GoKawiilMicrosoft plans to raise the quality bar of Windows 11 drivers, as drivers "sit at the heart of every Windows experience" and connect the OS to the "silicon, components, and peripherals."
Before Microsoft shipped Windows 11, it frequently hosted WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference), where Microsoft's developers and OEM partners met to work on quality.
The last WinHEC was held in 2018, and Microsoft eventually stopped hosting those events, as it started to care less about Windows and more about its cloud business.
While the lack of an event doesn’t necessarily mean poor drivers, users have observed a decrease in quality, as monthly driver updates would frequently cause BSODs or artifacts in games.
"Of active driver families across the Windows install base. When drivers are high quality, customers experience reliable, secure, performant devices. When drivers fail, customers experience it as a device problem, regardless of where the root cause sits," Microsoft argues in a blog post.
To address driver quality issues, Microsoft is introducing the Driver Quality Initiative, which builds on four pillars:
Microsoft is pushing more third-party drivers to move out of kernel mode and into safer user-mode drivers or Microsoft’s own class drivers.
Microsoft will verify partners more carefully, run more automated checks, and update Windows Hardware Compatibility Program requirements.
Microsoft wants better Windows Update catalog hygiene, including removing outdated or low-quality drivers and using better data to investigate issues.
Microsoft will also look at stability, features, performance, battery impact, and heat, so partners can improve the real Windows experience.
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