Experiencing the nuisance of not having a properly updated driver for an application or hardware device is a common headache. OEMs that use Intel CPUs with integrated graphics processors prevent users from installing video drivers from third parties. The reason OEMs lock video drivers to their own platforms is partly an attempt to provide uniform quality control, but problems occur when users have applications with updated drivers that are not approved by the OEM.
Intel Releases New Windows 10 GPU Driver
Fortunately, Intel OEM driver locking may soon go the way of the dodo. OEMs don’t always reliably update their drivers to fit the various needs of their customers, all of whom are using many different applications at any given time. Each application that a customer is using could send driver updates at any time. Customers want to install these drivers to improve performance, but they are not authorized or customized by the OEMs to do so, and therefore the drivers cannot be used.
To address this, Intel just released a new version of its Windows 10 GPU driver that can be installed on a wide majority of OEM systems for users running updated versions of Windows 10 with Intel Gen9 iGPUs and later.
Microsoft introduced the Universal Windows drivers architecture in 2018 and Intel followed with the first version of “Windows Modern Drivers” or “Windows DCH Drivers.” They weren’t backward compatible and there were certain issues with stability after the drivers were installed. Microsoft’s DCH stands for “Declarative Componentized Hardware,” which is a video driver format. The DCH video file format is modularized, which allows for a distribution of the parts that make up a driver. OEM customizations are also modularized thanks to DCH, which means that the base driver package is taken care of by Microsoft, meaning fewer headaches for OEMs in terms of updating their drivers, and fewer headaches for users installing new drivers for specific applications.
How to Check If Your PC Is Using Intel Graphics Windows DCH Drivers
If you want to check if your PC is using Intel Graphics Windows DCH drivers, do the following: Open Start and search for Device Manager. Click the top result and expand the Display Adapter branch.
After right-clicking the Intel graphics adapter, select Properties. Click the Drive tab and you’ll see the Driver Version. If you see 25.20.100.6444 or higher, then you’re already using the Windows DCH drivers.
Intel does not recommend installing the driver manually using the INF file. It suggests using either the Windows Update or installation package.
Bottom Line
Intel is pushing its unlocked drivers with a caveat or two. It is warning users that downloading its unlocked drivers will override the OEM drivers. In other words, this is a test driver. Intel recommends installing the driver, trying it out and then re-installing the OEM driver until the OEMs themselves validate it and release an approved version.
But OEM driver headaches may soon be a thing of the past.