Support for all sorts of devices has always been a strong feature of the Windows operating system. Driver support is baked into the operating system and most devices will work out of the box after installation. Yes, it does make sense to install some drivers manually, as you may be getting better features, better performance, or other benefits out of that.

Microsoft announced plans to clean up the drivers that Windows Update pushes to user devices when the operating system checks for updates. The company says that this is done to improve stability and security, and it has a valid point to a degree.

It plans to remove old drivers. In the first phase only drivers that have been superseded by newer drivers. Often, newer drivers introduce fixes for issues or patch security bugs, and that is likely what Microsoft is referring to in its announcement.

Technically, cleanup means that these drivers are no longer associated with any audience in Windows Update. Since they are not associated anymore, they won't be offered to any device anymore when Windows runs checks for updates.

These drivers will then be removed by Microsoft from Windows Update. Hardware manufacturers may republish expired drivers, but Microsoft says that companies may need to justify the republishing.

Regular spring cleanings

Driver cleanups will run regularly according to Microsoft. It plans to extend the cleanup to other types of drivers, but did not mention any in particular.

Microsoft recommends that hardware manufacturers expire drivers from Windows Update proactively

Impact on users

This behind-the-scenes cleaning won't impact the majority of users. Some users may be impacted, however, in some scenarios. New drivers may, for example, lack support for older hardware devices. Additionally, bugs or issues introduced in newer driver versions may cause issues on some systems.

Windows users may still install drivers manually at any time, provided that they have access to the driver. Most manufacturers provide driver downloads on their sites, at least for still-supported devices. CDs with drivers on them are not as common anymore as they were a decade ago.

Driver download sites on the Internet are another option, but you may want to make sure that they are legitimate before you download anything from them.

Just in case, here is a tutorial on exporting Windows drivers using DISM.

Closing Words

Only time will tell if Microsoft's driver cleaning initiative will indeed be mostly beneficial to Windows users, or if it will introduce issues of its own.

Now You: when was the last time you installed a driver manually? Feel free to leave a comment down below.