What to Do with the “Your Hardware Settings Have Changed, Please Reboot Your Computer for These Changes to Take Effect” Error Message

Did you reboot your Windows 10/11 computer only to be greeted by the Windows 10/11 “Your hardware settings have changed. Please reboot your computer for these changes to take effect“ error message? We know how frustrating it is, but the good news is that you have come to the right place. Here, we will give helpful insights about the error message, particularly what causes it and how to fix it.

What Causes the “Your Hardware Settings Have Changed, Please Reboot Your Computer for These Changes to Take Effect” Error?

So, what triggers the “Your hardware settings have changed. Please reboot your computer for these changes to take effect“ error message to emerge?

According to the affected users, it notoriously appears after a Windows update or a video card driver update that causes the driver to not function properly. Although this issue is common among computers that run an AMD graphics card, some users complained that they also receive the same message whenever they boot their operating system.

While this issue seems annoying, the fix is pretty simple and straightforward.

How to Fix the “Your Hardware Settings Have Changed, Please Reboot Your Computer for These Changes to Take Effect” Error?

Follow the solutions below to resolve the “Your hardware settings have changed. Please reboot your computer for these changes to take effect“ error.

Solution #1: Stop Windows from updating your device drivers

The first solution you should try is to stop Windows from updating your device drivers. Here is a step by step guide on what to do:

1. Go to Desktop.
2. Right-click on This PC and click Properties.
3. Select Advanced System Settings.
4. Navigate to the Hardware tab and select Device Installation Settings.
5. Choose the No, let me choose what to do option.
6. Hit the Save Changes button to apply the changes.
7. Reboot your PC.

Solution #2: Roll back your device driver

It is known that the problem can be triggered by a recent device driver update. In this case, the solution would be to roll back to the last driver version when the issue did not appear.

Here’s how:

1. Go to the Start menu.
2. Enter Device Manager into the text field and click on the most relevant search result.
3. Expand the Display adapters option.
4. Right-click on your video card driver and click Properties.
5. Navigate to the Details tab.
6. Select Roll Back to revert your device driver to the most recent stable version.
7. Wait for the process to complete.
8. Restart your PC and check if the error still exists.

Solution #3: Install the video adapter driver manually

There are times when reverting your device driver to the last stable version doesn’t work. If that happens, you need to reinstall your video card driver manually.

To do it, download the most recent stable version of your device driver from the official manufacturer’s website. And then, install it. Once installed, follow these instructions:

1. Launch the Device Manager.
2. Go to the Display Adapters menu and expand the options.
3. Right-click on your video card adapter driver and choose Uninstall device.
4. Tick the box next to the Delete the driver software for this device option.
5. Wait for the process to complete.
6. Next, go to the official manufacturer’s website and get the most recent stable version of your video card adapter driver. Install it.
7. Restart your PC.

Now, if the manual method gives you a headache, then we suggest that you just download the video adapter driver automatically. All you need to do is to download a third-party driver updater tool, install it into your PC, and let it do the hard work for you. Just sit back, relax, and wait for the driver updater to find a compatible driver for your device.

Solution #4: Disable the AMD service

If your computer has an AMD graphic card and you encountered the error, then this solution is meant just for you. This is known to stop the error message from showing every time you boot up your PC.

Here’s how to disable the AMD service:

1. Press the Windows + R keys to launch the Run utility.
2. Type services.msc into the text field and hit Enter. The Services window should now appear.
3. Locate the AMD External Events Utility option and double-click on it.
4. Go to the Startup type menu and select Disabled.
5. Hit Apply then click OK.
6. Restart your PC and check if the solution worked.

Helpful Tips

At this point, you should have already gotten rid of the “Your hardware settings have changed. Please reboot your computer for these changes to take effect“ error message. What you should do next is to prevent the issue from emerging in the future.

Here are some helpful tips you may consider:

• Keep your PC free of malware by scheduling regular virus scans.
• Ensure all software and drivers are up to date. If possible, turn on automatic updates in Windows.
• Think before you click. Do not open unusual links on your emails, messages, or posts as they may take you to sites that impact your PC’s performance.
• Do not install pirated software and applications. They may contain malware.
• Avoid using external devices you don’t own. This is to avoid infection by viruses and malware.

Summary

That’s everything you need to know about the Windows 10/11 “Your hardware settings have changed. Please reboot your computer for these changes to take effect“ error. You can start with the easiest fix which is to stop Windows from automatically updating your device drivers. If it doesn’t work, proceed with other easy fixes like rolling back your device driver or disabling the AMD service.

Although we’ve only presented four solutions, we’re pretty confident that one should work for you. If none did, then we suggest that you seek help from Windows 10/11 professionals. Please leave your thoughts about the article below. Even better, share this post to your peers and colleagues who are having a hard time with the error.