PSA: Microsoft to Retire WSUS Driver Synchronization — What It Means for IT Administrators

Microsoft is gearing up to retire a key feature in Windows Server Update Services (also known as WSUS). The company is reminding customers that it will deprecate the WSUS driver synchronization service on April 18, 2025.

WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) driver synchronization is a feature that allows administrators to manage and distribute driver updates within their network. It enables the synchronization of driver updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog to the WSUS server. This feature helps to ensure that all devices within their organization have the necessary drivers installed and updated.

Why Microsoft is phasing out WSUS driver synchronization?

Microsoft first announced plans to kill off the driver synchronization capability in June 2024. The company found that just 34 percent of WSUS users are syncing drivers, with most of them moving to alternate solutions. However, only 8 percent of customers expressed concern about the feature’s deprecation. The data implies that Microsoft no longer sees value in maintaining the WSUS driver synchronization capability.

“If you’re using driver synchronization updates via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), prepare for change. This service is scheduled for deprecation on April 18, 2025. For on-premises contexts, drivers will be available on the Microsoft Update catalog, but you won’t be able to import them into WSUS,” Microsoft explained.

What do you need to do to prepare?

Going forward, administrators will need to manually download drivers from the Microsoft Update Catalog or transition to third-party update management solutions. Alternatively, they can choose to switch to cloud-based tools (such as Windows Autopatch and Microsoft Intune) for managing driver updates within their organizations.

Overall, these modern cloud-based solutions provide automated patch management, real-time monitoring, and improved integration with other services. However, transitioning to these tools may require IT teams to learn new processes, necessitating additional training.