A driver is software that allows components to communicate correctly with a PC. It can be installed from a specialized disk that usually comes with the device, the manufacturer's website or utilities. More about this in the material "" Now let's figure out how to install this same driver in our computer.
Basic concepts
Drivers are designed so that the OS can communicate seamlessly with all components of the computer, be it a printer, monitor, video card or other device.
Windows includes many drivers used to initial installation and start the OS. Initially, they are simple or outdated, which means they may not always function correctly. Your Internet may not work, sound may not be played, or the correct one may not be installed. Therefore, after installing the system, you need to check the availability and relevance of the drivers.
Installing the driver from the manufacturer's disc
When purchasing devices in the box with them, you can find ready-made discs on which the software (software) is recorded. It is enough to insert the disc into the drive and wait for the installation menu to appear, or choose how to start the disc in autorun. Another way is to open the disk in, find a file in * .exe format with the name Setup or similar.
Then you just need to select the required driver and, after downloading it, restart your computer. It is recommended to install only the necessary programs, as unnecessary drivers can slow down the computer. That is, choose only the latest software versions from the correct manufacturer.
If the disc was not supplied with the equipment or the version of the program on it is outdated, then it is better to download the driver from the official website of the device manufacturer. Each of them provides an opportunity to download the latest version that is relevant for the device.
To do this, you will need internet access. Take care of the driver for the network card or Wi-Fi adapter it is better in advance to be able to connect to the site later. For USB modems, the program is installed automatically when connected to a PC.
So, we look at the manufacturer of the equipment, the driver of which we need, and go to their official website (For example, www.nvidia.ru, www.asus.com/ru, http://www.gigabyte.ru, www.intel.ru other). We find the section "Service", "Support", "Programs", "Drivers" or the like. In the search, we enter the exact model of the equipment (you can find the name on the box).
After the driver for the required model is found, select the Windows version and its bit depth and download the program.
Some manufacturers offer an automatic search that allows you to find the correct software version without knowing its name or your OS version.
After downloading, run the * .exe file. If you downloaded a folder without an executable file, then installation is carried out through the device manager.
The Device Manager will help you when the software is already on the HDD or USB stick, but it does not provide an * .exe file.
We go " Start"And find" My computer"- click on the icon" A computer"With the right mouse button - select" Properties". In the window that opens, on the right, we see a list in which there is a "Device Manager".
In the window " Device Manager»You can find all the hardware available to Windows. If any of them does not have a driver or it is installed incorrectly, then an exclamation mark will light up next to it.
Click on the name with the right mouse button - " Properties» – « General» — « Update driver" or " Driver» – « Refresh". Next, the computer will offer us “ " or " Search this computer».
We choose manual mode installation. In the new window, click " Overview"And find the folder containing the required driver.
Click " OK"And wait for the installation process to complete. Upon successful download, you receive a notification that the installation is complete. We close the window and see that the exclamation mark next to the device is gone - the software has been updated.
If you do not have the required file, then the option “ Automatically search for updated drivers". In that Windows case tries to independently find software on disks or on the Internet. However, this option is not the most reliable, so we leave it as a last resort.
If the connected device was not recognized by Windows and you are not able to install the software using the above methods, then you can find the driver by the component ID. To do this, go to “ Device Manager"- find the uninstalled driver - open its parameter" Properties" - chapter " Intelligence"- in the drop-down list we find" Equipment ID"- select the first value and copy it.
Open the DevID.info website and enter the identification value into search string... Click " Search».
If the service finds the necessary software for the equipment, then at the bottom of the page information about the driver and a download icon in the form of a floppy disk appear. On new page click on the original file - click on the name again - select desired folder to save - " Save"- install the downloaded file.
We told you the main options for installing a driver on a computer:
- boot from disk;
- through the official website;
- using the device manager;
- by searching by ID number.
The operability and performance of Windows depends on the correct version of the software.
If the new version of the driver works worse than the previous one, then you can roll back. To do this, go to " Device Manager» – « Properties» – « Driver» – « Roll back". If it didn't work or the "Rollback" option is inactive, then delete it and put another one.
It is enough to configure all the drivers during the first installation of the system. If they all work properly, then you do not need to update them any longer, because if you lack experience, you can do it wrong. Regular updates are only required for the driver, which is responsible for graphics and performance in games.
Share.Regardless of the hardware version for which you are looking for a driver, you will need to find an updated driver for the device from the very beginning. It is best if this driver will be located on installation disk that came with the purchase.
If the disk is missing, you need to find out the model of the device. It can be printed on the box or listed in the documentation for your computer. You can also find out the version of the equipment using the tools built into the system. Go to the "Start" menu and right-click on the "Computer" item. Select Properties, and then on the left side of the window, click Device Manager. Find the name of the hardware on which you want to install the driver, then go to the official website of the device manufacturer and find the correct software.
As a rule, all drivers are located in the section technical support or downloads.
