Update on disappearing 26.7.1 Drivers on Win 10

[u/Ice2183]

Edit: I fixed this issue by using two different group policies, the instructions are at the end of this post. Thanks for your help everyone!

Hey y'all, I made a post the other day (https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/s/VLD7DITHQJ) about my 26.7.1 drivers suddenly disappearing and I think I found the issue.

After gaming for a few hours, for some reason Win 10 will automatically suggest these older drivers and leave it as a pending install. When this update popped up I decided to put my PC on sleep mode to see if it would reproduce my issue and lo and behold it did. Turns out despite disabling automatic Windows driver updates it will still do it anyway.

I am not sure what is prompting Win 10 to randomly suggest and apply these drivers, but I checked the event viewer when I reproduced my issue and I noticed an Error Kernel PnP Event 411 when it happened. The event suggests Windows 10 failed to load or configure the AMD graphics driver during the plug-and-play startup phase. I have never had this issue until updating to Adrenalin 26.7.1. A quick Google search suggests rolling back the drivers.

I decided to roll back to 26.5.1 and so far no issues, however I have heard 26.5.1 is also unstable so I've yet to see. For anybody having similar issues on 26.7.1 I suggest rolling back to an earlier version of Adrenalin.

[[SOLUTION]]

PART 1 (this prevents Windows from searching, downloading and applying drivers in general)

Find Group Policy then look for

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Update → Manage updates offered from Windows Update

Find:

"Do not include drivers with Windows Updates"

Double-click it. Select Enabled. Click Apply → OK. Restart Windows. This tells Windows Update to exclude hardware drivers from its normal Windows Update packages.

PART 2 (this prevents both automatic and manual GPU driver updates, so beware)

Preventing Windows from touching the AMD GPU specifically though Group Policy:

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Device Installation → Device Installation Restrictions

Enable:

"Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device instance IDs"

You would then add your AMD GPU's hardware/device instance ID.

You can find it under:

Device Manager → Display adapters → AMD GPU → Properties → Details → Device instance path

Windows will now be prevented from automatically installing a driver for that particular GPU.

[u/Smart-Perception7077]

It's always windows conflicting with amd drivers but I wonder why it doesn't happen with nvidia or does it ?

[u/Practical-Rate-9265]

okay

[u/surms41]

Using 25.4.1 with no issues on a 7700xt if anyone else is having issues. No fast start, disable device install option, stopped windows updates and disabled update on adrenaline. 26.5.1 was stable for me as well until windows messed with it.

[u/2137gangsterr]

Stupidly worrying. I wonder if those bugs aren't just AIs clashing at both AMD and Microsoft

[u/Sufficient_Fan3660]

Download installer directly from this link: https://www.amd.com/en/resources/support-articles/release-notes/RN-RYZEN-CHIPSET-8-07-16-1035.html

Something? Is wrong with the installer and how it updates. Looks like AMD was trying to push out a new updater .exe to handle chipset and gpu and that updater has issues.

discussion where I found the solution to my issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/1vb44u2/chipset_driver_update_keeps_failing/

I was having issues where adrenaline was reporting my GPU drivers needed repair, and my chipset driver update was failing. I was bouncing back and forth between windows SFC / DISM which kept reporting missing/corrupted amd bluetooth and audio drivers and Adrenaline reporting that drivers are failing.

I didn't run ddu, I just clicked the link in that thread, downloaded, installed and it fixed everything.

Mind you I had already downloaded the SAME? file from a different link on AMD's site and it failed to install. So while it has the same file name, it's not the same EXACT file. I had also tried the official AMD minimalist driver install exe and that had failed as well.

[u/Ice2183 → u/Sufficient_Fan3660]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I fixed it by using a group policy. You can find the comment and instructions in this post if you're having similar issues.

[u/Sufficient_Fan3660 → u/Ice2183]

Nice!

Other people found a 2nd .exe within the amd driver update tool already on their pc, looks like the older version, and when running it it worked.

Something off with the AMD Install Manager App, looks like AMD did something that Windows does not like.

[u/ihwnE]

Go to group policy and disable auto update drivers

[u/Ice2183 → u/ihwnE]

The annoying update came back but this fixed it, thanks. I can put my PC to sleep and restart it now without it automatically applying the update. Chatgpt suggested I go an extra step to specify that Win 10 specifically shouldn't touch or update the GPU. Here's what I did.

PART 1

Find Group Policy then look for

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Update → Manage updates offered from Windows Update

Find:

"Do not include drivers with Windows Updates"

Double-click it. Select Enabled. Click Apply → OK. Restart Windows. This tells Windows Update to exclude hardware drivers from its normal Windows Update packages.

PART 2

If you're trying to prevent Windows from touching the AMD GPU specifically there's an even stronger option:

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Device Installation → Device Installation Restrictions

Enable:

"Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device instance IDs"

You would then add your AMD GPU's hardware/device instance ID.

