Microsoft has to do a better job of displaying what each offered driver is for and only offering the best choice for a particular device. To make matters worse, Microsoft is offering two different drivers that display the same 10.1.16.6 version. Why are they all being offered as 'Intel - System,' when they are clearly for different components? Even with an explanation, it is still confusingĮven with the explanation of how Windows 10 picks the most suitable driver for your computer, in my particular situation illustrated above, it still does not make sense.Īccording to research done by BleepingComputer, the drivers showing are Intel Chipset Drivers, while the driver with version 1910. is for the Intel Management Engine. The date has symbolic significance – Intel’s foundation day,' Intel explained in a tweet. This is to make sure it does not overwrite any other drivers. 'Intel Chipset Device Software uses an unusual date for the devices it is targeting.

Intel has also stated in the past that they use the date for older drivers that should not be selected by Windows 10 when offering driver updates. On the other hand, if your existing driver was the Windows-provided driver from an earlier build, then the third-level selection rule will choose the one with the higher version number, which is the one from the more recent build,' Microsoft explains in a developer blog post. It means that if you have a custom manufacturer-provided driver, it will retain priority over the Windows-provided driver. 'Intentionally backdating the drivers avoids this problem. Result: When you install a new build, all your manufacturer-provided drivers get replaced by the Windows drivers. When you installed a new build, the driver provided by Windows will have a newer timestamp than the one provided by the manufacturer. And suppose you had a custom driver provided by the manufacturer. 'Suppose that the timestamp on the driver matched the build release date. If there is still a tie, then the one with the highest file version number is chosen' And if more than one driver provides a perfect match, then the one with the most recent timestamp is chosen. If a driver provides a perfect match to the hardware ID, then it becomes a top candidate. 'When the system looks for a driver to use for a particular piece of hardware, it ranks them according to various criteria.

In a 2017 blog post, Microsoft explains that using older dates is intentional as it enables Windows to pick the latest driver when multiple drivers are found for the same hardware device. It is even more confusing because three drivers have dates specifying they were created in 1968, 17 years before Windows 1.0 was first released.

Do i need intel management engine