How to blacklist a specific update on Windows 10?

Question

I have discovered that my Windows 10 Pro installation automatically downloads and installs Synaptics touchpad driver. All well I suppose, with automatic updating and stuff, except that the driver is an abomination (the fact I have observed to be true for many generations of the driver, as each new version is just an iterative update). The driver has my cursor disappearing and freezing despite me frantically "fingering" my touchpad. I am an IT professional and completely depend (don't we all) on being able to interact with the computer, and the driver is simply not up to par. It worked better in Windows 7, but was never great, really, and now it hit the new low. Nevertheless, Windows seems to think it is a good update candidate, and I have apparently no say in the matter.

Removing the driver (uninstalling it in Device Manager and/or doing so from Programs where it is listed as well) only brings temporary relief, before Windows automatically downloads and re-installs it again. Welcome to 2015, people.

I do not want to disable automatic updates, I am sure most of them are useful, but there are certain things I should be able to opt out of, at least certain versions of upstream drivers, skipping these entirely.

I have googled a lot but even the Microsofts own tool https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930 which sounded like just the thing, does not list the driver I want to "hide", so it was of no help.

Should I setup WSUS or something? What choices do I have? This touchpad issue drives me nuts. Maybe I should resort to fixing the driver myself, somehow? I checked with Synaptics' own webpages, and the driver that Windows pushes on me is even newer than the one they list as newest on their pages!

P.S. My Windows 10 is final, not a tech preview or some sort of RC.

Solution 1

You can't. Even with Enterprise LTSB you cannot blacklist single update. Only solution is Microsoft Tool you posted but it is only temporary. PowerShell method does the same as tool.

Solution 2

As you are talking about the driver rather than the regular update, there are several possibilities to do so. Follow the steps below for one.

• First, run services.msc and disable the Device Install Service. This will prevent the automatic drivers installation or update. And in fact, for some reason, it will also prevent any manual driver installation too, which is not what you want, so read on.
• Go to device manager, right-click on your device and select Remove, then check the box to remove the driver files. You'll find that the relief is now permanent: the driver is not returning because of the service disabled on a previous step.
• Open explorer, go to C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository and find the folder with your driver there. Try to remove it - this won't work, so just rename the folder. If renaming also doesn't work, change the ownership of FileRepository to your user and grant all access to yourself.
• Reboot, go to FileRepository again, and this time remove the previously renamed driver folder.
• Run gpedit.msc, go to Administrative Templates\System\Device installation and set Specify search order for device driver source locations to Enabled: Do not search Windows Update. After that, Device Install Service will stop searching for drivers in Windows Updates. And as we, on previous steps, removed the driver update also from the local storage, it will not find it at all.
• Now you can re-enable the Device Install Service disabled on the first step - it will no longer be able to bring in the driver update.
• Unfortunately, the windows updates service still can bring the driver update in! So, before re-enabling the Device Install Service (without which the driver can't be updated), in gpedit.msc you go further down to Device Installation Restrictions and enable Prevent installation of devices not described by other policy parameters. After that, neither the Windows Update, nor the Device Install Service can update the device drivers.

Yes, this solution does not allow you to block some particular driver or some particular update. Instead, it blocks all the driver updates. But its still better than nothing, because when windows keeps re-installing the driver update no matter how hard you try to prevent it, it all gets very annoying.

Don't waste your time on the "Hide update" tool from Microsoft that you mentioned: when you do the above steps, this tool will start seeing and blacklisting the driver update, but the windows update service just ignores that! It keeps installing the update that is supposed to be hidden. So this tool simply doesn't work.

Why in your case it doesn't even see an update, is because the Device Install Service starts installing it instantly, after which it is no longer a pending update and is therefore "uninteresting" for this tool.

Comments

[Admin]

Try: serverfault.com/questions/145843/…

[Admin]

Thanks, I remember having read that, I thought there was a simpler way. Apparently, there may not be.

[Admin]

Also, I have run the scripts quoted in the answer you linked to, but the output - list of updates for hiding - does not include the Synaptics driver update. Perhaps because it is not a Windows KB update, but a driver update. So now show, unfortunately.

[Admin]

The problem is that the new Windows 10 User Agreement says that you have to download every update however Pro and Enterprise users can choose their updates however they like.

[Admin]

That's not my problem ;-) - I am running Windows 10 Professional. Apologies for not including this fact in the question.

[Admin]

This might just help: howtogeek.com/223864/…

[Admin]

I tried all of those things listed in that How-To Geek article. Does not help, unfortunately.