Windows 8.1 will be coming on the scene in just a few more days, bringing with it a lot of welcome changes and improvements over Windows 8. However, the upgrade to 8.1 will invalidate all but the most recent DisplayLink drivers.
Because of this, we are urging everyone who is using one of our docking stations or USB display adapters (all of which use DisplayLink) to download and install version 7.4 of those drivers from our driver page at this address: https://plugable.com/drivers/displaylink.
We have not been able to get our hands on an exact copy of the upgrade to Windows 8.1 that will be pushed to users on Oct. 17th over the Windows app store. However, the latest news is that any drivers that have not been signed specifically for Windows 8.1 will stop working after the upgrade. Because of this, it is possible that upgrading to Windows 8.1 without installing the version 7.4 drivers beforehand will leave the system in an unstable situation where the old drivers cannot be removed and the new ones cannot be installed. Installing the drivers in advance of the upgrade will prevent this by ensuring the correct drivers are in place before the upgrade. DisplayLink has published details about this on their website here.
You can check your version of the drivers by opening Programs and Features from the Control Panel. Two driver programs should be listed, DisplayLink Core Software and DisplayLink Graphics. The first two digits of the version numbers in the Version column of the display indicate the current version.
We will continue to monitor this situation and provide more information as we receive it.