Can I prevent a driver from being installed with windows 8.1?

I have a Mid 2011 27" Imac with Windows 8. It works mostly fine with the latest bootcamp drivers, I don't have sound in the integrated sound card since I upgraded from Windows 7, but I use bluetooth headphones anyway. But Windows show two driver updates in Windows Update: an update to the Intel integrated graphics and an update to the SATA AHCI. One of these drivers crashes the system upon install and each reboot thereafter (I identified which once, but forgot).

My problem is that the Windows 8.1 update comes with these drivers and crashes during install on the "Setting up your devices" step. So I'm currently unable to update. Is there any way to block these drivers from being installed with windows 8.1? or a way to replace these with the bootcamp version in the window of time between their installation and their activation?

Edit: Just in case anyone wonders, disabling the device in the device manager won't change the outcome.

Update (28/02/2014): The new version of the bootcamp drivers which officially support windows 8.1 still give me this problem, both updating and installing from scratch.

Néstor Hernández Ojeda

Posted 2013-10-25T07:27:50.900

Reputation: 61

I'd be very surprised if the SATA drivers were the culprit... When the system crashes what does the Event Viewer say when you've recovered? – Kinnectus – 2014-07-07T06:59:14.360

Somehow, windows seems to think that a driver for another device is a valid update for it, maybe that specific hwid slip into the compatible devices list for the driver. Finally last month I got to solve this though I didn't take note of the steps I took (I didn't think it'd work) so I cannot post a reliable answer to this question. All I can recall is that I did have to update the driver and uninstall it afterwards, maybe booting in safe-mode. – Néstor Hernández Ojeda – 2014-07-08T07:31:14.343

Just so anyone coming here knows: To this day I haven't found a solution to this, I'll probably have to wait until Apple decides to release updated BootCamp Drivers. That's if I haven't sold it when the time comes... – Néstor Hernández Ojeda – 2014-01-20T15:39:50.837

Answers

You can't disable the automatically installation of drivers for a specific device. But you can choose, that you can choose, what to do, at the device-manager.

Follow this tutorial from wiki-how:

Search for "Change device" in the Windows 8 Start menu.

Click on where it says Change device installation settings.

Select the No, let me choose what to do option.

Check the automatically get the device app option, then click Save changes to save the settings you just chose.

Important Now check the Never install drivers from windows update option.

source

If you can't access the search (like in safe mode), you can open the "Device Installation Settings" Window with the following command:

rundll32.exe newdev.dll,DeviceInternetSettingUi 2

Christian

Posted 2013-10-25T07:27:50.900

Reputation: 6 571

Note that these instructions apply to drivers downloaded from the Internet (Windows Update). It does not control automatic driver installation from local Windows driver repositories (pre-installed drivers). It takes effect only when no local drivers are available, unless you can provide drivers yourself by manually installing them from an external storage medium (e.g. CD, DVD, or USB). – Samir – 2015-03-21T22:49:06.177

What exactly does "automatically get the device app and info provided by your device manufacturer" do? The description provided at source and copy and pasted into this answer is unintelligible. Do you understand it? Would you please explain? I'm sure there is a "Save Changes" button in the bottom right corner of the dialog box because I'm looking at it. That's the way to save the changes, not by ticking this option. Frankly, this entire Windows dialog box is unintelligible. – Samir – 2015-03-21T22:55:57.197

I doubt this applies to the Windows 8.1 update process. These are settings for the normal operation of the OS. But worth a try. – Peter Hahndorf – 2013-10-25T07:57:16.833

Yeah, I doubt this has any effect on the update to 8.1, but I'll try anyway. – Néstor Hernández Ojeda – 2013-10-25T08:03:32.673

Because it's just an update, it should work. And if windows doesn't ask you if you want to change driver-settings during installation, than it should keep your settings – Christian – 2013-10-25T08:06:48.217

Nah, didn't work, same result. It's a shame, all of my other Macs updated flawlessly, but this one, precisely the one I use the most, is giving me headaches. The previews worked well, until they packaged the drivers in the RTM and retail – Néstor Hernández Ojeda – 2013-10-25T13:57:03.217

In earlier versions of Windows, it was possible to stop Windows from installing a particular driver. You could hide an individual update. That feature seems to have been removed in Windows 8.1

Panda

Posted 2013-10-25T07:27:50.900

Reputation: 1