I'm wondering what the actual difference is between "Upgrade & Servicing Drivers" and "Servicing Drivers" listed under Windows Products in WSUS, especially now that discussions around these topics seem to vary a lot. I know that as a WSUS admin, it's generally advised not to tick the "Drivers" and "Driver Sets" checkboxes in the Classifications section, but there was some talk recently about needing to enable the servicing drivers for upgrade packages to work correctly. Specifically, I'm curious if enabling the 'Servicing Drivers' and 'Upgrade & Servicing Drivers' in the Products section is necessary for smooth upgrades for versions 21H2 and later. Can anyone shed some light on this?
4 Answers
If you're using SCCM, I would suggest utilizing the OS upgrade task sequence method to handle these upgrades more smoothly.
Honestly, I’m not totally sure, but someone like DataCruncher99 might have the answers! If this thread doesn’t take off, you could try asking in a community that specializes more in system management.
So, the key difference is that 'servicing drivers' are part of the Windows core stack, while the general 'Drivers' covers things like printers and network interface cards. Many admins avoid syncing those hardware drivers as they can take up a ton of space compared to the basic Windows updates. It's less of a concern these days with cheaper storage options. You thought correctly—both the 'Servicing Drivers' and 'Upgrade & Servicing Drivers' apply to the Windows stack and can indeed help with version upgrades.
Unfortunately, I’m just using WSUS, so I won't have SCCM insights, but I'm following this thread for more info!
I feel you on that! These product categories are specifically for In-Place Upgrades and are linked to the Dynamic Update process. They include updates to relevant drivers that manufacturers have published for the upgrade. These drivers can be critical for the new OS you’re heading to, even if they're not directly needed for your current version.