Downgrade drivers on Windows 10 and keep them there

driver-downgrade.md

Remove drivers newer than a certain date

See remove-drivers.py

Add drivers from a folder

pnputil /add-driver C:\users\dolf\desktop\pre-2023-drivers\*.inf /subdirs /install /reboot

remove-drivers.py

from __future__ import annotations
from typing import Generator, TypedDict
from subprocess import run, CalledProcessError
import re
import logging
from datetime import date, datetime
import click
import yaml

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)


@click.command()
@click.option(
    "--newer-than",
    type=click.DateTime(formats=["%Y-%m-%d"]),
    help="Only prompt to remove drivers newer than this date.",
    required=True,
)
def main(newer_than: datetime) -> None:
    """
    Remove drivers.
    """
    drivers = sorted(
        [
            d
            for d in enum_drivers()
            if d.get("driver_date", date(1, 1, 1)) > newer_than.date()
        ],
        key=lambda d: d["driver_date"],
        reverse=True,
    )
    for driver_info in drivers:
        click.echo(f"\n\nThe following driver is newer than {newer_than.date()}:")
        click.echo(yaml.dump(driver_info))
        if click.confirm("Do you want to uninstall this driver?"):
            try:
                delete_and_uninstall_driver(driver_info)
            except CalledProcessError as e:
                logger.error(f"Failed to uninstall driver: {e}", exc_info=e)


def delete_and_uninstall_driver(driver_info: DriverInfo) -> None:
    run(
        args=[
            "pnputil",
            "/delete-driver",
            driver_info["published_name"],
            "/uninstall",
            "/force",
        ],
        capture_output=False,
        text=True,
        check=True,
    )


class DriverInfo(TypedDict, total=False):
    published_name: str
    original_name: str
    provider_name: str
    class_name: str
    class_guid: str
    class_version: str
    driver_version: str
    driver_date: date
    signer_name: str
    extension_id: str


driver_version_date_regex = re.compile(r"(\d\d/\d\d/\d\d\d\d) (\d[\d\.]+)")


def enum_drivers() -> Generator[DriverInfo, None, None]:
    completed = run(
        args=["pnputil", "/enum-drivers"], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True
    )
    lines = [line.strip() for line in completed.stdout.splitlines()]
    info = DriverInfo()

    for i, line in enumerate(lines):
        if i == 0 and line == "Microsoft PnP Utility":
            continue

        if len(line) == 0:
            yield info
            info = DriverInfo()
            continue

        try:
            enum_drivers__process_line(info, line)
        except BaseException as e:
            raise ValueError(f"Error processing line {i}: {line}") from e


def enum_drivers__process_line(info: DriverInfo, line: str) -> None:
    key, value = line.split(":", 1)
    key = key.strip().casefold().replace(" ", "_")
    value = value.strip()

    if key == "driver_version":
        # Special case: Split the driver version and date
        matches = driver_version_date_regex.match(value)
        if matches is None:
            logger.warning(f"Unknown driver version format: {value}")
        else:
            info["driver_date"] = datetime.strptime(matches.group(1), "%m/%d/%Y").date()
            info["driver_version"] = matches.group(2)
    else:
        info[key] = value  # type: ignore


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()