You might have noticed that the generic drivers implemented by Microsoft in its OS are always dated June 21, 2006. Let me tell you it isn’t an accident or bug! But deliberate behavior which is meant to allow users always to use the most suitable driver.
Here’s Why Windows Drivers Are Dated June 21, 2006
If you are using Windows for a long time, then there are high chances that you might have noticed that the generic drivers implemented by Microsoft in its OS are always dated June 21, 2006. Have you ever wondered why?
Well, some of you might think that how is this possible for Microsoft to use these super-old drivers and still make hardware work correctly? You might also consider that Microsoft frequently updates its driver, so why isn’t the date is changing?
Let me tell you it isn’t an accident or bug! But deliberate behavior which is meant to allow users always to use the most suitable driver. Microsoft Developer Zac_l explained on Reddit that June 21, 2016, signifies the day when Windows Vista reached Released to Manufacturing (RTM) date, which is June 21, 2006. The intention was clear, to give users the most up-to-date and most proper drivers for their system.
Keeping generic drivers listed as June 21, 2016, ensures that your hardware doesn’t pick any third-party drivers if they exist. The Microsoft Developer Explains:
“When PNP ranks drivers, it first looks at the hardware ID that the driver matches. If any two drivers match identical hardware, the first tiebreaker is the date of the driver. So if you had a device that could use a built-in driver, but you had installed some custom/OEM driver on your device, every time MS updates our driver, it would overwrite your custom driver because the date is newer than the one you wanted,”
“How do we avoid this? Every driver we ship has the Vista RTM date, regardless of when it was last updated (we update the version number, which is the next tiebreaker if the date is the same). Since only drivers as far back as Vista are compatible with new versions of Windows, every driver should have a date newer than Vista RTM, preserving the driver you installed as the best ranked driver.”
This is why the generic drivers are always dated June 21, 2016. So, what do you think about this? Share your views in the comment box below.
