Windows 11 driver updates are reportedly failing with version 22H2 of the operating system in some cases, although we’ve heard that Microsoft might just be working on a fix for this frustrating issue (more on that later).
As spotted by Neowin (opens in new tab), the bug was highlighted on Twitter by Barb Bowman, who is a veteran Microsoft beta tester and MVP.
.@WindowsUpdate @Windows see https://t.co/tc6cVThOWT and multiple posts in the Surface forums. Reports are growing of this and I see it here on Surface Laptop Studio. pic.twitter.com/6lLjNFTIcPFebruary 16, 2023
As Bowman observes, the driver update failures – and there are lots of them – seem to be affecting owners of Surface devices, but there are reports from those with other types of PC, too.
In replies to that thread on Twitter, users with Dell Inspiron and HP PCs further chime in to let us know that they too have been affected by these update failures.
The driver update falls over with the error code ‘0x80070103’, which is one of the typically unhelpful messages that Windows produces sometimes when things go awry.
Analysis: A solution is being worked on – we hope
This is a rather odd one affecting a range of hardware drivers, including Intel and Realtek, across a bunch of Windows 11 22H2 PCs.
As for a potential solution, Intel does offer some help (opens in new tab) pertaining to this error code, namely to “use the Windows Update Troubleshooter” to resolve the problem, but that feels like a rather generic piece of advice. We’re not sure how much hope we’d hold out that this will actually cure any update failures (to put it mildly).
It’s possible these update errors are being produced because Windows 11 is trying to install an older version of the driver in question, Neowin points out, but that begs the question: why is the OS doing this anyway?
Whatever the case, hopefully Microsoft will already be investigating this, and indeed on Twitter, it’s mentioned (opens in new tab) that this is a known issue and a fix is being worked on. However, it’s not clear how the source of that tweet is connected to Microsoft, save for their profile saying that they are: “Working to help IT Admins manage Windows Updates with the Windows Insider Program for Business.”
Fingers crossed that a resolution is on the horizon as is apparently being promised, at any rate.
