When you buy a new computer or after reinstalling the operating system, the computer refuses to work normally. The most common reason for this is the lack of drivers. What is a driver and why is it so important?
You should be aware that your computer is not one complete device, but a whole set of components. In order for the system to clearly understand what kind of device is in front of it, how to work with it, special software is needed. This is the driver.
It turns out that without drivers the computer will not be able to work. Therefore, it is imperative to install them. Some drivers should be installed automatically, but some drivers, especially the latest ones, need to be installed separately.
Before moving on to installing important software, let's figure out how to find out about the need to install drivers. How to understand which are not currently installed. For this we need:
What are the drivers
There is no clear boundary for dividing drivers, but they can still be divided into several groups:
- the first group is the system component driver. In other words, the most important ones. For example, a driver for the normal operation of the processor or other important elements. With such drivers, it is better not to experiment in any way and not touch them;
- the second is card drivers. First of all - drivers for video cards, sound and some others. They cannot be attributed to the first category, because in some system units there is neither a video card, nor a sound card, nor any other. As a rule, these are simple, office computers;
- the third - external device drivers - Drivers for any gadgets that are additionally connected to the computer and do not affect its operation in any way, but only expand its capabilities. For example, a printer driver.
The process of installing drivers from a disk
Of course, for such an important element of the system as a driver, there are several installation options.
The easiest and most basic way is with a driver disk. After buying a computer, you should have a few disks left - from the motherboard and from the video card (if any), at least.
But it is not uncommon for disks with important software to be lost or damaged. And some computers don't have a disk drive at all. What to do in such a situation?
The process of installing drivers from the Internet
Similarly, you can install drivers via the Internet. The difference will be that the installer will not be launched from a disk, but taken from the Internet. For this:
- We write the brand and model of your motherboard in a search engine and go to the official website.
- We are looking for the drivers tab there and go into it.
- Download the software for your operating system and open the file.
- Next, the program will identify the missing drivers and offer to update them.
- Left click on the downloaded archive.
- In the open window, find and double-click the installation file. It may be called "setup.exe" or "install.exe".
- Next, the installer should appear. Read the information and click on the "Next" button. The installation process is simple, read the instructions and follow the recommended steps. After installation is complete, restart your PC.
Note! In a similar way, you can do not only with the motherboard, but with absolutely any other device. On the Internet, as a rule, you can find drivers for any components and external devices.
Complex installation of drivers
Step 1. Open the "Start" menu, write "Device Manager". Click on the result shown.
Step 2 Right-click on the device name, click on "Update Drivers".
Step 3 You will see a window with two options.
On a note! In some cases, the system cannot find the driver, then you need to use the search manually. To proceed with this option, you must first download the desired driver on the Internet.
- Go to the website of the hardware developer, in our case, the video card.
- Click on the "Drivers and Support" tab.
- You can find the required driver in three ways: automatic search; search form; latest drivers available for download. We have used the latter option.
- Find the appropriate driver for your system and download it.
- Click on the downloaded file and wait for installation.
- Return to "Device Manager", select the second search option.
- Click on the "Browse" button and specify the location where the driver is located.
- Click Next.
- Restart your PC after installation.
Finding and Installing Drivers with DriverPack Solution
You can install the necessary software quickly and conveniently using a powerful program - DriverPack Solution.
This is a completely free application that will automatically find missing or outdated drivers and install new ones. It is this program that many computer wizards use to configure devices. Over the years of being on the market, she managed to prove herself perfectly.
This is because installing drivers is very simple, because your participation in this procedure is not required. All you need is:
- Download the DriverPack installer from the official website https://drp.su/en.
- Install it and open it on your computer.
- Select automatic installation and wait until the program itself installs all the software necessary for normal operation.
- After this procedure, your computer should begin to fully work.
Installing Drivers Manually Using DriverPack Solution
To configure installation settings manually, do the following:
- On the main page of the program, click on the "Expert Mode" section.
- You need the "Drivers" section, but before you go to it, you need to uncheck the software in other sections, which DriverPack offers additionally. Open the "Software" section, uncheck unnecessary programs.
- Open the "Protection and cleaning" section, uncheck the proposed software.
- Return to the "Drivers" section, make active the sliders in the items "Show alternative and installed drivers" and "Show additional information".
- Check and install or uncheck the suggested drivers, if you are sure that everything is correct, click "Install all".
