My next step I'd think would be to disable updates for a particular hardware ID. My issues is I've still not truly been able to determine which INTEL driver it is that is crashing my system. It has seemed like it's more than one and as such I can't tell which hardware ID's I should add. Is there some log file for the Startup Repair that I could look at to see exactly what was uninstalled?

 

[Math Geek]

through the command line you should be able to access the log files. you boot to your usb drive and get to a command line from there. i believe you have to select repair the pc and then possibly advanced from there to get to it.

but i'd have to look where the logs are stored as i don't know that off the top of my head. but it sounds like these are chipset drivers possibly as that's where most of the intel drivers are used.

i know this sucks and it's annoying to have to keep redoing it but this is what i'd try myself. i'd get all the drivers i could elsewhere. get them all install manually while its still offline and hope that will be new enough to avoid update getting anything else once connected. if it sees the same or newer driver you put there it should avoid using anything from update.

otherwise if you can identify the update causing the problem you try to block it from running if it does get downloaded. again i'd have to look that u[ as well but i'm pretty sure it can be done easy enough.

 

[gamotter]

Unfortunately I have installed the correct ones, but they just get overwritten. I did start looking the the event viewer and the crash viewer in 10. I'll pull those logs tomorrow. They say intel, but don't go further. I really think i'm going to have to work this out with Biostar. Hoping they respond tonight.

 

[Math Geek]

sounds like you are doing all you can with this. not seen such persistent updating though. usually turning them off is good enough to work around it.

it seems the only option right now is to completely disable windows update which can be done in win 10 pro through the registry. as a temp work around and so you can still use your pc, i'd install win 10 pro and leave it unactivated if needed. then disable the updates and use it that way for now. then down the road once things have gotten fixed with whatever is going on with that driver package that is killing things.

use the media creator to download pro and install that for now. use this guide to disable updates completely on pro and wait out the fix.

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-stop-updates-installing-automatically-windows-10

sorry its the best i can do right now as without having it in front of me i can't really explore and see what might be going on.

 

[gamotter]

Already am using Pro.

here is a link to the crash documents. Can anyone tell exactly which device this driver is trying to update from this so I can try to disable that way?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zQHvPRf1mwkWXjWpJIiYuZt0j2ODCwPy?usp=sharing

I get this same set of errors every time. The loop is this Starts up normally > Fails if attached the network > Go to Recovery on startup > Run startup recovery > back to step 1. If i'm not on the network i can run startup recovery and then log on normally until i plug the network back in.

As a tl/dr: I've disabled device driver updates, but they still try to install anyway. I've also tried to hide updates from windows update (using the MS utility) but they still install anyway.

I did get a response from Biostar, but their support site is down so I cannot see it.

 

[gamotter]

Tried what math geek advised and simply not working. I made the changes in Group Policy and confirmed they were updated in the registry. But none of them work in this version of 2004.

Did finally get the updates to stop. But the only way I found to do this was to Disable the Windows Update service which of course causes other issues.

One of the surprising things is just how broken the Windows Update Group Policy/Registry settings are in 2004. I tried all of the below and checked to confirm the registry settings were correct. Not one of them actually stopped Windows Update.

1. Configure Automatic updates. Disabled. Did not work
2. Configure Automatic Updates. Enabled. Option 2 to require the user to load them. Did not work.
3. Allow Automatic Updates Immediate install. Disabled. This did not work.
4. Do not include drivers with Windows Update. Enabled. This did not work
5. Do not connect to Windows Update Internet Sites. Enabled. This also did not work.

Like I said I updated in group policy but also confirmed they were updated in the registry making sure to do a reboot between every change. Just amazing how broken everything is in there right now.

I have replied to Biostar once and provided some info, but have not heard back from them again.

At this stage, I'll just have to wait to actually load this pc. No way I can do much until I confirm it's not going to crash everything when I turn windows updates back on.

 

[Math Geek]

wow, not had to try this for a while so had no idea it was messed up for now.

about the only thing you can do is leave updates disabled completely. to test if the driver issue is fixed, i'd create a second small partition, about 25 gb should do, and install win 10 a second time. that one will have updates enabled and will get the new drivers. if it breaks, then format the partition and try again in a few days with another fresh install. this way you can work with your main install still and at least be able to get stuff done. eventually when the update stops breaking things on your test install, you can turn it on again for the main install and go on with your life.

wish i could offer more, but no idea what else can be done at this time.

 

[gamotter]

I actually took this time to get a new SSD, so plan to put the smaller older one back in to test if it's actually fixed.

Did notice one other thing that I found interesting. It seems like if a driver fails and you run Startup Recovery it automatically updates the registry to stop updating for that device, but even that is being ignored right now because of all the other issues.

I need to get a big feedback post put together to send to them.

 

[gamotter]

Update:
Realized in the last couple of days that I had not been getting the install media for 2004, but rather the install media for 20H2

Had some time this morning. Found an older ISO for the May 2004 install. Created another install USB with that and tried again. It behaved similarly but then different.

Initially, it behaved the same. The install went normally but then BSOD'd after the driver updates started in the background. But it then behaved differently. It restarted a couple of times and BSOD'd, but then it recovered on its own and continued the install and booted into Windows normally with no intervention from me.

I then disabled the feature updates in the registry.

I then ran Windows update and they all seemed to run fine until I restarted, then I received a BSOD.

But once again after a restart or 2 it went into recovery mode and rolled back this update:

2020-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64 based Systems (KB4579311)

It is now starting up just fine and all windows updates are installed and running except for that 1 Cumulative update.

Still not sure where to go on this. Biostar has not responded since Monday. Getting any response from Microsoft seems impossible and the windows forums are hopeless. Same with tech support who only wants to blame Biostar (and certainly there is a problem there, but not the only one).

Thanks again for the help here.

 

[Math Geek]

that update is the newest one so hopefully they'll patch this down the road. but at least it is working for you.

sounds like the new update is the problem and installing the older version somehow got past the glitch and uninstalled it where nothing else would before.

glad it is working though

 

[Pitbull Tyson]

Just unplug your router while going through install process then reconnect after install all drivers.

 

[gamotter]

Just unplug your router while going through install process then reconnect after install all drivers.

If you read up a ways you'll see that's what I tried initially. More details up there but it simply does not work. The new install version gets stuck in an endless loop of installing the same bad driver that bsod's the system after I plug in the network cable or connect the wifi. Only solution I've found from the new version is to disable the Windows Update service. And that is not remotely a solution. Still multiple things I'm unable to install.

 

[gamotter]

that update is the newest one so hopefully they'll patch this down the road. but at least it is working for you.

sounds like the new update is the problem and installing the older version somehow got past the glitch and uninstalled it where nothing else would before.

glad it is working though

Just not sure I want to scratch my install with windows update disabled that I just reinstalled most of what I'd need. I may give it a few more weeks and see if I can get a new version of the install that works.

I was not aware how many changes they were making to 20H0 regarding driver installs. My guess is it's related somehow.

 

[Pitbull Tyson]

Just not sure I want to scratch my install with windows update disabled that I just reinstalled most of what I'd need. I may give it a few more weeks and see if I can get a new version of the install that works.

I was not aware how many changes they were making to 20H0 regarding driver installs. My guess is it's related somehow.

Yes either way the Media Creation Tool with latest 20H2 2009 will be installed. Solid OS it is at this point.

 

[gamotter]

Yes either way the Media Creation Tool with latest 20H2 2009 will be installed. Solid OS it is at this point.

Other than it does not run on my system and is unable to recover itself in an install. I probably did 30 OS installs with it before I gave up and disabled windows update.