Why Is AMD GPU Driver Disabled After an Update?

Quick Tips

• An AMD GPU driver being disabled after a Windows update is primarily due to driver incompatibility with the OS or device.
• You can uninstall and reinstall the driver manually and then prevent Windows from automatically replacing it.
• Also try disabling hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling if you suspect it is contributing to graphics issues.

Some days it seems that Windows Updates can cause more problems than they fix. You might find your third-party tools and drivers are misbehaving after that update restart, including your graphics drivers. In this article, we’ll be looking at what to do with an AMD GPU driver disabled.

A Driver Failure

When your graphics driver is disabled after an update, nine times out of 10, the issue lies with the driver. It may be installed, sure, but Windows might do the installing of the driver automatically and saddle you with one that doesn’t cooperate with your current AMD card.

Drivers and your current version of Windows can also clash after an update. With these in mind, it’s time to look at troubleshooters.

Fixing an AMD GPU Driver Disabled

Uninstalling your AMD GPU driver might seem like the right move, but often just leads to the new installation being disabled by Windows too. Let’s look at how to take control of the process:

Enable the Card

It’s not a permanent fix, but enabling your card manually is essential for other troubleshooting. Here’s what to do:

Step 1. Open the Run dialog (Win + R) and type “devmgmt.msc” before hitting “Enter.”

Step 2. In Device Manager, search for your AMD graphics card under “Display adapters.”

Step 3. Right-click your card and choose “Enable” from the context menu.

Disable HAGS

Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling can sometimes contribute to graphics issues. Try disabling it to see if it resolves the problem. Here’s how:

Step 1. Open “Settings” (Win + I) and choose “System” from the sidebar.

Step 2. Click “Display.”

Step 3. Scroll down to “Graphics” and click it.

Step 4. Click “Change default graphics settings.”

Step 5. Toggle “Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling” to “Off.”

Step 6. Restart your machine and see if this resolves the issue.

Uninstall the Driver Manually

If the new update has installed a version of the graphics driver that doesn’t work, or the old driver has been corrupted by the update, then you’ll need to uninstall it manually. Here’s how:

Step 1. Download the Display Driver Uninstaller. It’s free.

Step 2. Restart your PC in “Safe Mode.” Open the Run dialog and type “msconfig.” Under the “Boot” tab, select “Safe boot” and restart.

Step 3. Once rebooted, launch DDU and choose “GPU” from the dropdown.

Step 4. Choose “Clean and restart.”

Step 5. Once you’ve restarted, head to AMD and manually download the latest driver, or the last stable one that worked for your machine. Install it.

Prevent Automatic Driver Replacement

If you find that Windows keeps changing your graphics drivers with this or every update, then you can stop it by doing the following:

Step 1. Open the Run dialog (Win + R) and type “gpedit.msc” before hitting (Ctrl + Shift + Enter) to run as Admin.

Step 2. In the Group Policy Editor, navigate to “Computer Configuration” and “Administrative Templates.”

Step 3. Then choose “Windows Components” and “Windows Update.”

Step 4. Click “Manage updates offered from Windows Update.”

Step 5. Check “Enabled” and click “OK” to finalize.