How to identify if you have a DCHU Driver and what it means for installing certified drivers

This article will walk you through the steps of how to identify if you have a DCHU driver and talks about what this means for installing and updating certified graphics card drivers.

Microsoft has announced a new driver structure for all hardware manufacturers, "DCHU". This stands for "Declarative, Componentized, Hardware Support Apps, Universal API compliance."

After the Autumn of 2018, hardware manufacturers have begun shipping new systems with the new driver structure. Systems older than 2018 (or systems that ship with a legacy driver model) may continue to use the legacy driver model moving forward with no changes required.

Older hardware is able to use the DCHU driver version ONLY if a clean Windows installation occurs. The operating system cannot use both driver versions interchangeably. Whichever driver installation occurs first will be the driver type going forward.

You cannot install a DCHU driver on a legacy system driver.

You cannot install a legacy driver on a DCHU driver system.

There are no benefits in performance or features to either driver structure. Customers should use the same driver type that their systems come with and should not try to change it.

Drivers listed on SOLIDWORKS' certified drivers page will now list both DCHU and legacy graphics card drivers, as shown:

How to identify if you have a DCHU driver

If you have an Intel graphics card:

Windows DCHU Graphics Drivers are noted as such in Intel's own Download Center. Example:

Compare the driver version that is installed on your computer with the latest DCH driver available on Download Center.

Refer to the following site for assistance on What's my Intel Graphics Card Version?

If you have a NVIDIA graphics card:

To confirm the type of system you have, open the NVIDIA Control Panel > Select "System Information" from the bottom left hand corner > locate Driver Type. The text that follows will show if the driver type is DCHU or Standard.

For further assistance, please contact our HawkSupport team at 877-266-4469 (US) or 866-587-6803 (Canada) and support@hawkridgesys.com