Microsoft is working on a fix to downgraded GPU drivers in Windows Update — new system uses multiple IDs

News
By published

Microsoft finally confirms that Windows 11 downgrades GPU drivers on OEM devices, and is planning to launch a partial fix by Q4 2026.

Windows 10 laptop sitting on a desk in a dark room.
(Image credit: Arnav Singhal/Unsplash)

Microsoft is finally looking into fixing automatic GPU driver downgrades on Windows 11 that have plagued users since the OS's launch in 2021. Windows Latest reports that Microsoft has finally acknowledged the issue and is preparing a partial fix that will be released by Q4 of 2026.

Specifically, Microsoft is looking to start applying this fix to Windows 11 PCs in April 2026. Only by Q4 will the update be applied to everyone.

Latest Videos From

However, there is a caveat with this system — only device display drivers that target new devices can get the update. Existing drivers in the Windows Update catalog may still get forcibly applied on older systems.

Windows Update has long had a problem where the service will automatically downgrade GPU drivers in the right circumstances. This is specifically problematic with OEM machines when the OEM has uploaded a GPU driver to the Windows Update catalog. One issue I've run into personally is the inability to clean install Intel Xe drivers on my Windows 11 laptop. Doing so automatically triggers Windows Update to install several older Intel graphics driver revisions.

Unfortunately, Microsoft's update won't fix the issue entirely, but it is at least a start. To clarify, this specific fix is different from the Cloud-Initiated Driver Recovery feature Microsoft rolled out recently.

Google Preferred Source

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251
    that have plagued users since the OS's launch in 2021.

    and this is exactly why people are leaving the OS.
    Known issues get ignored for yrs.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    I'm pretty sure this was also a problem with Windows 10, but yeah... I guess if you ignore the problem long enough and you stop supporting your most famous OS, they'll eventually forget it, right Microsoft? RIGHT?

    Regards.
    Reply
  • TechieTwo
    ANOTHER Windoze "benefit"... not defect. :anguished:
    Reply
  • thestryker
    -Fran- said:
    I'm pretty sure this was also a problem with Windows 10
    I think Win10 also had auto driver update turned on by default, but I don't ever remember it turning itself back on once turned off. I've gone in and turned it off on Win11 at least 3 times since I built my machine in late 2024.
    Reply
  • Notton
    Are they sure this only happens on GPU drivers?
    Because I've had to reinstall broadcom/mediatek wifi/BT drivers after windows updated... on more than one occasion.
    ... and display drivers that no longer register touchscreens
    ... or auto-rotate based on orientation function getting wiped out in its entirety.
    I may or may not have had to reinstall chipset drivers on one occasion after a windows update.

    This goes as far back as Win8, or when they released the OG Surface Pro.

    And yes, it's always a laptop, tablet, or 2-in-1, and almost never on desktop.
    Reply
  • haha-169
    Wouldn't it be wild if they could just add a way to disable GPU updates from windows update that actually keeps it disabled!? It seems like everything you disable in windows gets automatically flipped back on after the next update.

    Or better yet, and simpler, just tell windows update to not override user installed drivers.
    Reply
  • Zaranthos
    I did Windows updates recently and my computer rebooted 4 times to complete updates. This is on a computer that gets used daily and updates installed regularly. The Windows update process is pure garbage now.

    The driver problem sucks. It has randomly destroyed the sound drivers on laptops at work many times.
    Reply
  • thesyndrome
    Zaranthos said:
    I did Windows updates recently and my computer rebooted 4 times to complete updates. This is on a computer that gets used daily and updates installed regularly. The Windows update process is pure garbage now.

    The driver problem sucks. It has randomly destroyed the sound drivers on laptops at work many times.
    I actually had the same thing with my work laptop yesterday, where I was about to shut down my PC to go home for the day but saw it had an update reboot due and estimated it would take about 4 minutes to complete, so I ran the update reboot whilst I got the rest of my gear ready to go home (which took about 5 minutes).

    15 minutes and 4 reboots later, and it finally shut down....I was not impressed....
    Reply
  • Zaranthos
    thesyndrome said:
    I actually had the same thing with my work laptop yesterday, where I was about to shut down my PC to go home for the day but saw it had an update reboot due and estimated it would take about 4 minutes to complete, so I ran the update reboot whilst I got the rest of my gear ready to go home (which took about 5 minutes).

    15 minutes and 4 reboots later, and it finally shut down....I was not impressed....

    The absurdity of WIndows updates now is getting crazy. We have somewhat older computers at work, which is generally fine for what they're used for, and we have them set up to be able to network boot for imaging (Altiris aka Ghost). We'll do a new image on the master computer so we can deploy the image to identical Windows machines with all software and Windows updates current. Our most recent image wasn't 2 weeks old when I was imaging some machines and then doing Windows updates before putting them back in use. It took less time to PXE boot into the network management environment and write the entire OS and software image to the machine than it did to do a couple weeks of accumulated Windows updates. The Windows updates required 3 reboot cycles and probably more than double the time the entire imaging process took. It's painful.
    Reply