Nobody seems to know what the new driver does, so it's best to avoid the update for now Credit: Thinkstock Remember the problem users were experiencing in December with weird Windows 10 drivers appearing out of nowhere? Well, it seems to be happening again. In December there were complaints about a spate of drivers with names like these: INTEL – System – 1/4/2013 12:00:00 AM – 0.0.0.1 Intel – System – 3/13/2016 12:00:00 AM – 11.0.0.1010 INTEL – System – 8/19/2016 12:00:00 AM – 10.1.2.80 INTEL – System – 10/3/2016 12:00:00 AM – 10.1.1.38 Realtek Semiconduct Corp. – USB – 5/17/2016 12:00:00 AM – 10.0.10586.31225 Once installed, the drivers wreaked all sorts of havoc. Last month, Raymond Chen at Microsoft explained the sudden appearance of very old drivers, but that may or may not be what’s causing this latest problem. Now lots of people are reporting that their Windows systems are suddenly installing this driver: Microsoft - WPD - 2/22/2016 12:00:00 AM - 5.2.5326.4762 Amiel Spencer on the Microsoft Answers forum says the installation triggers an Error 0x800f0217. In case you missed the memo, the MSDN blog has a description of WPD drivers: Microsoft Windows Portable Devices (WPD) enables a computer to communicate with attached media and storage devices. This system supersedes both Windows Media Device Manager (WMDM) and Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) by providing a flexible, robust way for a computer to communicate with music players, storage devices, mobile phones, and many other types of connected devices. Microsoft provides several drivers for standard protocols and devices, including Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP), Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices, and Mass Storage Class (MSC) devices. It’s looking like déjà vu all over again. For reasons unknown, Microsoft has suddenly released a new driver that may or may not be beneficial for your computer. Until we get additional information or a report about beneficial side effects from installing this driver, I strongly suggest you avoid it. If you’ve already installed the driver, follow the instructions on AskWoody.com to roll back a bad driver update. If you haven’t installed it and are using Windows 10, consider hauling out wushowhide to make sure you don’t get stuck. This would be a great use for the “Include driver updates when I update Windows” option in the Win10 Settings app and in Group Policy, but I’m not convinced that either setting will prevent this particular driver from being installed. Thanks to AElMassry for the heads-up. Discussion continues on the AskWoody Lounge Related content opinion On a personal note... Woody Leonhard looks back a bit, looks ahead to retirement — and shares good news about who's picking up the Windows patching torch. By Woody Leonhard Nov 09, 2020 3 mins Small and Medium Business Computers Windows news analysis Get Microsoft's October patches installed — and seriously consider Win10 2004 Odd ancillary patches have their problems, but the mainstream October patches look pretty reliable. The big question: Is Win10 version 2004 up to your stability standards. I’m skeptical -- especially because it has few worthwhile improvements. By Woody Leonhard Oct 30, 2020 6 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Computers news analysis Microsoft Patch Alert: October 2020 The big news with this month’s patches – aside from the usual smorgasbord of strange errors – has more to do with the patches that are outside the regular cumulative update stream. Remarkably, we didn’t get any security fixes By Woody Leonhard Oct 22, 2020 189 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Office Microsoft news analysis With Patch Tuesday here, be sure Windows Update is paused With all the flotsam floating around, it’s easy to lose sight of Second Tuesdays. October’s arrives tomorrow and, with it, another round of Windows and Office patches. Take a minute to make sure you aren’t in the front lines, as eve By Woody Leonhard Oct 12, 2020 5 mins Small and Medium Business Microsoft Windows Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe