Why does Micromine crash on startup after a system update on my Surface Pro?

There is a known issue with Microsoft's latest graphics card driver for the Surface Pro, which causes any OpenGL-based application to crash on startup.

The offending driver is dated 8 March 2013 and is version 9.17.10.3062.




To inspect your graphics driver version, right-click or tap-and-hold anywhere in the Desktop, choose Screen resolution from the pop-up menu, then tap or click Advanced settings. Tap or click the Properties button in the Adapter tab and then switch to the Driver tab on the Properties dialog.

The simple short-term solution is to download the latest driver (9.18.10.3257, confirmed on 30 Sept 2013) directly from the Intel website at:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx?lang=eng




Unfortunately this will not work in the long-term because Microsoft's System Hardware Updates always overwrite the Intel driver even though it is more recent than the Microsoft one.

A quick solution is to use the Roll Back Driver option on the graphics card Properties dialog whenever Microsoft overwrites the Intel driver (you'll know this has happened because Micromine will crash on startup). This "roll back" operation actually "rolls forward" the driver to the more recent Intel one.

A better solution is to hide the offending Microsoft update and take full manual control of your graphics card driver maintenance. 

To do this:

1. Run Windows Update to apply all pending updates (MM will now crash on startup if you try to use it)

2. Install the latest Intel driver from the link above. Search for "HD 4000"

3. Open the Windows 8 search bar and type "update" into the search box

4. Click or tap on Settings and choose Check for updates

5. Once the check is finished, click or tap on See details. Do NOT click the Install button

6. You should see an item titled Windows 8, with the description System Hardware Update - 13/08/2013 (the date may vary depending on your individual update history)

7. Click or tap on Choose important updates to install. You will be taken to the Desktop version of Windows Update

8. Click or tap on 1 important update is available

9. Right-click or tap-and-hold that update and then choose Hide update from the pop-up menu

The update now appears greyed-out and will not be automatically installed. Should you need to apply it at a later stage you can choose Restore hidden updates from the Desktop version of Windows Update.

This issue only applies to Surface Pros running Windows 8 and does not affect other Windows 8 machines such as laptops and desktops. It affects all OpenGL-based applications, not just Micromine. We reported it to Microsoft in July and were told that they were working on a solution. It seems they have not found one yet.

As always, please feel free to speak with your local support office if you are a Surface Pro user and need help hiding this update.