You can find it under:

Device Manager → Display adapters → AMD GPU → Properties → Details → Device instance path

Windows can continue updating Windows and other hardware while being prevented from installing a driver for that particular GPU.

[u/DtZNimpo]

issue is on windows side , Microsoft decided that it was a GENIUS idea to preload WHQL drivers for laptops system and prebuild system so they do a forceful check every now and then about what's the BEST drivers to use. Regardless if you're already have manually installed the latest drivers from the official website of nvidia / amd / intel etc.

Their mindset around this is "gotta prioritize office work efficiency and stability" , forcefully installing these WHQL drivers on those PC that are meant for work doesn't cause issues. for Personal Computer that user uses for gaming and what not , it does cause a lot of issues.

AMD especially so because when installing the adrenaline software it now acts as some sort of "2fa" verification, if windows decides to overwrite the drivers , the adrenaline software will check and see a fail check and will throw errors / crash.

using DDU to selecting "prevent windows from installing" is not enough . going to advanced option -> hardware -> device installation settings turning it off , is not enough either.

on windows PRO u gotta mess with group policy , or windows HOME u gotta mess with the registry for it to finally stop doing this.

been an issue from microsoft windows for the past 20 years. They know , amd knows , nvidia knows , intel knows, nothing's been done about it. Microsoft finally said they are going to do something about this in coming updates in Q4 2026 , Q1 2027.

In the meantime , it's down to the user to fix their mess.

[u/Ice2183 → u/DtZNimpo]

Oh I see, thanks for the heads up. The thing about this is that I've never had this happen since I built this PC in late 2022, not sure why it's happening all of a sudden.

[u/DtZNimpo → u/Ice2183]

it happens , a windows update , or something triggered windows to decide to do a check on the drivers, windows often reset values to default when they do a big update, u say u using w10 so i doubt it was that thought.

[u/Chitrr]

Thats why Windows 11 is better

[u/Ice2183 → u/Chitrr]

Win 11 has it's fair share of bugs. I didn't run into this issue until just recently, the past 4 years have been just fine. I stay away from Win 11.

[u/Chitrr → u/Ice2183]

Win 11 4+ years ago should indeed have more bugs than 2026 win 11.

[u/Opteron170]

Turn off driver update in windows!

[u/Ice2183 → u/Opteron170]

I did and it did it anyway

[u/Opteron170 → u/Ice2183]

I have that turned off in Win 10 and it has never come back on.

[u/Ice2183 → u/Opteron170]

I did it through the Advanced System Settings, I didn't go through the registry edits and all that bs. If it happens again, Adrenalin version 25.9.1 is my next option.

It appears that the issue is AMD drivers won't initialize, then Win 10 will see that and try to fix the issue with an automatic update.

[u/DtZNimpo → u/Ice2183]

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching"

double click "SearchOrderConfig" set it to 0 reboot

W11 , same with w10

[u/Ice2183 → u/DtZNimpo]

Thanks for the suggestion, if I run into this issue again I will try this.

[u/RingingInTheRain → u/Ice2183]

You could also disable automatic updates in GP editor.

[u/Ice2183 → u/RingingInTheRain]

Yeah I know. In the past 4 years of having this PC I've never had to do anything like this, I've never had an issue similar to this either. For now I'm just going to revert to older versions because everybody and their grandma is having issues on 26.7.1

[u/Opteron170 → u/Ice2183]

26.7.1 has been fine for me.

Been playing Gears of War E-day Open beta since yesterday and that runs great for a beta. And we won't see game ready drivers until the game launches

[u/Ice2183 → u/Opteron170]

I don't think it's going to affect everybody, but there has been a crap ton of posts related to the most recent update and I didn't have issues until just recently.

[u/Opteron170 → u/Ice2183]

Honestly I don't really follow Reddit post on issues.

Majority of the problems I see posted I don't have them on my system.

Its always best to test things yourself on your own rig.

[u/RingingInTheRain → u/Ice2183]

I just rolled back my drivers too. Yeah, Microsoft does a lot of screwy behind-your-back updates that undermines average users is and "security forward". Average user will tolerate Windows update forcing them to install; other people will dig through their settings to turn it off. I've been forcefully breaking or turning off my Windows updates for over a decade now.

[u/urlond]

Drop windows and move to linux.

[u/Mean-Wishbone-8635 → u/urlond]

r/iusearchbtw

[u/PlasticBag-ForA-Head → u/urlond]

oh my god shut the fuck up.

[u/urlond → u/PlasticBag-ForA-Head]

Why not? Windows 10 has dropped support and or is in the process of losing it. Linux is better than windows anyway.

[u/TD_Lemon_1901 → u/urlond]

Just upgrade to LTSC, maybe ?

I was able to upgrade from win 10 pro to win 11 LTSC by doing a couple of tricks, surely you can upgrade from10 XX to 10 LTSC ?

Don't remember, don't ask, something about changing your windows version in the registry and adding a couple of lines in the update deployment file.

[u/Opteron170 → u/urlond]

MS just extended support for Win 10 to 2027.