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 appropriate line and select "Properties". Go to the Uninstall tab to uninstall the software. Confirm the operation. After its creation, the standard Windows drivers will be installed or the device will be removed (if they are missing). 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 previously downloaded file and follow the instructions that appear on the screen. Accept the terms license agreement and wait until the files are 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 was installed correctly, 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 supplied not as an installation file, but in archive format, instead of removing the device from the system, you need to select the "Update" item, by clicking on which you can specify the path to the location of the downloaded drivers. After completing the operation, restart your computer to apply the changes.
To maintain the normal performance of the computer, it is necessary to update the drivers from time to time, but looking for and installing them manually is boring and time-consuming. And why? After all, this work is easy to automate. Consider ten today best programs to update drivers for PCs and laptops of all brands and models.
Intel Driver Update Utility Installer is a proprietary utility for finding and updating drivers for any Intel products (processors, system logic, network devices, drives, server components, and others). Compatible with Windows XP, 7 and newer releases of this system.
The utility will automatically recognize the hardware of the PC on which it is installed. Checking for new versions of drivers on the Intel website is done by clicking the "Search" button, download and installation - at the user's request.
In addition, Intel Driver Update Utility Installer allows you to find and download drivers for any other Intel devices of your choice from the list ("Search manually" option).
The developers warn that the application installs only generic drivers that do not take into account the peculiarities of a particular brand of computer. Therefore, before launching it, you should visit the website of your PC or laptop manufacturer and check if there is anything suitable there.
AMD Driver Autodetect
AMD Driver Autodetect is a similar proprietary tool from AMD. Designed to keep the drivers of this brand video cards up to date (except for AMD FirePro).
After installation, the utility will keep track of the relevance of the video drivers and ensure their timely update. It automatically detects the model of the video card installed on the PC, as well as the bit and version of the operating system. Once launched, it checks to see if there is a fresh driver on the AMD website. If there is - informs about it and offers to download it. To start the installation, the user just needs to confirm his consent by clicking on the "Install" button.
AMD Driver Autodetect is also available exclusively for Windows.
NVIDIA Update
NVIDIA Update is a proprietary Windows utility for installing drivers on NVIDIA devices. Like AMD Driver Autodetect, it independently recognizes hardware models and checks for the latest driver on the manufacturer's website. The decision about the installation remains with the user.
DriverPack Solution
DriverPack Solution is a lifesaver for service engineers, system administrators and those who earn extra money by providing services for Windows installation and programs. The application is a huge collection of drivers for devices of various brands and models, as well as a module for their installation.
DriverPack Solution released in two versions - online and offline.
- The online distribution is intended for use on a PC that has an Internet connection. Its difference is the small file size (285 Kb). Once launched, the program scans Windows for installed drivers and the relevance of their versions, after which it connects to the database (on its own server) and produces automatic update.
- The offline distribution (size 10.2 Gb) is intended for installing drivers on a machine that is not connected to the Internet. In addition to the installer, its package includes a database of 960,000 drivers for Windows 7, XP, Vista, 8 (8.1) and 10, both in 32 bit and 64 bit. Once launched, the scanning module recognizes device types and installs drivers from its own offline database.
The online version of DriverPack Solution is convenient for permanent home use... In addition to tracking the relevance of drivers, it gives the user the ability to automatically install and update separate applications, remove software junk, view the hardware list, operating system information, and computer security.
The offline version is an emergency solution. Its task is to select not the best, but just the right driver to start the device. And further update it via the Internet.
DriverPack Solution and the proprietary utilities listed above are completely free.
Driver genius
Driver Genius is a universal driver management tool. The latest revision of the program is the sixteenth, optimized for Windows 8 and 10, but it can run on older systems as well.
In addition to updating the versions of installed drivers, Driver Genius is able to:
- Create backup copies of drivers and save them as archives - regular and self-extracting, as well as an installer (exe). It is not necessary to use Driver Genius to restore from a backup.
- Remove unused and faulty drivers.
- Display computer hardware information.
The backup feature is a treasure trove for those who reinstall Windows frequently. However, the program itself is by no means a gift: the cost of one license is $ 29.95. You can use it for free for only 30 days.
Snappy Driver Installer
Snappy Driver Installer is an application created by one of the developers of DriverPack Solution and has a lot in common with the latter. Also available in two versions: SDI Lite and SDI Full.
- The SDI Lite variant is a module for recognizing devices and searching for suitable drivers on the Internet. Its size is 3.6 Mb. Own base does not have.
- The SDI Full option is an installation module plus a base (31.6 Gb). Designed to install drivers regardless of the availability of Internet access.
Features of Snappy Driver Installer:
- Works without installation (only portable version, you can run from a USB flash drive or DVD).
- Completely free - no premium features or ads.
- With an improved selection algorithm based on the "do no harm" principle.
- Is different high speed scan.
- Creates a system restore point before installing the driver.
- Allows you to change the themes of the user choice.
- Multilingual (there is a version in Russian, Ukrainian and other national languages).
- Adapted for Windows 10.
Driver booster
iObit Driver Booster is a fan favorite app computer games... Released in Free editions - free, and Pro - paid. The subscription price for the latter is 590 rubles per year.
Driver Booster has one and only function - scanning the system for out-of-date drivers and installing updates in one click. And not simple updates, but (according to the developers) tuned to improve the performance of games.
