Updating to Windows 10 Version 2004/Conexant Drivers

I would put blame on Synaptics too, but they seem to have passed everything off to MS and MS willingly took the baton, ran with it then promptly tripped. It appears MS only took a partial ownership of the drivers.

Audio Driver

But under Sound, Video and Game Controllers

This is what is blocking my update.

Conexant HDAudio Driver under Sound, video and game controllers in Device Manager and have file name uci64a96.dllthrough uci64a231.dll and a file version of 7.231.3.0 or lower.

I have a 7.217.0.0 with an uci64a217.dll.

Microsoft attempts to deliver the drivers, but doesn't take responsibility for the drivers themselves. That responsibility belongs to Synaptics, and to the OEMs who sold the machines.

But Microsoft is going to have to make a decision. I suspect there are a lot of machines out there that have this problem and in most cases the owners don't even know it yet. Microsoft's arbitrary end-of-support date for 1909 is May 11, 2021 which is getting pretty close. It'll be interesting to see what they do. If they let these machines go without continuing security updates I hope it generates a lot media attention.

It's possible that neither Microsoft nor Synaptics yet understands why these drivers are suddenly getting in the way of Windows Feature updates beginning with 2004. Or, Microsoft may have made some new rules, and Synaptics doesn't want to be bothered. So it's arguable who's at fault. But there's an easy fix in the short term: Just make the corresponding generic Microsoft driver the preferred driver. No more complicated hacks would be needed.

I can see why Microsoft wouldn't want to unilaterally do this, they'd be taking over responsibility for the device's performance and letting Synaptics off the hook. But both parties need to put the users first. Microsoft should replace the Conexant drivers with Microsoft drives and Synaptics should agree to continue to accept responsibility.

If May 11 comes and goes with no compromises, neither Microsoft nor Synaptics is going to look good.

Microsoft attempts to deliver the drivers, but doesn't take responsibility for the drivers themselves. That responsibility belongs to Synaptics, and to the OEMs who sold the machines.

But Microsoft is going to have to make a decision. I suspect there are a lot of machines out there that have this problem and in most cases the owners don't even know it yet. Microsoft's arbitrary end-of-support date for 1909 is May 11, 2021 which is getting pretty close. It'll be interesting to see what they do. If they let these machines go without continuing security updates I hope it generates a lot media attention.

It's possible that neither Microsoft nor Synaptics yet understands why these drivers are suddenly getting in the way of Windows Feature updates beginning with 2004. Or, Microsoft may have made some new rules, and Synaptics doesn't want to be bothered. So it's arguable who's at fault. But there's an easy fix in the short term: Just make the corresponding generic Microsoft driver the preferred driver. No more complicated hacks would be needed.

I can see why Microsoft wouldn't want to unilaterally do this, they'd be taking over responsibility for the device's performance and letting Synaptics off the hook. But both parties need to put the users first. Microsoft should replace the Conexant drivers with Microsoft drives and Synaptics should agree to continue to accept responsibility.

If May 11 comes and goes with no compromises, neither Microsoft nor Synaptics is going to look good.

Your analysis of this is absolutely spot on.

If MS and Synaptics cannot come up with a solution or a replacement driver, then the Microsoft driver in its place looks workable. It certainly runs ok on my machine.

Replacing the Conexant driver will in many cases need the associated services and other software to be removed, which I think can be done quite simply by a powershell or batch file routine.

I followed the same procedure for my HP spectre 360 laptop. I uninstalled the Connexant audio drivers in the game controller from the device manager. Also deleted the driver. Do not restart. Then use manual command for the upgradation to 20H2 upgrade from the microsoft site. The Upgrade which took more than half hour went smoothly. At the end the connexant drivers were back. You can then update the audio driver from the device manager. Unfortunately I lost the Bang and Olufsen enhancer in the process. But I reinstalled from my original drivers which I had saved seperately. I got the audio system back as it was and also the latest version of Windows 20H2 version. Thanks all for their inputs.

I followed the same procedure for my HP spectre 360 laptop. I uninstalled the Connexant audio drivers in the game controller from the device manager. Also deleted the driver. Do not restart. Then use manual command for the upgradation to 20H2 upgrade from the microsoft site. The Upgrade which took more than half hour went smoothly. At the end the connexant drivers were back. You can then update the audio driver from the device manager. Unfortunately I lost the Bang and Olufsen enhancer in the process. But I reinstalled from my original drivers which I had saved seperately. I got the audio system back as it was and also the latest version of Windows 20H2 version. Thanks all for their inputs.

Many thanks indeed for your tips.

I followed your advice with my HP Spectre 360 and managed to update it to 20H2. Some of the drivers did not return after the installation. However the HP Support Assistant helped to install the correct drivers in one go.

With my HP Zbook Studio G3 I tried to follow the same route, but it was not a great success. I uninstalled the speaker driver, sound, video and game controller, both provided by Conexant. I tried to run the Windows.Iso file I downloaded, but it could never complete the installation as it did with the HP Spectre. I was desperate with my Windod 10 ver. 1909, which kept erasing systems restore points, no more allowed system restore anyway, etc.. I finally chose to format my Zbook and reinstall the Windows 10, which automatically brought  the version 20H2. I had no major problems with drivers, my older Conexant drivers returned the same way as with HP Spectre.

I later discovered  at various web-sites that it is not only the Conexant ISST drivers which cause conflicts with Windows 10 updates, but also the touch-pad driver supplied by Snaptics. I use a large HP screen on my desk, which also uses Conexant sound drivers. Should I have discovered the source of the aforementioned drivers and uninstalled them before I ran the Windows.Iso file, perhaps my repair install would have worked, and saved me from the tedious formatting, etc..

FYI.. check all your Snaptic / Conexant drivers, and not only those under sound controllers, etc. before your attempt a manual upgrade..