XPS 8940, Intel UHD driver

You probably have both drivers present on the system now, in Windows' driver store. You can select any present driver in Device Manager and it will install. Getting it to load after a reboot is the trick, I think.

Intel releases an update to their integrated graphics drivers every month or so. As you've pointed out, Dell does so... rather less frequently. However, the Intel "generic" driver doesn't contain platform-specific tweaks that may be present, and it hasn't been tested with your specific platform. Because of this Intel cautions against using their drivers long-term, rather than as a fix to a problem, and Windows Update serves up the Dell-blessed driver rather than the Intel one.

I happen to be running an Intel-sourced driver on my Vostro desktop because the Dell driver has a bug that causes instability on my system. (It reportedly doesn't affect systems with 11th-gen CPUs.) The Intel driver works fine for me and I'm guessing it will for you too... but if you have problems you may want to revert to Dell's.

Anyway, I had the same problem you're having. I'm not sure whether you've removed the Dell version of the driver or just installed the Intel driver afterwards, but you can have the problem in either case. You definitely need to have the Dell version present in the system's driver store in addition to the Intel one, or Windows Update will keep trying to install the Dell one for you. Intel documents it here. In addition to all of this, even if you have Windows Update disabled in Settings, Windows will download and install the driver in the background if it detects it's needed. This is definitely true if NO driver is yet installed, but it may be true if the later Intel driver is the only driver on the system; I'm not sure.

I think the key is to keep the driver store for the graphics drivers as clean as possible, without the auto-install getting involved. Here's what worked for me:

• Manually download (but don't install yet) both drivers: the Intel generic driver from Intel's website, and the latest Dell driver from Drivers and Downloads.
• Temporarily disconnect your internet so that a reboot won't reconnect it. If it's Wi-Fi, you can turn off "Connect automatically when in range" in the properties. This prevents the auto-install.
• One by one, uninstall the existing Intel display drivers in Device Manager, as Intel describes here, After each one, reboot and check Device Manager again. They're all gone when the display device shows up as "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" rather than "Intel(R) UHD..."
• Install the Dell-provided driver you downloaded. A reboot is "optional" here but it couldn't hurt.
• Install the Intel generic driver. Go ahead and perform the "optional reboot" as prompted.
• In Device Manager, check the Intel Graphics device properties. You should see the Intel driver version rather than the Dell one. If not, click "Update Driver," then "Browse my computer for drivers" and "Let me pick from a list of available drivers." Select the Intel driver version and click Next.

You can now reconnect your internet. I think that should give you, reliably, the driver you want.

It wasn't until today that I saw your reply to my post- I never was notified of your reply.

When I installed the 22H2 update, Windows stopped "downgrading" the newer Intel driver. That lasted until yesterday when Intel updated the driver again, to 31.0.101.3430. Now Windows update wants to downgrade the driver again, back to the old one (at least it didn't just do it without notice- an improvement I guess). I used the Hide Updates tool to try to hide this update, but it didn't work- the update is still waiting there for me to click on install. 

I've never uninstalled the Dell driver- just let the Intel Driver and Support Assistant install the new one. I don't know if it just installs the new one over the old one or removes the old one completely. 

As you suggested, I used the update drivers tab in properties for the display adapter to search the driver store for the Dell driver. I can see the Intel driver's two most recent versions and the basic display adapter driver but not the Dell driver, so I'm guessing the Intel driver and support assistant must remove it when it installs the new one. 

I'm going to try allowing Windows update to install the "old" driver, then try changing the driver to the newest Intel without using Driver and Support Assistant, by using Device Manager properties. This will ensure that the Dell driver is present in the system. 

I've never had any problems loading the Intel driver, so I think this should work OK. 

Thanks for your help. I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. I would have if I had seen your reply sooner.

It's just the on-board Intel-IGP, so you use the one provided by Windows-11.

As for Support-Assist, see this:

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8950-best-driver-update-approach/m-p/8276447#M75665

OK... The buggy Intel graphics driver has kind of been my pet issue here at the forum, so I write about it a lot -- probably more than I should, given how little I really know about it. One problem: I can forget what I wrote to any particular user.

The drivers offered by Intel Driver and Support Assistant are generic, i.e. not specific to your hardware. "OEM drivers are handpicked and include customized features and solutions to platform-specific issues. The generic Intel driver provides users the latest and greatest feature enhancements and bug fixes that OEMs may not have customized yet to address platform-specific needs. Users can check for matching OEM versions at OEM websites. ... We recommend you work with your computer manufacturer before installing our driver so you don’t lose features or customizations." (link)

Since experiencing the horrendous memory leak bug last October-December, I've moved off the Dell-provided driver to the first version of the generic driver that fixed the bug, 30.0.101.1191. I haven't updated the driver since and I haven't experienced any other problems. I plan to move back to a Dell-provided version, if/when they ever release one that integrates the fix.

You can do what you want, of course, but it might be easier to stay on one driver version that you know is good, rather than have Driver and Support Assistant switch things up every month or three.

Now... as far as I know, any different driver versions that get installed stay in the system's driver store unless you uninstall them. That's fine; you can go into Device Manager and select the driver you want. You do need the Dell-provided driver to be present in the driver store so that Windows Update doesn't keep trying to automatically install it. The problem I had when I first installed the patched driver was that WU was getting involved even though the Dell driver was installed; not only that, but there seemed to be some confusion as to which driver was actually running: Device Manager showed the later driver, but I was still seeing the bug (dwm.exe growing to several GB). My guess was that there was some confusion in the driver store, and what seemed to cure it was the procedure above: removing ALL the existing graphics drivers, then manually installing both the Dell driver and my chosen Intel driver, with internet disconnected the entire time so WU couldn't get involved. I haven't had WU try to install an older driver since.