You’ve done your Windows 10 upgrade, and now your machine is bucking like a bronco with screen flickers and in some cases crashes, even after a reboot.
You’ve tracked it down to the Nvidia driver, but installing a fresh driver from Nvidia doesn’t solve the issue. What in the Sam Hill is this new wonderfulness, you ask?
Answer: Windows 10 has a default forced install for updates. This was imposed to keep users safe by auto-installing security patches. Unfortunately, this mandated update will also overwrite installed drivers, including your fresh Nvidia install. As you can imagine, this “feature” makes Windows 10 upgraders slightly cranky.
Fix Windows 10 Driver Problems
What do you do now? You can take your machine’s operating system, fold it until it is all pointy corners, and mail it to Redmond with insertion instructions. Satisfying as that might be, it doesn’t solve your problem.
News for Windows 10 driver and update woes: you can control the automatic Windows 10 updates, so your manually installed drivers won’t get overwritten by Windows 10.
You can do this for specific drivers (such as Nvidia, see Option #1), or manage the downloaded updates from Microsoft on a more global scale to try and get some control over the forced update process by switching the default automatic download to a more controlled approach (see Option #2).
Option #1: Mark the Nvidia driver specifically so it doesn’t get overwritten.
This will keep Windows 10 updates from re-patching that driver with one that is buggy.
Step 1: Install the Microsoft “Show or Hide Updates” package.
Go to Windows Updates on your machine and install the package from KB3073930.
This KB article describes the use of and includes a link to the downloadable “update troubleshooter”, which is found here. Note: You may have to re-run this utility to un-hide updates you want to allow in the future, so, once it’s installed, don’t forget it’s there.
Step 2: Download the known good Nvidia driver update from the following link below:
http://www.geforce.com/drivers
Once here, select “Manual Driver Search”, choose your machine’s configuration and click “Start Search”.
You are looking for the driver Version v353.62, certified by Microsoft (WHQL), dated July 29, 2015.
• Once you have downloaded the driver, right-click and chose “Run As Administrator” to install.
• Be sure to check the box for “Prevent the problematic driver or update from reinstalling automatically the next time Windows Updates are installed” to keep the new driver from being overwritten by Windows 10.
• Reboot after installation.
Option #2: Prevent Windows 10 auto-updates from being downloaded automatically.
This is a feature added by Microsoft to keep large downloads from causing costly data plan charges. It’s a little hidden, but it can be found in the following location:
• Go to “Settings” (Windows + I), and choose “Network and Internet”.
• Choose “Advanced Options”, which is below Wi-Fi.
• Choose option “Set as metered connection”. Windows will remember this setting for the network you’re currently connected to.
