What I despise is freaking Windows Update deciding to downgrade my video drivers without asking me. I was going through the spring update all good and well and then wondered why the miner wasn't working.
Damn thing flattened my display drivers and installed an old version on top of it. Brilliant... Not.
IIRC 1709 did not touch the display drivers. Why did this update do so??
when you have a stable setup make a disk image of the OS. that way if you blow the OS or drivers away just load the good image back on and good to go.
i use macrium reflect free. saved me a lot of grief many times. both miner rigs and my other computers. anytime i change something and it works i make a new image.
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfreei also have windows update totally disabled anyway. not sure if i want to update from 1709. miner is stable so im good atm. the 1709 image with drivers and miners setup the way i like it is my insurance policy for anything that sneaks through.