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Disable Searching Windows Update for Device Drivers

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

By default, Windows searches the Windows Update Web site for drivers that cannot be found in the driver store. If an administrator has set up a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server and configured it on the client computers, then that server is used instead of the Windows Update Web site. You can use this procedure to prevent your client computers from searching Windows Update or a WSUS server for device drivers when one is not found locally. This search takes place after the DevicePath folder search.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure.

Enabling or disabling searching Windows Update for device drivers

You can use the following methods to enable or disable searching Windows Update for device drivers:

  • Enable or disable searching Windows Update manually on a single computer

  • Enable or disable automatic searching of Windows Update by using Group Policy

Enable or disable searching Windows Update manually on a single computer

To enable or disable searching Windows Update manually on a single computer

  1. Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.

  2. In the Tasks list, click Advanced System Settings.

  3. On the System Properties dialog box, click the Hardware tab, and then click Windows Update Driver Settings.

  4. Select Never check for drivers when I connect a device.

  5. Click OK twice, and then close the System dialog box.

Enable or disable automatic searching of Windows Update by using Group Policy

To enable or disable automatic searching of Windows Update by using Group Policy

  1. Open Group Policy Management Editor.

  2. In the navigation pane, open Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Internet Communication Management\Internet Communication settings.

  3. In the details pane, double-click Turn off Windows Update device driver searching.

  4. Do one of the following:

    • To turn off searching Windows Update, click Enabled.

    • To allow searching Windows Update, click Disabled.

  5. Click OK to save your settings.

Additional considerations

  • To open Group Policy Management Editor, click Start, then in the Start Search box, type mmc gpedit.msc, and then press ENTER. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

  • If you edit policy settings locally on a computer, you will affect the settings on only that one computer. If you configure the settings in a Group Policy object (GPO) hosted in an Active Directory domain, then the settings apply to all computers that are subject to that GPO. For more information about Group Policy in an Active Directory domain, see Group Policy (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=55625).