To update Drivers or not to update, that is the question!

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To update Drivers or not to update, that is the question!

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All Forums >> [Workstation Support] >> Windows Workstation >> To update Drivers or not to update, that is the question!

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To update Drivers or not to update, that is the question! - 5/13/2008 4:35:21 PM

sethkn1

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Longtime forum lurker, first time poster.
I am trying to develop a strategy in my company for updating hardware drivers on builds. When do you guys determine best practices for updating drivers in your images? Do you update them when there is significant improvements (say in the driver release notes), or do you basically leave it as if it “aint broke don’t fix it.” If you do update the drivers in the image, do you roll them out via a software package to get all existing hardware platforms to have standardized driver versions? Do you maybe use logic (like a wise or VBScript) to determine the driver versioning and then update it (incase a tech already updated the driver out of the image)?
I am just trying to get some feedback on best practices when coming up with our strategy. We have about 24 different hardware platforms across at least 55K PC's enterprise wide; it’s not an easy decision to make. Just wanted to get some feedback from my peers to hear how y'all tackle this.Thanks!

Post #: 1

RE: To update Drivers or not to update, that is the que... - 5/21/2008 2:41:25 PM

ndaniels

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From: The Republic of Elbonia
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My 2 cents...

From a home computer perspective, I'm rapidly reaching the point of applying the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" logic to all non-critical patches. (See the thread "Windows Vista Photos Screen Saver Performance" - http://www.myitforum.com/forums/Windows_Vista_Photos_Screen_Saver_Performance/m_179270/tm.htm ) I really wish that I hadn't recently applied the update for the "Intel Corporation - Display - Intel 82945G Express Chipset Family" that came down as an optional MS update.

From a corporate perspective, a big consideration is application compatibility testing. If you have 100, 1,000, 10,000, or, in your case, 55,000 workstations you are looking to deploy updates to, and you're going to be doing it via a deployment package (like SMS), be ready for support calls--even if you have thoroughly tested. ("Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.")

When I was still working as a PC Technician, my personal stance (right or wrong) was: Leave device drivers untouched on workstations unless (a) there is a known vulnerability or (b) the user is having problems. Otherwise, you're looking at spending a lot of time (that you probably don't have) testing device driver compatibility with all of the applications you use. From the user's perspective, the driver change will most likely be transparent to them--unless it blows up. Now you've generated "bad press" for yourself over something that the end user sees as a zero benefit to them.

If I installed a new application on a workstation for a user and that application was having problems with a specific device, I would try updating the device driver to see if it fixed the problem. Other than that, I typically did not go "looking for trouble" by updating device drivers on my own accord.

If you do decide to roll out device driver updates and have the option of doing so in groups of computers, rather than all at one shot, I'd highly recommend that approach. If a push gives you problems, it's easier to deal with a problem on, say, 100 or even 1,000 computers than it is all 55K. If you have off-site locations, bear in mind any bandwidth considerations -- can the connection to office X handle at 50mb device driver going to 100 computers at that site? etc.

Others may disagree with my logic and that's okay. I'm probably more of a pessimist when it comes to this kind of stuff, anyway. I, too, would be interested in hearing other people's comments.

< Message edited by ndaniels -- 5/21/2008 2:43:08 PM >

(in reply to sethkn1)

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RE: To update Drivers or not to update, that is the que... - 5/30/2008 9:52:00 AM

averbon

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I agree with ndaniels comments, and see most companies handling it in that way as well.

Cheers
Alex

Read my blog: http://averboon.blogspot.com/

(in reply to ndaniels)

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RE: To update Drivers or not to update, that is the que... - 5/30/2008 9:57:53 AM

rodtrent

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Off-topic...Alex you should move that blog to myITforum.com...

Get more immediate exposure than just a sig line.

(in reply to averbon)

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RE: To update Drivers or not to update, that is the que... - 6/6/2008 1:56:06 PM

sethkn1

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Ndaniels,

Thanks for your response. I am in agreement with what you say, I just wanted to get some other real-world feedback from forum members to substantiate those feelings.

One thing we are doing is utilizing our service desks knowledge base to post articles if we know of a specific driver update or hotfix to apply in the case of certain situations, but once we get that driver out there in our image (and we separate our drivers per hardware platform, to ensure a T60 doesn’t share the drivers of say a T42) we will be leaving it alone to ensure a consistent re-build can be expected company wide.
We have those power users who like most of us go directly and update drivers from their vendor websites immediately when the OS is loaded to get the "latest and greatest". For home users thats fine, but from an enterprise wide support model its difficult.

Of course when we call for vendor support the first thing they ask is to ensure the latest drivers and hotfixes are applied from their website. Again, case-by-case situation. But you nailed it, too many apps are out there from a certification perspective that after we introduce it and start rolling with drivers installation, its difficult to know if we are breaking something until its too late.

Thanks for the input, any one else?

(in reply to ndaniels)

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RE: To update Drivers or not to update, that is the que... - 6/9/2008 11:04:55 AM

ndaniels

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From: The Republic of Elbonia
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quote:

We have those power users who like most of us go directly and update drivers from their vendor websites immediately when the OS is loaded to get the "latest and greatest".

If you have power users that like do "vigilante" driver/software installs and break things, you may wish to consider (a) reducing their access down to regular users and/or (b) work on getting buy-in from management to have a policy passed which would accommodate disciplinary action for such users. If you can document how much time (money) your technical team(s) spend doing clean up work on such incidents, it may make good leverage for such a policy implementation to help protect your systems and cut down on cleanup.

(in reply to sethkn1)

Post #: 6