Important! DriverPack Solution allows you to download a special image with drivers to a removable drive and install drivers even on those computers that do not have access to the Internet, or they do not have a driver for a network card.
Video - How to install all drivers on a computer
Installation using the Update Center
Is it worth updating drivers
But what if your computer is working properly, but you suddenly wonder if you should update your drivers.
If you are completely satisfied with the operation of your computer, it boots up normally, does not hang, it does not have any problems with connected devices, then there is simply no need to update drivers. No need to try to fix something that is already working properly, especially if you are not good at it. Along with useful software, there is a risk of downloading unnecessary software or even malicious software.
If you have complaints about the operation of the device, then it is possible that updating the drivers to the latest ones will help solve the problem. But still, please note that updating drivers most often does not solve serious problems in operation. To improve performance, it would be much more logical to upgrade the system by purchasing an SSD drive or other new components. If this is not possible, then try to simply clean the system of debris.
Rollback and deletion
It would seem that updating drivers always entails only benefit and improvement in the operation of the system and equipment. But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. In some cases, it is after updating the driver that a particular device stops working stably, degrades system performance, or even fails. If you find yourself in such a situation and think that it was the new driver that caused the problems, then it is recommended to roll it back or remove it altogether. For this you need:
After the rollback, the driver will return to its previous state. Most likely, after that, the system will function normally. Just like before.
If you deleted the driver, you will have to reinstall it, but a driver that will ensure the full operation of the corresponding device.
So, we have learned to identify devices for which the driver is not installed, and install software for them. In addition, we learned when it is better not to update the driver and how to roll back to the previous version of the driver. Now you can safely configure your computer and additional equipment for it.
Video - How to find and install drivers on a PC or laptop manually
If you are reading these lines, then you must have asked yourself one important question: how to find and install drivers for Windows or NVidia Geforce, ATI Radeon .. video cards? Logically, I would have to write several articles to show how to update the drivers for free for each of these devices, but this is not required at all and below we will find out why ...
How to find drivers for Windows?
Each of us, computer users, has had or will ever have a problem with finding drivers for certain devices connected to the computer. For example, if you reinstalled the operating system, but lost the disk with device drivers. Or if, simply for some reason, drivers are not installed for the device, or they, as they say, have crashed, that is, they have stopped working. As a rule, such difficulties are obtained with network devices, printers or video and sound cards. Logically, I should have written several articles to show how to update the drivers for free for each of these devices, but this is not at all necessary - in this article I will show you a universal way to find and correctly install drivers on a Windows computer or laptop - first manually using the VEN-DEV codes, and then automatically through the application.
So, we can install drivers on a laptop or computer for free in two ways:
- Manually, having previously found the model number of the installed hardware.
- Automatically - using the DriverPack Solution driver kit (Driver Pack Solution).
Of course, it’s more correct to install the software manually by downloading them first from the manufacturer’s official website, because in this case you get guaranteed working drivers for your particular model, which will not fail and interfere with the system.
However, for beginners who have little understanding of this entire computer economy, it is easier to use the “magic pill”, the so-called “driver pack”, with which you can update or install from scratch all the missing drivers in Windows at once. This is just about the Driverpack Solution package. But at the same time, you need to understand that the "firewood" that is there will be installed automatically - and it is not known what exactly is installed on your computer and whether they will really work with the components of your PC. Although, in fairness, I must say that I myself often resort to using the Driverpack Solution and so far have not experienced any serious problems with it. At the same time, using the package is the most realistic solution when updating the software of computer components that are not connected to the Internet.
Installing drivers on a computer using Ven-Dev manually
Let's start with how to install the necessary drivers manually by downloading them directly from the Internet. For this we need:
- identify a specific device
- find a driver for it
- and install
Two services will help us in the search - driver.ru and devid.info.
The first is suitable if you know exactly the manufacturer and model of an unidentified device. For example, you need to install a driver for an HP 2000cxi printer (in my case). We select the “Printers” section from the catalog, then the manufacturer, model and your operating system. And download the driver file.
The second site will come to the rescue if you do not know the model of the device, for example, the video card that is inside the computer. It would seem difficult, but in fact, finding them is also not difficult, since each equipment has its own identifier code, by which its name can be determined. To do this, go to the "Start" menu, right-click on "Computer" and select the "Management" section.
