The countdown is on! There are 60 days until Microsoft officially deprecates WSUS driver synchronization. After April 18, 2025, IT administrators will no longer be able to rely on this feature to manage and distribute driver updates across their networks.
As the deadline approaches, it’s time for administrators to prepare for the shift and explore alternative solutions.
Why Is Microsoft Deprecating Driver Sync?
Microsoft has pointed to “low usage” as the reason behind this change. While 34% of WSUS users still depend on the feature, most are already moving toward alternative solutions for managing driver updates. Only 8% of users have raised concerns about how this change will impact their operations, making it clear that the demand for WSUS driver synchronization no longer justifies the resources required to maintain it (in our opinion, the survey didn’t hit the right people). Microsoft is encouraging users to explore cloud-based services or other proprietary options instead.
What Does This Mean for You?
In just 60 days, IT administrators will need to find new ways to distribute drivers and firmware across networks. Although drivers will still be available for download via the Microsoft Update Catalog, they will no longer be synced directly into WSUS. There has been no official word on whether driver updates will be able to be imported into WSUS using Import-WsusUpdate, but since they will still be available in the Microsoft Update Catalog, we believe that they will still be able to be imported manually if you need to.
Get Ready – The Clock Is Ticking!
There’s still time to prepare! The deprecation is scheduled for April 18, 2025, but now is the time to start making plans. Drivers will remain available for download from the Microsoft Update Catalog. If manually importing into WSUS doesn’t work, you can download them, then create packages for local publishing in WSUS. To get started, check out the Local Publishing | Microsoft Learn guide.
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At AJ Tek, our vision is to make IT simple and automated for other IT professionals. Our flagship product is WAM, WSUS Automated Maintenance. This system performs all of the tasks that a WSUS Administrator needs to do to maintain WSUS properly only leaving the approving of updates and reporting to the WSUS Administrator.
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