14 DAY TRIAL // If you’re trying to install Windows 10 May 2019 Update, or version 1903, on a device running Intel drivers, there’s a chance that you may end up getting a warning of incompatible software.
This is because, as acknowledged by Microsoft, certain Intel Display Audio Driver versions could cause an unexpected battery drain on a series of devices.
“Microsoft and Intel have identified a compatibility issue with a range of Intel Display Audio device drivers that may result in excessive processor demand and reduced battery life,” Microsoft explains in a technical advisory.
The odd part is that the advisory linked above points to such issues with Intel drivers in Windows 10 version 1809 (October 2018 Update), but Microsoft confirmed earlier this week that similar problems hit Windows 10 May 2019 Update too.
“If you see an intcdaud.sys notification or “What needs your attention” notification when trying to update to Windows 10, version 1903, you have an affected Intel Audio Display device driver installed on your machine,” Microsoft says.
The notification that Microsoft is talking about is the one that you see in the picture attached to the article, and it points to issues in intcdaud.sys. According to Intel, versions 10.25.0.3 through 10.25.0.8 are affected.
“To safeguard your update experience, we have applied a compatibility hold on devices with drivers from being offered Windows 10, version 1903 until updated device drivers have been installed,” Microsoft continues.
The problem is already listed as “mitigated,” and Microsoft says users can turn to a workaround if they see this message.
Basically, there are two options when getting this warning: to ignore it and install the May 2019 Update or to cancel the update altogether.
If you just want to update your device, it’s enough to click the Confirm button in the message UI. Clicking the Back button allows you to cancel the update and stay with your existing version of Windows 10.
Microsoft warns that if you ignore this message, you could end up experiencing compatibility issues.
“Do not click Confirm as this will proceed with the update and you may experience compatibility issues,” the company says.
But on the other hand, Intel claims it has already fixed the issue, so it’s a lot easier than Microsoft says to actually prevent any compatibility issue. All you need to do is to install Intel Display Audio Driver version 10.25.0.10, as this particular release includes the bugfix. This is bundled with Intel Graphics Driver version 24.20.100.6286 and newer.
“Intel strongly recommends that all users with 6th Generation (codenamed Skylake) or newer processors confirm that Intel Graphics Driver version 24.20.100.6286 or newer is installed on their computers before attempting to update to Windows 10 October 2018 Update,” Intel says.
Despite the company referring specifically to the October 2018 Update, keep in mind that the May 2019 Update is affected as well.
While Microsoft has apparently made the whole thing a lot more complicated than it is, the bottom line is that you need to install the latest Intel drivers to avoid issues after installing Windows 10 May 2019 Update.
If you see the warning here, it’s an indication that you’re not running the latest Intel drivers, so you can just cancel the update process, install the newest drivers, and then proceed with the move to Windows 10 May 2019 Update. Microsoft eventually recommends a similar approach:
“We recommend you do not attempt to update your devices until newer device drivers are installed.”
Windows 10 May 2019 Update is available in stages on Windows Update, but users can force-install the new OS version with the Media Creation Tool.