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PSA

Windows Update installs LG's monitor app. Here is how we removed and blocked it.

On October 14, Windows Update installed LG monitor software on one of our development PCs. We had already turned off automatic device app downloads, and it installed anyway. These are the steps that removed it and, so far, kept it from coming back.

PSA · October 14, 2026

What happened

This PC runs Windows 11 Pro with two LG monitors, an UltraGear and an UltraFine. Both are plain monitors: no microphones, no smart features, no LG account. On the morning of October 14, Windows Update installed two LG driver updates. Those drivers then installed an LG program, listed in Installed apps as LG Monitor Software Notice.

What Windows Update installedWhat it does
LG Electronics Inc. – Extension driver updatesSmall add-ons to the monitor driver. They tell Windows to create a software device named LG Monitor Support Application.
LG Electronics Inc. SoftwareComponent driver updateThe driver for that software device. Installing it installs LG's program, from C:\Program Files\LG Electronics\LGMonitorInstallManager.

Our monitors never needed any of this. They run on Windows' own Generic Monitor driver before and after.

What we did not see. On our PC, the LG program had no background service or scheduled task, and we did not observe it sending data. Our concern is simpler: software arrived on a work machine without anyone choosing it.

Others have reported more. Privacy Guides, Windows Latest and Slashdot covered this in July 2026, including reports that the LG app shows pop-ups promoting other LG apps and a McAfee trial. Links are at the end.

Why the usual fix is not enough

Most advice says to open Device installation settings and choose No for downloading manufacturers' apps. We had already done that weeks earlier, through the Group Policy setting Prevent device metadata retrieval from the Internet. The LG app installed anyway.

The reason: that setting covers device metadata (icons and app information). LG's app arrived through Windows Update's driver channel, as the driver for a software device. Stopping it takes a device-installation block, below.

How we removed it

Use these steps at your own risk: create a restore point or back up first, because they remove drivers and change system policy. These steps need an administrator PowerShell window (right-click Start, choose Terminal (Admin)). Step 5 needs the Group Policy editor, which is in Windows Pro, Enterprise and Education. We have not tested Windows Home.

1 Write down the LG device's hardware ID

Do this first, while the device still exists. You need the ID for the block in step 5.

Get-PnpDevice | Where-Object InstanceId -like '*LGMONITORAPP*' |
  ForEach-Object { (Get-PnpDeviceProperty -InstanceId $_.InstanceId -KeyName DEVPKEY_Device_HardwareIds).Data }

On our PC, both LG monitors (two different models) gave the same ID: SWC\GSM9E8C. Yours may differ. Use what the command prints.

2 Uninstall the LG program

Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, search for LG, and uninstall LG Monitor Software Notice. Other reports call it LG Monitor App Installer; the name may vary.

3 Remove LG's driver packages

Otherwise Windows reinstalls the program from the drivers it already has. List LG's packages:

((pnputil /enum-drivers | Out-String) -split '(?=Published Name)') | Where-Object { $_ -match 'LG Electronics' }

Each block shows a Published Name such as oem106.inf. The numbers differ on every PC. Remove each one:

pnputil /delete-driver oem106.inf /uninstall

pnputil may print Driver package uninstalled followed by Failed to delete driver package: The specified file is not an installed OEM INF. On our PC that still meant success: running the list command again showed no LG packages left.

4 Remove the leftover device entries

The software device stays behind, marked not present. It is harmless, but this clears it:

Get-PnpDevice | Where-Object InstanceId -like '*LGMONITORAPP*' |
  ForEach-Object { pnputil /remove-device $_.InstanceId }

5 Block that one device from installing again

Run gpedit.msc and open Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Device Installation → Device Installation Restrictions. Open Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device IDs, choose Enabled, click Show, and add the ID from step 1 (for us, SWC\GSM9E8C).

Add only that ID. Do not add your monitor's own IDs (they look like MONITOR\GSM5CE3), or Windows will stop installing the monitor itself. Leave Also apply to matching devices that are already installed unchecked.

Then apply it:

gpupdate /force

Windows Update may still install LG's small extension drivers, and they will still ask Windows to create the LG software device. The block refuses that device, so the program cannot install. You may see an LG update listed as failed in Windows Update history; that is the block working.

A broader alternative

The Group Policy setting Windows Components → Windows Update → Manage updates offered from Windows Update → Do not include drivers with Windows Updates stops all drivers from Windows Update. It also stops graphics, chipset and other drivers, which you would then get from each vendor yourself. We chose the narrower block.

Status

We set the block on October 14, 2026. If LG's program comes back or LG changes the device ID, we will update this page.

A separate story: LG TVs

In September 2026, Gamers Nexus and Level1Techs published an investigation into microphones and network behavior in LG's webOS smart TVs. LG denies the claims. That story is about TVs, not monitors; the monitors on our PC have no microphones.

Sources