I am still unsure how to use the driver bundles that Framework periodically releases on my Windows desktop. I understand that it was totally the right thing to do after constructing the machine and installing Windows. But what about afterwards? Do the drivers in the bundle not get released automatically through Windows update?
I ask because I installed a bundle a couple of months ago, and it had the side effect of downgrading my GPU driver into a corrupted semi-functional state, causing me a couple of panicky wasted days getting my machine to be functional again.
If Windows update is not sufficient to get new drivers, and installing from the bundle is how things should be done, is there some way to install only certain drivers from the bundle? I do not want to repeat my graphics driver debacle ever again.
If you open up the bundle in 7-Zip File Manager (or NanaZip, or whichever floats your boat) you can get the individual drivers out of it. The release threads on the forum here indicate which drivers were changed and which ones were kept the same in any given update, so you can either cross-check all of those or just install everything except the graphics drivers.
It turns out that finding out what version I have of all the drivers in the bundle takes a while…
But the bottom line is that between normal windows updates and AMD Adrenalin automatic updates, my machine was either up-to-date or ahead of everything that was in the bundle. The only thing the bundle had that my machine did not have at all was the AMD MEP driver. I added that as per your instructions, so thanks for that. Now my webcam can blur the background via the NPU.
My takeaway is that the bundles are not hugely useful after their first use, especially given their demonstrated ability to destroy a graphics driver installation by installing an old version on top of newer one.