Microsoft is about to stop deploying WSUS driver synchronization, users take note!

Microsoft will stop supporting and removing Windows features when the company feels they've outlived their usefulness. Back in September 2024, Microsoft announced it would stop rolling out new features to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). In a new post on its Tech Community website, the company detailed its plans to stop WSUS driver synchronization in favor of its latest cloud-based driver services.

Before making this decision, Microsoft conducted a community survey, which found that only 34% of respondents reported using WSUS to synchronize drivers. Furthermore, most of that 34% were in the process of migrating to another solution. Of course, some customers (about 8%) are still using WSUS to synchronize drivers, so Microsoft won’t be pulling the plug on the service anytime soon.

Today, the company issued another reminder of the WSUS service's end-of-life date — April 18, 2025, less than three months away. Microsoft added that driver updates will be available through the Microsoft Update Catalog and recommended switching to Microsoft Intune and Windows Autopatch or using device driver packages.

Our plan is to end WSUS driver synchronization on April 18, 2025. Drivers will be available in the Microsoft Update catalog, but you will no longer be able to import them into WSUS. You will need to use other means, such as Device Driver Packages, to distribute driver packages across your network. Or you will need to move to a cloud-based distribution service for your organization, such as Microsoft Intune and Windows Autopatch.

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), a service that helps system administrators manage and distribute updates for Microsoft products within their organizations, is receiving some important changes related to driver synchronization policies.

System administrators who want to prepare for the change can learn about other driver services, such as Windows Driver update management in Microsoft Intune, the Windows Update for Business service, etc. It should be noted that this is a matter for system administrators, WSUS is not something that regular users need to worry about.