Windows 10 Device Manager has lost a key capability and can no longer update drivers from the Internet as it has been before.
The change has come without warning in the latest build 19041.423 of Windows 10 2004. Simply, Microsoft has disabled it following the strategy of removing the Windows Control Panel and moving its functionalities to the Modern System Configuration tool. It is an unstoppable transition, but it is taking place in a chaotic way.
Device administrator
Microsoft allows users to download, install, or update device drivers for Windows 10 in several ways. You can update a device driver manually, using Device Manager, Windows Update, or device manufacturers’ own tools.
Until now, the device manager in Windows 10 (and earlier systems) allowed update drivers locally and online. The first requires scanning the storage drives and selecting the driver software manually. The second allowed the package to be downloaded and installed automatically online using Microsoft’s servers. This is the feature that has now been removed.
Microsoft has moved this feature to the system management tool and the user will be able to use it by going to Settings> Update & Security> Windows Update> View optional updates> Driver updates.
On this screen, each device driver is listed with the manufacturer’s name, rating, version number, and release date if applicable. Its use is very simple: the user marks the drivers he wants to install or update and the tool does the rest.
Don’t get us wrong. The Configuration tool is well conceived and resolved. With more and more functions, its modern design is more integrated with the rest of the system and it is surely easier to understand and use than the classic Control Panel for the majority of Windows users.
The problem is that the transition is being carried out with an eyedropper, without a clear strategy defined that we can know, without notice of the changes, with duplicate functions and ultimately leaving a Control Panel used assiduously by classic Windows users.
If the Configuration tool is the future in seeking to ditch older legacy components, it would be better transfer at once and in one stroke all the functions of the Control Panel and eliminate it or – better – hide it so that users who wish to can activate it and use it.
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