Any issues with Windows 11 and old hardware device drivers?

Some recording studios report that they have been experiencing problems with older devices since Windows 11 was released, as Windows 11 does not recognise their drivers. I read in a forum for audio technology that upgrading to Windows 11 is not recommended. On the other hand, I have read that Windows 11 is probably just a ‘facelift’.

At some point, we no longer see the point in constantly having to buy new hardware and throw the old stuff in the bin, even though it still works perfectly and has served us faithfully for decades, just because a new operating system has been released and, unfortunately, it is no longer possible to completely escape this trend nowadays. We understand that operating system manufacturers have to earn their money somehow. But so do we. And no Microsoft is going to reimburse us all for the unnecessary costs!

What experiences have you had so far?

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PK The DJ

Which recording studios? Where is the report? What are the problems? Which old devices have problems? How old are the devices? In which audio forum did you read that Windows 11 is not recommended?

I use Windows 11 here on two computers, and run all sorts of audio software and hardware connected with USB A, B & C. I have not encountered any issues with Windows 11.

Obviously if the devices are very old and their drivers were written for 32 bit rather than 64 bit, or a discontinued OS version, then yes of course there will be compatibility problems - but that is true when using any hardware with any computer (not just Windows 11).

Vocalpoint

Concur with @PK The DJ

Windows 11 is rock solid when used correctly with supported hardware. But as he also notes - we need some actual telemetry and examples that go with your questions.

But to your most basic question - IF the device in question does not have supported, standard issue drivers SPECIFIC for Windows 11 - regardless of it's age - chances are high - you will have issues.

PK The DJ

The drivers don't necessarily need to be for (or state that they're for) Windows 11.

Windows 10 drivers will also probably be fine - because (as per facelift comment) they're not that different.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/245600#Comment_245600

On the surface - this seems like it will work - until you actually try it.

Device dependant of course - but in my recent travels - the farther we get away from that first "Win 10/11" crossover phase (circa 2021-ish) - I am finding that this old myth can be hit and miss.

Sometime you get lucky and sometimes you do not. If a piece of hardware is from 2017 here in 2025 - chances are high that it's Win 10 drivers from back then - can range from mildly funky to troublesome now on a clean 25H2 build.

Here's one for ya - when I put Windows 11 24H2 - on this machine I am typing on right now in Feb 2025 - using a very solid ASUS ProArt Z-490 Creator 10G motherboard - I downloaded ALL the actual Windows 11 (OEM) ASUS drivers direct from the ASUS support page for this motherboard - and had 3 drivers (including the all important GPU drivers) completely fail to install during setup.

I messed with the GPU drivers for about two hours before giving up - the only drivers that WOULD work were the actual Intel (NON-OEM) downloaded directly from Intel themselves.

And for the other two failures - only Snappy Driver Installer was able to locate drivers that installed and worked.

So even when a specific set of drivers IS branded for Windows 11 from an actual motherboard vendor - there is no guarantee it will actually work for any version of Windows 11

JesterMgee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/245600#Comment_245600

Sometimes but not always. Sometimes drivers will refuse to install if the windows version does not match, can be circumvented in some cases with changes to the cfg file but even if the driver installs it won't always reliably work.

I recall switching from Win7 to Win10 only to discover my Presonus Firebox was EOL and Presonus were not updating their drivers for Win10 (windows 8 was the latest version available). The driver would fail to even allow it to be manually installed, however if you upgraded from Win7 to Win10 with the driver already installed it would appear to work (tho with some issues…)

There were some significant changes to the windows audio system between 7/10 and it was possible to force the drivers to install manually after editing the drivers config file for the installer but after it finally did install it would have dropout issues and constant problems to the point I was simply forced to upgrade to a new interface and the old one is in the shed now with my other relics of the past.

It's something people need to be aware of before upgrading and check all the developers sites for their hardware first if it requires drivers. Most modern or high service equipment should have maintained drivers by their manufacturer but some older legacy equipment may not and if it requires those signed drivers, could be out of luck but this is no different than macOS that has these kinds of issues with every OS update.

I am not a "studio" but I do development and production work and if I have to upgrade my main systems to new ones I usually either invest in a whole new system or at least new NVME OS drives and clone or backup physically my working system so I can go back if needed. I would never blindly do an update without a way to roll back if things went wrong. If any studio out there does that without taking inventory of what hardware they have, they should re-evaluate their business practices. I still have drives for Windows XP and Win 7 with my whole system on it just in case I have to go back to really old software I used 20 years back. This is why I also have to keep a couple of older computers around.

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