1. How to Stop Automatic Driver Updates via the Control Panel

Control Panel makes it simple to disable automatic driver updates on Windows. Here are the steps you need to follow.

1. Press Win + S to open the search menu.
2. Type control panel and press Enter.
3. Navigate to System > Advanced System Settings.
4. In the System Properties window, switch to the Hardware tab and click the Device Installation Settings button.
5. Select No and click Save Changes.

2. How to Stop Automatic Driver Updates With the Group Policy Editor

Another option for disabling automatic driver downloads on Windows is to use the Group Policy Editor. Note that you can only access the Group Policy Editor if you’re using the Professional, Education, or Enterprise edition of Windows. If you're on Windows Home, be sure to check out how to access the Local Group Policy Editor on Windows Home before continuing.

1. Open the Start menu, search for gpedit.msc, and select the first result that appears. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2. Use the left pane to navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update > Manage updates offered from Windows Update.
3. Double-click the Do not include drivers with Windows Updates policy on your right.
    
4. Select the Enabled option.
5. Hit Apply followed by OK.

Once you complete the above steps, Windows will exclude any driver updates when searching for system updates. To re-enable the driver updates in the future, follow the same steps above and set the Do not include drivers with Windows Updates policy to Not configured.

3. How to Stop Automatic Driver Updates via the Registry Editor

The Registry Editor on Windows contains essential files for Windows and its services. If you're a power user who's familiar with the Registry Editor, you can also disable automatic driver updates using the following method.

Since editing the registry is risky, you should only use this method if the previous ones don't work. If you use this method, make sure you back up all the registry files or create a restore point just in case.

Once you’ve done that, here’s what you need to do to prevent automatic driver updates:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type regedit in the text box and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor.
3. Select Yes when the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears.
4. Use the left pane to navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > DriverSearching.
5. Within the DriverSearching folder, double-click the SearchOrderConfig DWORD.
6. Change its value to 0 and hit OK.
    

Restart your PC for the changes to take effect. Following that, Windows will no longer install driver updates on its own.

If you want to re-enable the driver updates at any point, follow the same steps above and change the value data for SearchOrderConfig to 1 before restarting your PC.

Disabling Automatic Driver Updates on Windows

Certain circumstances necessitate disabling automatic driver updates. Perhaps an older version of the driver works better on your system, or you prefer not to use the original equipment manufacturer's drivers. In any case, disabling automatic driver updates on Windows is quite easy.

Now that you’ve turned off automatic driver updates, don’t forget to check for critical driver updates manually every once in a while.

"Unprotected Wi-Fi" notification in ESET business products

• You receive the Unprotected Wi-Fi notification saying that network communication could be intercepted or manipulated

• Solution

  Use a secured Wi-Fi connection

  Secure your Wi-Fi network with password protection using your router (WPA2 is recommended). If you are not an admin, contact your system administrator about securing your network.

  ---

  Secured Wi-Fi is unavailable

  • We recommend that you do not provide passwords or sensitive information to unsecured websites.
  • ESET Windows home products do not have the option to disable the Unprotected Wi-Fi notification only.

• ESET PROTECT On-Prem users

  1. Open ESET PROTECT On-Prem in your web browser and log in.

  2. Click Policies → New Policy.

  3. Type in your policy Name and click Continue.
  4. In the Settings section, select your ESET product from the drop-down menu. Click Notifications, expand Desktop notifications and click Edit next to Desktop notifications. 
  5. Scroll down to the Network protection section and deselect the check box next to Wifi protection warnings. Click OK 
  6. Click Assign → Assign, select the desired computers to assign the new policy to. Click Finish.

• Individual client workstations

  1. Open the main program window of ESET Windows products.

  2. Press the F5 key to open Advanced setup.

  3. Click Notifications, expand Desktop notifications and click Edit next to Desktop notifications.

  4. Scroll down to Network protection and deselect the check box next to Wifi protection warnings. Click OK → OK to exit the Advanced setup.
   

How to disable automatic driver install on Windows 11

Open Settings on Windows 11.

Click on System.

Click the About tab.

Under the “Device specifications” section, click the “Advanced system settings” option.

Click the Hardware tab.

Click the “Device Installation Settings” button.

Select the “No (your device might not work as expected)” option.

Click the Save Changes button.

Click the OK button.