Is deploying drivers via WSUS safe?

[OverWorked]

I've been wary of doing this since Windows Update installed a wrong driver on my XP home computer years ago. I haven't trusted Windows Update with drivers since.

 

Has anyone had any problems or was my experience a one-off?

[Michael]

I have done this successfully with an Intel graphics driver. Best advice would be to test the driver first on a handful of workstations.

[nickbro]

Should be fine for everything except nvidia ethernet drivers that were installed when you built the pc using MDT

[OverWorked]

Should be fine for everything except nvidia ethernet drivers that were installed when you built the pc using MDT

 

Why - what happens? This is the sort of thing I was wary of!

[nickbro]

Well MDT installs one version that, but a new version is in WSUS with a different bus driver, when it installs this, it can either lock up and not install it, or install part of the driver (the bus, but not the NIC). The solution I did was to manually update the drivers (using the inf) to the latest version to stop it trying to install it. (NForce 4 drivers I think). Everything else seems fine

[OverWorked]

Well MDT installs one version that, but a new version is in WSUS with a different bus driver, when it installs this, it can either lock up and not install it, or install part of the driver (the bus, but not the NIC). The solution I did was to manually update the drivers (using the inf) to the latest version to stop it trying to install it. (NForce 4 drivers I think). Everything else seems fine

 

Thanks. This is just the kind of thing I was wary of.

 

Years ago I had machines that detected and installed the wrong AC'97 audio driver from the RIS image. Once a machine has installed the wrong driver, it's a fiddly process getting it to accept the right one.

[sonofsanta]

I've never trusted Windows Update for driver updates; I have more bad experiences than good there, and even when I though I'd give it a go with Win7 recently thinking that they must have improved their certification process, I still had problems (forget what), so knickers to it.

[OverWorked]

I've never trusted Windows Update for driver updates; I have more bad experiences than good there, and even when I though I'd give it a go with Win7 recently thinking that they must have improved their certification process, I still had problems (forget what), so knickers to it.

 

Straight talking! That's what I like to see.

 

I don't actually have any urgent need to deploy drivers via WSUS. I don't have any driver problems. I thought it just might be good practice.

 

I think I'll leave it, then.

[ToyHeartsFan]

I once had a microsoft driver update mess up an admin PC to the point where I gave up and reinstalled the PC - I've not used MS for driver updates since!

 

(I think it was the onboard graphics that it borked)

[pete]

We do it and it works without issues, provided you know when not to use them. Ethernet drivers can be particularly problematic without testing and it's not something I'd ever push to a server.

[elsiegee40]

Given that I never update drivers unless I have to, and only then with a great deal of caution, no I wouldn't just push them out with WSUS. If I had a large number of machines and one I'd tested... maybe!

[Mr.Ben]

I don't do Ethernet Drivers unless there is a problem with them, but I do send out others.

 

The trick is as others have said, send to a few machines first to check that it isn't going to cause you any problems.

[armster]

So I've been trying to find an alternative to WSUS for this problem where I can specify which drivers for groups of machines I'd like to have installed but I can't find anything suitable except maybe scripting something.

 

Is there any valid enterprise options out there for a company that uses a limited (10-15) selection of dell models.

 

Dell have a driver manager but this only works for the server systems.