Windows 11 driver updates would fail with OS version 22H2 in some cases, though we’ve heard that Microsoft might just be working on a fix for this frustrating issue (more on that later).
Spotted by Neowin (opens in a 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 several posts in the Surface forums. Reports are piling up about it and I see it here on Surface Laptop Studio. pic.twitter.com/6lLjNFTicPFebruary 16, 2023
As Bowman observes, driver update failures – and there are a lot of them – seem to plague owners of Surface devices, but there are reports from those using other types of PCs as well.
In replies to this thread on Twitter, Dell Inspiron and HP computer users chime in further to let us know that they too have been affected by these update failures.
Driver update drops with error code ‘0x80070103’, which is one of the usually useless messages that Windows sometimes produces when things go wrong.
Analysis: A solution is being worked on – we hope
It’s a rather odd problem affecting a range of hardware drivers, including Intel and Realtek, on a bunch of Windows 11 22H2 PCs.
As for a potential fix, Intel is offering help (opens in a new tab) regarding this error code, namely “use the Windows Update Troubleshooter” to fix the problem, but that sounds like rather generic advice. We don’t know how hopefully this will actually fix update failures (to say the least).
It’s possible that 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? ?
Anyway, I hope Microsoft investigates this already, and indeed on Twitter it’s mention (opens in a new tab) that this is a known issue and a fix is in the works. However, it’s unclear how the source of this tweet is connected to Microsoft, except for their profile stating that they are: “Working to help IT administrators manage Windows updates with Windows program Insider for business”.
Fingers crossed that a resolution is on the horizon, as apparently promised, anyway.
