As much as keeping your drivers up to date is essential, there are times when automatic updates can be a hassle. This is especially true in the case of AMD drivers, where updates may not be optimized for your hardware or may cause compatibility issues. In this blog post, we will walk you through the steps to stop Windows 11 from updating your AMD drivers automatically.
Method 1: Using Group Policy Editor
The first approach to prevent Windows 11 from updating AMD drivers is to use the Group Policy Editor. This method is only applicable to Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions as the Group Policy Editor is not available in the Home edition.
- Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box, then type gpedit.msc and hit Enter. This will launch the Group Policy Editor.
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Navigate to the following path:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Device Installation > Device Installation Restrictions
- Double-click on the “Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs” policy.
- Select Enabled and click on the Show button to add the hardware IDs of your AMD devices.
- To find the hardware IDs, right-click on the Start button, select Device Manager, expand the Display adapters section, right-click on your AMD device, and go to Properties > Details. Select Hardware Ids from the Property dropdown menu and copy the first ID.
- Paste the copied hardware ID into the Value field of the Group Policy Editor and click OK to save the changes.
- Close the Group Policy Editor and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
Method 2: Using Registry Editor
If you are using the Home edition of Windows 11, you can still prevent automatic AMD driver updates using the Registry Editor. Here’s how:
- Press Win + R, type regedit, and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
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Navigate to the following path, or create the missing keys if they don’t exist:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceInstall\Restrictions
- Right-click on the Restrictions key, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it DenyDeviceIDs.
- Double-click on the DenyDeviceIDs value and set its data to 1.
- Right-click on the Restrictions key again, select New > Key, and name it DenyDeviceIDsRetroactive.
- Inside the newly created key, right-click on an empty space, select New > String Value, and name it 1 (or any other number in sequential order if you’re adding multiple IDs).
- Double-click on the string value you created, and enter the hardware ID of your AMD device (found using the same instructions from Method 1) as its data.
- Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
By following either of these methods, you can stop Windows 11 from automatically updating your AMD drivers. Keep in mind that this also means you’ll have to update your drivers manually in the future when necessary.