How to Roll Back a Driver That Is Misbehaving
When a driver update introduces a bug, Windows usually keeps the previous one ready. A friendly walkthrough through the rollback flow.
When to Roll Back
If a freshly installed driver introduces flicker, BSODs, or noticeably worse battery life, the cleanest fix is often to roll back to the previous one. This works because Windows stores both versions in the driver store and can swap between them in seconds.
Common rollback candidates are graphics drivers immediately after a major update, network drivers after a Windows feature update, and audio drivers after an OEM app update.
How the Rollback Works
Open Device Manager, find the device, right-click and choose Properties → Driver tab. If a Roll Back Driver button is enabled, the previous driver is ready to install. Click it, follow the prompt, and reboot if asked.
If the Roll Back button is greyed out, the previous driver is no longer in the driver store — Windows keeps a limited number of versions. In that case, manually download the older driver from the vendor's archive.
- Device Manager → device → Properties → Driver
- Roll Back Driver if available
- Manual install of older version if not
Preventing the Same Update Coming Back
Windows Update can helpfully reinstall the same problematic driver after a rollback. Windows provides a 'Show or hide updates' tool that lets you prevent a specific driver update from reinstalling automatically.
On Windows 11, the optional drivers section in Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options also makes it easier to manually choose which driver versions to apply.
Quick Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions readers send us most often on this topic.
Typically the previous version, sometimes two. Heavy driver churn rotates older ones out faster.
Most of them — the option is greyed out only when no previous version exists in the driver store.
Yes — use Windows' 'Show or hide updates' tool to prevent it.
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