Microsoft is changing the way drivers are automatically installed on Windows 10 PCs

Microsoft recently announced that it is changing the way manual drivers are automatically installed on Windows 10 PCs. When you connect a peripheral device to a Windows 10 PC for the first time, and that device had a manual driver (also called optional driver) available on Windows Update, the manual driver was automatically installed on the user’s machine. Until now, user had no control over this process. From November 5th, 2020, Microsoft is introducing the following changes.

1. Automatic driver updates will automatically be installed on your machine either when you plug-in a peripheral device for the first time, or when a device manufacturer publishes a driver to Windows Update. In other words, there will be no change to the plug-and-play scenario when an automatic driver is available on Windows Update.
2. Manual driver updates can be installed manually on your machine if you specifically request them by navigating to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View optional updates.

Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, Windows does not search for an Optional/Manual driver when an Automatic driver is not available. To access Optional/Manual drivers, go to: Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > View optional updates > Driver updates.

Source: Microsoft