It's an ironic and fairly common problem: you update a driver expecting an improvement, and instead your PC starts crashing, your screen flickers, or a device stops working altogether. Fortunately, Windows has a built-in safety net for exactly this situation, and rolling back to the previous driver version is usually quick and low-risk. This guide covers how to do it properly, what to do when the standard method isn't available, and how to prevent the same problem next time.

How to Tell If a Driver Update Is the Cause

Before rolling anything back, it's worth confirming the timing lines up, since assuming the wrong cause wastes time.

  1. Note when the problem started, and compare it against Settings > Windows Update > Update history to see if a driver update landed around the same time.
  2. Check Device Manager for any device now showing a yellow warning icon that wasn't there before.
  3. If you're experiencing crashes (Blue Screen of Death), the error screen or Event Viewer (search "Event Viewer" in the Start menu, then check Windows Logs > System) often names the specific driver file responsible, which is a strong clue.

Pro tip: Graphics drivers are by far the most common cause of this scenario, followed by network adapter and audio drivers. If your symptoms started right after "updating drivers" of any kind, start your rollback there.

Method 1: Roll Back Driver via Device Manager (Fastest)

Windows automatically keeps a copy of the previous driver version whenever you update through Device Manager or Windows Update, and rolling back is built directly into the interface.

  1. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
  2. Find and expand the relevant category (Display adapters for graphics, Network adapters for Wi-Fi/Ethernet, Sound, video and game controllers for audio, etc.).
  3. Right-click the affected device and select Properties.
  4. Click the Driver tab.
  5. If available, click Roll Back Driver.
  6. Windows may ask for a brief reason (optional) — select one and confirm.
  7. Restart your PC when prompted.

Warning: The Roll Back Driver button is greyed out if Windows doesn't have a previous version stored — this typically happens if the driver was freshly installed rather than updated, or if more than 10 days have passed and Windows has cleared the old driver files automatically. If it's greyed out, skip to Method 2 below.

Method 2: Manually Install an Older Driver Version

If rollback isn't available through Device Manager, you'll need to source and install the previous version yourself.

  1. Identify the exact driver version that was working before, if you can recall roughly when the problem started (check Update history for dates).
  2. Go to the manufacturer's official website — NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel for graphics; the specific chipset or laptop manufacturer for audio and network drivers.
  3. Most manufacturer driver pages let you browse or search previous/older driver versions, not just the latest release — look for a "driver archive" or version history link.
  4. Download the older version.
  5. In Device Manager, right-click the device, select Uninstall device, and tick Delete the driver software for this device if offered, then restart.
  6. Run the installer for the older driver version you downloaded.

Warning: Only download driver versions from the manufacturer's own official site, even when looking for older releases. Third-party "old driver archive" sites are a common source of tampered or bundled-adware installers.

Method 3: Use System Restore

If a driver update has caused more serious instability — repeated crashes, a device that's stopped Windows booting normally — System Restore can roll your entire system, including drivers, back to an earlier point.

  1. Search "Create a restore point" in the Start menu and open it.
  2. Click System Restore.
  3. Choose a restore point dated before the problematic driver update — Windows often creates one automatically before major driver and Windows updates.
  4. Follow the prompts to complete the restore and restart.

This is a more heavy-handed fix since it reverts other changes made since that point too (though it doesn't touch personal files), but it's a reliable option when a specific driver rollback isn't working or available.

Pro tip: If your PC won't boot normally because of the driver issue, boot into Safe Mode first (Settings > System > Recovery > Advanced startup > Restart now, then Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings, then press 4), and perform the rollback or System Restore from there, where the problematic driver typically isn't loaded.

Preventing the Same Driver From Reinstalling Automatically

A frustrating quirk of Windows Update is that it can silently reinstall the exact driver version you just rolled back from, undoing your fix within days.

  1. Search "Show or hide updates" in the Start menu — if it's not already on your PC, download Microsoft's free Show or Hide Updates troubleshooter tool from Microsoft's support site.
  2. Run it, select Hide updates, and tick the specific driver update causing the problem.
  3. This prevents Windows Update from automatically reinstalling that particular driver version until you choose to unhide it.

For manufacturer apps like the NVIDIA App or AMD Software, check their own settings for an option to pause or disable automatic driver update notifications if you want more manual control over timing.

When to Try the Update Again

Driver issues are sometimes specific to one release rather than a fundamental incompatibility, so it's usually worth trying again once a newer version is released, rather than staying on an old driver indefinitely.

  • Check the manufacturer's release notes for the next version after the one that caused problems — genuine driver bugs are often acknowledged and fixed within a few releases.
  • Wait at least a couple of weeks after a new driver's release before updating on a system you rely on, letting early reports of problems surface from other users first.
  • Always perform a clean installation (see our graphics driver guide for details) when trying an update again, rather than installing directly over a version you rolled back from.

Closing Thoughts

A bad driver update is one of the more alarming-feeling PC problems because it can affect something as fundamental as your display or network, but it's also one of the most reliably fixable, thanks to Windows' built-in rollback tools. Device Manager's Roll Back Driver button should be your first stop, with System Restore as a reliable fallback for more serious cases — and hiding the problematic update afterwards stops history repeating itself.

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