Microsoft begins cleanup of legacy drivers from Windows Update

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Forward-looking: Microsoft has traditionally maintained strong backward compatibility with older hardware and software. However, the company is now working to phase out as many legacy drivers as possible in an effort to streamline the Windows Update process and reduce its overall complexity.

According to a recent post addressing partners in the Windows Hardware Program, Microsoft is working to remove legacy drivers from the Windows Update system. The company says the goal is to reduce security and compatibility risks, which is why it is now embarking on this "strategic" initiative – though it will make backward compatibility within the Windows ecosystem significantly worse than before.

In the not-so-distant future, Microsoft aims to provide only the most up-to-date, optimal set of peripheral drivers through Windows Update. To achieve this goal, the company will periodically perform cleanup tasks in its driver catalog. As a result, some drivers will no longer be offered to systems that rely on Windows Update.

Microsoft explains that the first legacy drivers to be removed will be those that already have newer replacements available via Windows Update. "Cleaning up" means that a particular set of peripheral drivers will expire, and Windows Update will no longer install them on compatible devices. Hardware manufacturers will have the opportunity to request that Microsoft reinstate expired drivers, although they may be asked to provide justification.

Microsoft is reportedly aware of the major shift coming with the removal of old driver support from Windows Update, so it plans to roll out the changes in stages. After the initial cleanup, the company will publish a blog post confirming that the first batch of obsolete drivers has been removed. Following that, manufacturers will have a six-month window to request reinstatement of any driver downloads.

According to Microsoft, driver removal is a proactive measure aimed at improving security and ensuring higher-quality drivers for Windows users. The company is advising manufacturers to review their current drivers in the Windows Hardware Program, as Redmond intends to make driver cleanup a routine optimization practice.

While Microsoft is working to make Windows Update a leaner and more reliable service for delivering patches and other content, it could face pressure to reverse course, just as it did with WSUS driver synchronization in the past. There's no doubt Windows Update would benefit from significant optimization, given how often it causes headaches for millions of users.

Still, Microsoft remains confident in Windows Update's potential to enhance the overall Windows experience by managing various software downloads more effectively.

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Microsoft begins cleanup of legacy drivers from Windows Update

 

[Anton Longshot]

Just cut to the chase Microsoft, create a new version of Windows that only runs on future hardware. And stop updating the current versions of Windows.

In the meantime I've succesfully transformed my Lenovo into a Linux Mint laptop - works well too and btw...installing Mint is a lot easier and smoother than installing Windows. Dunno yet when my PC's will follow. The future might change things though: should I find the money I might decide to build a fancy PC w/ server cpu and multichannel RAM and add Windows. Or I might get rid of the Intel machines and replace them with Macs. We'll see.

 

[yRaz]

Just cut to the chase Microsoft, create a new version of Windows that only runs on future hardware. And stop updating the current versions of Windows.

In the meantime I've succesfully transformed my Lenovo into a Linux Mint laptop - works well too and btw...installing Mint is a lot easier and smoother than installing Windows. Dunno yet when my PC's will follow. The future might change things though: should I find the money I might decide to build a fancy PC w/ server cpu and multichannel RAM and add Windows. Or I might get rid of the Intel machines and replace them with Macs. We'll see.

I've been daily driving Linux mint for 2 years now and using it off and on since 2019. The new version, Mint Xia, is by far the best version yet. It has taken away nearly every minor annoyance I had with Linux in general.

 

[QuaZulu]

Or I might get rid of the Intel machines and replace them with Macs. We'll see.

I don't even know who you are anymore!

 

[hahahanoobs]

Complainers of bloat should be a little happier now.

 

[CrisisDog]

Our company is forcing us to go full Microsoft, and I don’t know how much more I can handle as Microsoft has terrible products and support. This is just another move which will cause issues at some point. At least at home I can deal with Macs and Linux installs still…

 

[SRB]

Ok, but what happens if you have older drivers that are not, or never have, been provided by Windows?
Are they going to muck with those as well?

 

[Vanderlinde]

Our company is forcing us to go full Microsoft, and I don’t know how much more I can handle as Microsoft has terrible products and support. This is just another move which will cause issues at some point. At least at home I can deal with Macs and Linux installs still…

Likely cheaper on the long run.

All these company's are trying to get businesses locked into their products.

Apart from Windows. I think it's safe to say for me switching over to Linux the moment 10 expires.

 

[toooooot]

Just cut to the chase Microsoft, create a new version of Windows that only runs on future hardware. And stop updating the current versions of Windows.

In the meantime I've succesfully transformed my Lenovo into a Linux Mint laptop - works well too and btw...installing Mint is a lot easier and smoother than installing Windows. Dunno yet when my PC's will follow. The future might change things though: should I find the money I might decide to build a fancy PC w/ server cpu and multichannel RAM and add Windows. Or I might get rid of the Intel machines and replace them with Macs. We'll see.

I used mint for a bit while trying to troubleshoot my troublesome PC. I loved how responsive and quick it was. I really loved it. But then I switched a GPU and all hell fell on me. I think I spent an entire day in total trying to make my monitor to be recognized and secondary even connect. I went through all the guides step by step. Surprisingly enough, the thing that worked was clean install of Mint, this time with the new GPU. But it made me thinking, what next adventure will force me to live with a crippled PC or being doomed to reinstall it whenever something goes wrong?
I think for a laptop it is a much better choice than it is for PC which might or will have parts swapped and upgraded. I really loved mint, found all the apps that I needed. Some of them I loved a lot especially since they were free. But that thing with monitors, it is not right. You have to be able to wipe the drivers, reinstall them and then have your PC and monitors working. I did all that and much more, and it did not work. I am not ready for Linux or maybe it is not ready for me. Also, I wonder if Ubuntu is more developed and stable. I believe it is more popular, isn't it?

 

[BadThad]

It's good practice, it's always been a problem with MS. Back in the day I remember waiting 10 minutes for windows setup load like 5000k different SCSI adapter drivers that never got used.

 

[Anton Longshot]

I used mint for a bit while trying to troubleshoot my troublesome PC. I loved how responsive and quick it was. I really loved it. But then I switched a GPU and all hell fell on me. I think I spent an entire day in total trying to make my monitor to be recognized and secondary even connect. I went through all the guides step by step. Surprisingly enough, the thing that worked was clean install of Mint, this time with the new GPU. But it made me thinking, what next adventure will force me to live with a crippled PC or being doomed to reinstall it whenever something goes wrong?
I think for a laptop it is a much better choice than it is for PC which might or will have parts swapped and upgraded. I really loved mint, found all the apps that I needed. Some of them I loved a lot especially since they were free. But that thing with monitors, it is not right. You have to be able to wipe the drivers, reinstall them and then have your PC and monitors working. I did all that and much more, and it did not work. I am not ready for Linux or maybe it is not ready for me. Also, I wonder if Ubuntu is more developed and stable. I believe it is more popular, isn't it?

I feel your pain. And you're right as my Lenovo's a laptop I cannot have add-on card issues as there are no add-ons. Furthermore it's an expensive corporate machine and not exactly brand new, which translates to great hardware & driver support by OS makers. So both Windows and Linux work great on it with zero issues. Even plugging in my second monitor post Mint install didn't case any problem and immediately worked flawlessly. As for other distros...these days I'm mostly a "user" and definitely do NOT want to spend time learning to tinker with my OS...the stuff I've encountered in Linux under-the-hood discussions is all Greek (meaning gobbledygook) to me.