We go to the "Device Manager" subsection, select the one whose ID we want to determine (usually it is referred to as "Unknown device"). I will show on my video card, which is determined by the computer in order to check how correctly the service determines it. So, right-click on it and select "Properties"
In a new window, open the "Details" tab and in the drop-down list "Hardware IDs". Here we see several codes in which the same value is repeated - VEN and DEV, it is they that interest us.
We copy this part of the code, for me it will look like VEN_10DE&DEV_0A34, and paste it on the site into the search form and click "Search".
In the search results, the name of the equipment and several different sets of drivers for the video card of varying degrees of freshness appear - I have this video card nVideo. But before you download them, pay attention to the small tabs - here you need to select your operating system. In the very first firewood for Windows 7 32x, if you have a 64-bit system, or Windows 8, XP or another, then open the appropriate tab. And after that, download the latest driver by the date of the update.
As you can see, the model was determined correctly, so everything is in order - you can safely use this service.
How to install drivers for Windows without Internet access?
But what if the computer that needs the update is not connected to the Internet? Then you won't be able to download anything to it? Yes and no. In such a case, you should have a removable media with a complete set of Driverpack Solution drivers for known existing devices, so that you can install them at any time on any computer or laptop.
The algorithm of its work is as follows:
- Detection of models of all computer components
- Determining the latest firmware versions
- Checking them with new firmware according to the databases of manufacturers
- Create a system restore point
- Driver update
And this is all done for free - no, there is, of course, a paid version of the application, which automatically searches for the latest updates and installs them in the background when connected to the Internet, and in the Free version this will have to be done manually. But the question is, do we need it? Once we check, install and safely.
How do I update the Ven/Dev driver for the graphics card?
So, download and install this program, and run it.
We will not look at the main window for a long time - we will immediately press the “Start Scan” button and scan the system.
The number of drivers available for updating will be written in large red numbers. Below is a complete list of them. Among the huge number there are drivers for the video card so desired by most readers - NVidia Geforce or Ati Radeon (underline as necessary). As well as on a network card, a Bluetooth adapter, a sound card (I have two of them - an internal Realtek and an external Creative), and so on.
After that, alternately click on the link "Download Update" opposite each of the items. Let's do this for the very first one.
After clicking on the link, the program will ask whether to make a system restore point. We agree by clicking "Yes", in case something goes wrong so that you can roll back to the previous state.
We just have to wait until the end and restart the computer. I recommend rebooting after each update so that all changes are successfully applied.
How to uninstall the Ven Dev driver?
But we will not limit ourselves to installing and updating the driver in this article. What if you have to uninstall drivers on Windows? For example from the same video card or an unused printer? To do this, download another great program - Driver Sweeeper.
It is also easy to use - download, install, run.
To get started, you can translate into Russian in the "Language" section.
In the main window of the program - the names of manufacturers and types of equipment for which drivers are installed on your computer. If among the no there are those that are no longer needed, then put a tick in front of them.
Then click "Clean" or "Cleaning" in the Russian version. In a new window there will be a list of data registered in the registry. Confirm the deletion and wait. After the end, we will again be asked to restart Windows, which we will do in order for the changes to take effect.
Here are some handy programs used to uninstall or update drivers on Windows. Finally, look at my detailed lesson on working with these utilities and do not forget to subscribe to blog updates - another article about installing drivers has already been written and planned, but only offline if the computer does not have Internet access. So wait for now!
Good afternoon friends! More recently, we wrote about how best. But what to do after setting up and installing the OS? Is everything working properly for us? Today we will talk about installing drivers for Windows XP, 7. What is a driver and how to install it? Is it possible to do it yourself?
To some, these questions will seem simple, but not to those who spent hours on the Internet, because after reinstalling the OS, the webcam stopped working, or the disk with the drivers for the video card was lost. There are many situations, but together we will figure it out. We have prepared video tutorials for you, in which you will find answers to many questions related to the correct and quick installation of drivers.
Installing drivers on windows
To begin with, I advise you to familiarize yourself with the drivers and their purpose. Where we also consecrated the interesting topic of “alternative drivers”.
So, in simple terms, a driver is a firmware that ensures the interaction of the operating system with devices. As a rule, each device has its own separate firmware. The list of devices can be viewed in the device manager: “Start” –> right-click on the “My Computer” icon –> in the menu that opens, select the “Management” item –> and then select “Device Manager” in the window on the left.
