How to Stop Windows from Updating Graphics Drivers

You finally find a graphics driver that runs your games without a hitch. A few days later, Windows quietly swaps it for a different one, and the crashes, stutters or black screens come back.

Windows Update hands out drivers with everything else, but one change makes it leave yours alone.

The Fix for Your Edition of Windows

Find your edition under Settings > System > About, as Microsoft shows, then pick your fix.

Windows 10 or 11 Pro, Enterprise or Education: open gpedit.msc and enable Do not include drivers with Windows Updates. Windows Update then stops sending drivers.
Windows 10 or 11 Home: hide the graphics driver update with Microsoft's free Show or hide updates tool, and Windows will skip it.
Then put your driver back: roll back the driver in Device Manager, or install the one you want from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel.
Still testing drivers? Pause Windows Update for up to 35 days instead.
Crashing since the driver changed? Windows logs every driver reset with a date, so you can match them to the change.

Check Which Graphics Driver You Have Now

Windows 11 installs recommended drivers through Windows Update on its own, while optional ones wait for you to choose them, Microsoft explains. So start by finding out what's installed right now.

Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
Open Display adapters, right-click your graphics card and select Properties.
Select the Driver tab and note the Driver Provider, Driver Date and Driver Version.

If the version or date doesn't match the one you installed, Windows has replaced it. Write down the version you want to keep before you change anything.

Turn Off Driver Updates on Windows Pro, Enterprise or Education

These editions have a Group Policy setting that keeps drivers out of Windows Update. Microsoft's Windows Update settings guide shows where it lives.

Press Windows + R, type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage updates offered from Windows Update.
Double-click Do not include drivers with Windows Updates, select Enabled, then select OK.
Restart the PC.

This blocks driver updates for every device, not just the graphics card. Get updates for your other hardware from each maker's website instead.

The setting has limits. Microsoft notes that drivers can still arrive inside security updates and big feature updates, so check your driver version after each major Windows upgrade.

Hide the Driver Update on Windows Home

Microsoft lists that Group Policy setting for Pro, Enterprise and Education only. On Home, block the one update that keeps replacing your driver with Microsoft's Show or hide updates tool, which runs on every edition.

Note: Microsoft occasionally moves the direct download link for this tool. If the link above stops working, searching for "wushowhide.diagcab download" will usually find it hosted safely on tech forums like MajorGeeks or TenForums.

Download and open the tool, then select Next.
Select Hide updates.
Tick the graphics driver update in the list, then select Next.

The update has to be waiting in Windows Update before it shows in that list. If Windows offers a newer driver later, it counts as a new update, so run the tool again to hide that one too.

Put Your Driver Back

If Windows just swapped your driver, rolling back is the quickest fix. On the same Driver tab from the first step, select Roll Back Driver and restart if asked, as Microsoft shows.

If that button is grayed out, download the driver from your graphics card's maker: NVIDIA, AMD or Intel. On a laptop, the laptop maker's support page may also list a driver made for your model.

Tip: When installing the driver from NVIDIA or AMD, look for a "Clean Install" or "Factory Reset" option in the installer. This wipes the slate clean and removes old driver files, which is especially helpful if your driver has been bouncing back and forth.

Timing matters. Install the driver after you turn off driver updates on Pro, or just before you hide the update on Home, so Windows can't swap it straight back.

Pause Updates While You Test

Want to try a driver for a while before you block anything? Go to Settings > Windows Update and pause updates, which Windows allows for up to 35 days.

A pause also holds back security fixes. Resume updates once you know which driver works.

Find Out If a Driver Change Caused Your Crashes

When a graphics driver stops responding, Windows resets it and logs event 4101: "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." Microsoft's notes on these resets say you'll often just see the screen flicker.

To check, open Event Viewer, go to Windows Logs > System and filter for event ID 4101. If the resets started after the date your driver changed, the new driver is the likely cause.

If the crashes keep coming back, Computer Info Bits Pro keeps a year of Crash Trace history and shows what your incidents have in common.

Driver resets aren't always the driver's fault. The same Microsoft notes also list heat, weak power delivery, overclocking and faulty hardware as causes.

Heat: our thermal throttling guide shows how to spot parts slowing down as they warm up.
Power: make sure your power supply can feed your graphics card with our PSU wattage calculator.
Low frame rates: if games run slower but don't crash, work through our low FPS checks.