Windows Server Update Services, short for WSUS, a product that helps IT administrators manage and distribute updates for Microsoft products in their organizations, is getting some changes related to driver synchronization. In a new blog post on the Tech Community website, Microsoft announced its plans to deprecate WSUS driver synchronization in favor of its latest cloud-based driver services.

Before announcing the deprecation, Microsoft conducted a survey, which found that only 34% of participants reported using WSUS for driver synchronization. Moreover, most of those 34% are already in the process of switching to another solution. Of course, some customers still use WSUS for driver synchronization, so Microsoft isn’t pulling the plug right away.

Of the participants who use WSUS, only 34% reported using it to synchronize device drivers. The majority of this 34% reported that they are in the process of implementing another solution and do not foresee issues with decommissioning. Only 8% of participants cited concerns about the potential impacts of decommissioning, and we want to help everyone prepare.

According to the announcement post, WSUS driver synchronization will be deprecated on April 18, 2025. Also, deprecated features typically stay around for a while and continue to work until fully removed in future updates.

Our plan is to deprecate WSUS driver synchronization on April 18, 2025. In on-premises contexts, drivers will be available in the Microsoft Update Catalog, but you will not be able to import them into WSUS. You will need to use other means, such as driver bundles, to distribute the drivers within your network.

IT managers who want to prepare for decommissioning can learn about other device driver services, such as Manage Windows Driver Updates in Microsoft Intune, Windows Update for Business deployment service, and more. It’s worth adding that WSUS isn’t something a home user will worry about, but Microsoft has already eliminated quite a few features that affect regular consumers.