HiltonY

Windows 10 - Where is the "Hide or unhide updates" feature hidden

I have an update that fails all the time. After manually updating my printer driver only to get the "already up to date" message from the HP driver updater software, I did some research. Turns out the driver issue is a ghost update. This means windows is trying to update the driver, but the driver is already up to date. The fix is to hide the update. But that's the catch. You can't get to the old Windows update UI to do this. Even the link in Internet Explorer goes to the metro "settings" page for Windows update. And that page does not have the option to hide updates. I found the registry edits to enable it, but regedit doesn't allow you to modify those reg keys. There has to be something you can do other than just watching the update fail every day several times.

Where's the magic fix.

The update I'm seeing fail is "Hewlett-Packard - Imaging - Null Print - HP Deskjet 3520 series"

Thanks

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Answer

lacrumb

See this to hide drivers:

Now run this script

Copy the Script Text below into Notepad and save it on your desktop as "hidedrivers.vbs"
From the Start menu, search for command prompt. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
Type cscript %userprofile%\desktop\hidedrivers.vbs and hit Enter.
If a driver update can be hidden, you will see a prompt in the command window to type ‘y’ and then hit Enter.

The script should provide the option to block drivers available for installation.

If you want to confirm that an update was correctly hidden, you can run the same command again, and repeat the hide action. Or to un-hide an update you can type a different letter and then hit Enter.

Script Text to copy:

'This script can be used to hide a driver if it is causing problems on your machine, you have uninstalled it, and you want to prevent Windows Update from reinstalling it
Set updateSession = CreateObject("Microsoft.Update.Session")
updateSession.ClientApplicationID = "MSDN Sample Script to Hide drivers"

WScript.Echo "This script allows you to 'hide' selected drivers so Windows Update will not auto-install them" & vbCr & vbLf & _
"This is not normally recommended, but can be used for troubleshooting or support" & vbCr & vbLf & _
"Note: This script must be run elevated (run as admin) to work properly - else (un)hiding will fail with a cryptic error message" & vbCr & vbLf & vbLf & _
"Searching for applicable drivers..."

'Find all applicable drivers
Set updateSearcher = updateSession.CreateupdateSearcher()
Set searchResult = updateSearcher.Search("IsInstalled=0 and Type='Driver'")
If searchResult.Updates.Count = 0 Then
WScript.Echo "No applicable drivers..."
WScript.Quit
End If

'Cycle through applicable drivers and offer to (un)hide each one
For i = 0 To searchResult.Updates.Count-1
   Set update = searchResult.Updates.Item(i)
   currentState = "(currently not hidden)"
   If (update.IsHidden <> 0) Then
     currentState = "(currently hidden)"
   End If
   WScript.Echo "Type 'y' and then hit Enter to hide update " & update.Title & " " & currentState & ": "
   hide = WScript.StdIn.Readline
   If hide = "y" Then
     If (update.IsHidden <> 1) Then
       update.IsHidden = 1
     End If
   Else
     If (update.IsHidden <> 0) Then
       update.IsHidden = 0
     End If
   End If
Next

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lacrumb

Windows 10 - Where is the "Hide or unhide updates" feature hidden

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Question Info

Windows 10 - Where is the "Hide or unhide updates" feature hidden

Replies (24) 

Question Info

Replies (24)