Vista - disable automatic driver installation?

when i remove a driver in device manager, then restart, vista automatically
installs a preconfigured driver. is there any way to disable this?

what i want is for vista to stop and ask, i.e. "new device found, would you
like to search for the best driver or install a driver from a cd or other
location"...

ryanj247,

You can do that. In the same place you were while viewing the device in
Device Manager, click on the Driver tap (under Properties for the device).
Under that tab, you can click on "Update Driver" and choose among those
options that you would like to use.
--
freddy

no, i don't want to update the driver that vista installs. what i want is
for vista to ask me before installing a driver in the first place.

ryanj247,

I see. I don't know how to get that option enabled. I suppose Vista
beleives it knows better, but I don't know for certain. Anyone?
--
freddy

To disable automatic driver installation: Control Panel > System and
Maintenance > System > Tasks (side panel) > Advanced System Settings >
Hardware (tab) > Windows Update Driver Settings

Thank you!

Edited to add: This doesn't work. See my post, below.

I have the same problem. I am trying to install a Konica Minolta 1350w on a vista by searching for new hardware. I followed the steps to disable in advanced system settings. The never check for drivers is selected. However when I restart my computer it still installs the printer. Any suggestions?

mormonhoosier,

I ended up having to go into the control panel, system details, highlight the hardware in question (my onboard sound) and select drivers, update, select drivers manually. I then browsed to the file which I'd already downloaded.

Essentially, instead of deleting, rebooting, then installing, final reboot, I had to over-write install, reboot. It worked for me. Good luck.

Ken

I just figured it out and thought I'd come back here, register and perhaps help a few people

I had the same issue, the problem is I must clean all traces of the current driver before installing an experimental one. So overwritting was out of the question.


You can disable vista automatic driver installation...

1. click on start (bottom left of desktop)
2. right click on "computer" and select properties
3. on the left side, just below Tasks, select "Device Manager"
4. locate your device, right click it and select properties.
5. select the "driver" tab and click uninstall
6. check the box "Delete the driver software for this device"
7. click ok and reboot

You can disable vista automatic driver installation...

1. click on start (bottom left of desktop)
2. right click on "computer" and select properties
3. on the left side, just below Tasks, select "Device Manager"
4. locate your device, right click it and select properties.
5. select the "driver" tab and click uninstall
6. check the box "Delete the driver software for this device"
7. click ok and reboot

I did this but my system still reinstalled the deleted driver (video driver)
how do I make vista ask before it re installs the deleted driver