Sony Vaio Windows 10 Drivers Won't Arrive Until October

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With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft brought the world several new features, an improved user interface, and plenty of troubles to keep us busy for weeks to come. One of the main problems that commonly occurs when a new OS is released stems from driver compatibility, as new drivers must be developed for the new operating system. To that end, Sony stated that its Sony Vaio laptops will not get new Windows 10 drivers until sometime in October.

This driver issue is often one of the greatest difficulties a new OS faces, especially for one like Windows which will be used on a diverse range of hardware. Developing these drivers takes time, and until the drivers are ready, users may face a range of problems from program instability to the entire system crashing.

Because new drivers are so important, you want to see them come out as quickly as possible, but that doesn't look like it will happen for Sony's Vaio laptops. Sony stated that the Vaio laptops that came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 won't see Windows 10 driver updates until October. If your Vaio has an older OS, the problem only gets worse.

Systems that came pre-installed with Windows 8 won't receive Windows 10 drivers until November. A date hasn't been set for Windows 7 systems, but it will likely be some time after the Windows 8 systems.

Although some drivers, such as those for the GPU, can be updated manually as new drivers are developed, it is unlikely that all of the drivers the system needs can be obtained this way. The end result is that users of these laptops will face difficulties trying to use Windows 10 until Sony has driver updates ready.

For the time being, it is probably best if owners of these laptops avoid upgrading to Windows 10 until updates for their system have been sent out.

Having issues with Windows 10? Tom's Hardware has a team of community staffers standing by in the forums to answer your questions 24/7. You can also share your own experiences, or jump in and help others.

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Michael Justin Allen Sexton
Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • plasmastorm
    So nobody told Sony when the windows launch date was or that it was even in development?

    I thought not..........
    Reply
  • Genaddison
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.
    Reply
  • a1r
    16445291 said:
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.

    This is true. The author should have checked his facts and didn't. The PC production division of Vaio wasn't just spun off, it was outright sold to a new holding company called Japan Industrial Partners last year (2014). Sony has nothing to do with Vaio PCs any longer and it's not their problem unless there are contract terms otherwise to provide the developer support for new drivers. Vaio PCs are not Sony any longer just like Thinkpads are not IBM.

    That said, Vaio has had ample time to get it's act in gear and get those drivers out like many vendors already have. But Vaio is not the only one dragging it's feet. Creative Arts is as well with many of it's older than current generation but still supported sound cards. The Windows 10 "support matrix" lists products that aren't slated to receive drivers till November as well, which they may or may not meet (I still use(d) an X-Fi Xtreme something-something I got second hand).
    Reply
  • unksol
    How about you two look at the authors source? It is.... Drum roll please.... Sony.com. As in Sony's support website. Where they distribute drivers. For legacy Sony products. That were made by Sony. That according to the terms of the sale they are responsible for supporting.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    16445357 said:
    Except Vaios are not snowflakes and you can find the same devices with
    Windows 10 drivers available, if you do your homework, in other manufacturer's products.

    For a lot of devices such as the chipset, NIC, sound card yes. But for Sony/Vaio specific devices no. Or say the GPU driver that most every OEM makes so you cannot install non OEM versions of the GPU drivers.

    16445291 said:
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.

    16445393 said:
    16445291 said:
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.

    This is true. The author should have checked his facts and didn't. The PC production division of Vaio wasn't just spun off, it was outright sold to a new holding company called Japan Industrial Partners last year (2014). Sony has nothing to do with Vaio PCs any longer and it's not their problem unless there are contract terms otherwise to provide the developer support for new drivers. Vaio PCs are not Sony any longer just like Thinkpads are not IBM.

    That said, Vaio has had ample time to get it's act in gear and get those drivers out like many vendors already have. But Vaio is not the only one dragging it's feet. Creative Arts is as well with many of it's older than current generation but still supported sound cards. The Windows 10 "support matrix" lists products that aren't slated to receive drivers till November as well, which they may or may not meet (I still use(d) an X-Fi Xtreme something-something I got second hand).

    You both need to actually look at the history of that. Vaio was spun off, correct. However Vaio is only making products for Japan currently with plans of releasing devices in the US in Autumn of 2015. For any existing Vaio products sold in the US, or anywhere else, they are still made and supported by Sony as they are still Sony designs therefore Sony is responsible for the support of the devices.