If you opened the “Device Manager” and you have a similar picture, then everything is fine. All devices work and drivers are installed for them. If a device has problems with its operation or if a driver is not installed for it, it is marked with an exclamation mark.
Such an exclamation point indicates that the device is not working, you need to install or update the driver.
Installing Drivers Automatically
With an automatic, everything is simple. We have a file with the extension "*.exe", which activates the installer. We launch it, and then follow the instructions of the installation program (ordinary users should press the "Next" button at all stages). The installer itself will check the driver for compatibility with the system and device and install it. After installation, just restart your computer. Everything is extremely simple.
Below we offer you a video clip that explains in detail how and where you can download the driver and provides an example of automatic installation.
Installing drivers manually
Let's take a closer look at the manual installation method. Watch detailed video instructions.
Manual installation is used if the driver is presented not as a "*.exe" file, but as a set of files with extensions "*.inf", "*.sys" and "*.dll". Then you will have to follow these steps:
- 1. Run driver updates for the device. (Right-click on the device name and select "update drivers" from the menu that appears).
- 2. A window will open in which you must select the item "Search for drivers on this computer".
- 3. We check the place where the drivers will be searched, if necessary, change (to do this, click on the "Browse" button). Check the box next to "Include Subfolders". We press the "Next" button.
4. At the next stage, the system will search for drivers in the specified location and, if a suitable driver is found, it will install it.
It is worth noting that the system searches for a file with the "*.inf" extension, which stores all information about the driver files, its compatibility with the OS, information about devices for which it can be installed, as well as the driver version and other technical information. Therefore, I advise you to immediately specify the directory in which the “* .inf” file is stored to search for the driver.
Friends, as you can see, there is nothing complicated in installing drivers. We can do everything ourselves.
In my opinion, it's better to figure it out once and do it yourself. It's not that hard. And if so, do you have someone to ask. We are always happy to help our readers. Write if you have any difficulties in installing drivers on windows.
Regardless of the hardware version you are looking for a driver for, you will need to find an updated driver for the device from the very beginning. It is best if this driver is located on the installation disk that came with the purchase.
If the disk is missing, you need to find out the model of the device. It may be printed on the box or listed in the computer's documentation. You can also find out the hardware version using the tools built into the system. Go to the "Start" menu and right-click on "Computer". Select Properties, and then on the left side of the window, click Device Manager. Find the name of the hardware you want to install the driver on, then go to the official website of the device manufacturer and find the correct software.
As a rule, all drivers are located in the technical support or downloads section.
Removing the old driver
Go to "Device Manager" and find the name of the device for which you downloaded the driver. After that, right-click on the corresponding line and select "Properties". Click the Uninstall tab to uninstall the software. Confirm the operation. After it is done, the standard Windows drivers will be installed or the device will be deleted (if they are not available). Now you can start installing the driver.
New drivers for video cards can be installed without first removing the device from the system.
Driver installation
Run the file you downloaded earlier and follow the instructions that appear on the screen. Accept the terms of the license agreement and wait for the files to be unpacked for the device to work. The operation may take several minutes, after which you will be prompted to restart your computer. Close all running programs, save your work and reboot. If the driver installation was successful, the device will be recognized in the system and will be available for use.
In some cases, the system will automatically be able to update the correct driver. To do this, you just need to click the "Update" button and select the appropriate option.
If the drivers for installation are not supplied as an installation file, but in archive format, instead of removing the device from the system, you will need to select the “Update” item, by clicking on which you can specify the path to the location of the downloaded drivers. After the operation is completed, restart your computer to apply the changes.
Hello dear reader of my blog! The stable operation of the Windows operating system depends on how correctly you have installed the driver for the device.
In this article, I will tell you how to install a driver for a device in the Windows operating system in several ways.
A driver is a program that allows the Windows operating system to access a specific computer device (video card, network card, printer, etc.).
Conclusion
Well, now you know how to install a driver for a device in several ways, including a driver updater. The stable operation of your operating system and your overall mood depend on the correct installation of the driver. You can ask all questions about how to install the driver below in the comments.
Finally, you can watch a video on how to install drivers using DriverPack Solution
Well, in the next article I will tell you a free program.
P.S. In order not to miss new and interesting articles on computer programs and everything connected with them, .4.6 /5 27
