I work at a help desk for a company that uses various models of Dell Latitudes, and we've run into a problem with the 5410 model. It's been automatically installing an incompatible Realtek High Definition Audio Driver through Windows Update, which is causing sound issues. We've tried backdating the drivers manually, but the problem is that the PCs just keep updating to the incompatible version again. My sysadmin said we could only disable driver updates globally, but I'm looking for a more specific workaround since he's not very helpful. Has anyone else dealt with this issue?
3 Answers
You might want to check what’s controlling the update policies for these machines. Are you using Group Policy Objects (GPO), Intune, or another mobile device management system? We use Workspace One and can easily exclude certain machines from policies, like disabling driver updates, if that helps.
You might want to uninstall the problematic driver, wait for Windows Update to re-offer it, and then use a tool called wushowhide.diagcab to block it. It's a bit old-school but supposedly still works for Windows 11. There could be newer methods out there, but this is a good start!
Consider using a different update management tool that allows you to exclude specific updates. Action1 is free for up to 200 endpoints, which might be perfect for your situation. This way, you'll have better control over the updates for your Dell Latitudes and maintain visibility on their patch statuses.
Unfortunately, we have about 900 of them! But third-party tools like that could be worth exploring.
I can also vouch for Action1; it works great for smaller networks, so it might be a solid fit!
I tried looking for wushowhide.diagcab, but I couldn't find a legit link since Microsoft removed most of them. Any chance you can point me to a good resource?