    I don't even see how Creative can be compared. It is one set of hardware vs multiple devices on your laptop not working. I have also gotten Windows 8 drivers to work on Windows 10 for my SB-Z so it is not as big of a deal when you have a work around where as with some of the Vaio products there might not be any work around due to the changes in the WDDM to Windows 10.
    Reply
  • imsurgical
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.

    ^
    This, I use to work for and was hired by Sony at their main office in Rancho Bernardo as a contractor exactly when they merged the PC division with the Mobile division into VAIO. It was madness getting approval for support and the funding from the branch in Japan to work on issues such as driver compatibility and what not. We literally had to wait for conference calls just to get approvals for the smallest things and whats more collaborate with the engineers in Japan so it created a lot of downtime when working on a problem.
    Reply
  • IInuyasha74
    16445393 said:
    16445291 said:
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.

    This is true. The author should have checked his facts and didn't. The PC production division of Vaio wasn't just spun off, it was outright sold to a new holding company called Japan Industrial Partners last year (2014). Sony has nothing to do with Vaio PCs any longer and it's not their problem unless there are contract terms otherwise to provide the developer support for new drivers. Vaio PCs are not Sony any longer just like Thinkpads are not IBM.

    That said, Vaio has had ample time to get it's act in gear and get those drivers out like many vendors already have. But Vaio is not the only one dragging it's feet. Creative Arts is as well with many of it's older than current generation but still supported sound cards. The Windows 10 "support matrix" lists products that aren't slated to receive drivers till November as well, which they may or may not meet (I still use(d) an X-Fi Xtreme something-something I got second hand).

    Both of you are missing the source. I know that Sony spun off its laptop division into a separate company. Please note I didn't say that Sony was doing a terrible job of providing support for its products. Technically, Sony doesn't need to provide support for these products, but that is irrelevant. They don't need to, but they are providing the support. Slowly, yes, but they are still doing it. It doesn't matter that they don't produce the systems anymore, if anything that gives them a good reason for being slow at adding support, but it doesn't change the fact they are still providing support.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    16446139 said:
    16445393 said:
    16445291 said:
    First of all, Sony does not have a computer division anymore, they spun that off over a year and a half ago to it's own branded company, called Vaio. Second, I highly doubt it is up to Sony to continue to provide support like this, normally that is up to the company that takes the business. This article is misleading and puts responsibility on Sony where it most likely doesn't belong.

    This is true. The author should have checked his facts and didn't. The PC production division of Vaio wasn't just spun off, it was outright sold to a new holding company called Japan Industrial Partners last year (2014). Sony has nothing to do with Vaio PCs any longer and it's not their problem unless there are contract terms otherwise to provide the developer support for new drivers. Vaio PCs are not Sony any longer just like Thinkpads are not IBM.

    That said, Vaio has had ample time to get it's act in gear and get those drivers out like many vendors already have. But Vaio is not the only one dragging it's feet. Creative Arts is as well with many of it's older than current generation but still supported sound cards. The Windows 10 "support matrix" lists products that aren't slated to receive drivers till November as well, which they may or may not meet (I still use(d) an X-Fi Xtreme something-something I got second hand).

    Both of you are missing the source. I know that Sony spun off its laptop division into a separate company. Please note I didn't say that Sony was doing a terrible job of providing support for its products. Technically, Sony doesn't need to provide support for these products, but that is irrelevant. They don't need to, but they are providing the support. Slowly, yes, but they are still doing it. It doesn't matter that they don't produce the systems anymore, if anything that gives them a good reason for being slow at adding support, but it doesn't change the fact they are still providing support.

    I would assume that Sony is still going to be providing support for the legacy Vaio products that were designed and manufactured under their name until the transition is complete, especially considering that Vaio is not even operating outside of Japan yet.
    Reply
  • elho_cid
    I installed w10 on my Vaio Tap 11 the first week of August, no problem so far. Though Sony already sent me an email that i shouldn't have done that.
    Reply
  • Christopher1
    Except Vaios are not snowflakes and you can find the same devices with Windows 10 drivers available, if you do your homework, in other manufacturer's products.
    True. The graphics drivers are the biggest sticking point and you can find drivers for Intel's IG's (at least the 4000 to 6000 series) at their website if you look.
    Reply