- a free and very simple utility for installing and updating PC drivers on Windows based 7, 8 and 10. Its database includes only original, signed drivers from the official websites of equipment manufacturers.
The app is aimed at users with no experience. Support for the Russian language, a minimum of settings and one-button control practically exclude the possibility of confusing or breaking something. What if new driver turns out to be inappropriate, DriverHub will remove it from the system and replace the old one.
All DriverHub features:
- Search for missing, update outdated drivers and additional software. Automatic installation.
- Simple and expert mode of operation. In expert mode, the user can select a driver from several available ones, in simple mode - the program itself selects the optimal version.
- Daily replenishment of the database of drivers.
- Storing download history.
- Recovery - roll back drivers to previous versions.
- Displays basic information about the computer.
- Launching system Windows utilities from its interface.
DriverMax Free
DriverMax is a free, straightforward, English-language utility, the main purpose of which is to update drivers. Unlike others free apps it contains another useful option - creating a system rollback point and backing up the installed drivers at the user's choice. And also restore from a backup.
After installation, DriverMax insistently reminds that it would be nice to register on the site and buy a paid license with advanced functions, one of which is fully automatic operation. Annual usage starts at $ 10.39.
Driver magician
Driver Magician is the last hero of today's review. In the recent past, I had 2 versions, one of which was free. Today there is only a paid one with a 13-day trial period. License cost - $ 29.95.
There is no Russian language in Driver Magician, but it is not difficult to use it. The set of features is about the same as in Driver Genius:
- Scanning and updating.
- Creation backups drivers with the ability to restore both with and without the use of the program (the backup is saved in the form of a zip archive or installer application).
- Uninstalling the driver.
- Backing up and restoring individual user folders - Favorites Internet Explorer, Desktop and Documents, and - system registry(in one file).
- Identification of devices unknown to the system.
In the trial period, the program is fully functional. Compatible with any Windows versions.
That's probably all. Choose what you like best and use it.
Etc. In the same article, we want to show you how to install drivers automatically using the operating system itself. Windows systems 7, 8 and using special services: DriverPack Solution and ma-config.com. You will also learn how to install or update drivers if you do not have an Internet connection, but for this you will have to take a few preliminary steps.
To make it more interesting, we will install drivers on a laptop and two system blocks that my colleagues brought me. After installing the operating system, some of the drivers were not installed on them and we will need to install them. For example, on a laptop, the driver did not get up to some "Basic system device», We could not find the driver even on the Internet by the ID-equipment code. So let's go! At the beginning of the article, we always publish a few of your letters.
How to install drivers
I understand the question! There are situations when it is quite difficult to find drivers for a specific device. For example, take the case of our reader. Usually drivers for all laptop devices are present on the website of this laptop itself, and if there are no drivers there, then what to do? Of course, this happens quite rarely, but it happens.As you understand, all components for a laptop are supplied by certain manufacturers and each such manufacturer has an official website on which drivers for Windows XP, Windows 7 or Windows 8 are probably posted. and not all of them are in Russian. It's a good thing, for such a case, to run a special program and it will find all uninstalled in Windows driver.
There are not so many good and free programs that can determine the drivers missing in the operating system, and even install them. In my articles, I often mention the DriverPack Solution program. The automatic driver installation service ma-config.com is also good and we will talk about it today. But first of all, to install the missing driver, you need to use the capabilities of the operating system itself Windows 7, Windows 8. How? Find out now! Let's take a look at some good ways automatic installation of drivers.
How to install drivers automatically using Windows itself
One friend brought me a laptop, which had one device without a driver, together with his friends he searched the entire Internet and could not find this ill-fated driver. Finally, everyone decided that the device was defective, so the driver could not be installed on it, so the laptop came to me.
Modern operating systems from Microsoft Windows 7, 8 contain a huge database of drivers for a huge number of various devices... We will use this database to help ourselves. Before starting work, I recommend creating a system restore point.
Let's apply the Device Installation Settings tool, with it you can install in operating system missing driver. Some experienced users do not use it, considering that the drivers "from Microsoft" are truncated, maybe this is so, but it is better than nothing and the device will work with them, and not an eyesore with a yellow circle in Device Manager.
Usually the Device Installation Options tool is disabled for users, let's enable it and see how it works, for this you just need to switch the Device Installation Settings tool to Automatic mode in the Control Panel.
In Windows 7 Start-> Devices and Printers.
In Windows 8, right-click in the left corner and also select "Control Panel",
Right-click on the name of your computer and select "Device Installation Options"
Check "Yes, do it automatically (recommended)" and Save.
If the operating system contains a device without drivers, then almost immediately there will be an automatic search and installation of drivers on these devices.
But sometimes the system will not be able to do this and you will see such a warning "The driver could not be found"
Or you can just go to Device Manager, right-click on a device without drivers and select "Update Drivers" and it will search for drivers for the device.
How to install drivers automatically using the disc or DriverPack Solution Official site of automatic search Driver Driver Pack Solution is located at http://drp.su/ru/download.htm
On this site you can download four tools for finding drivers: Lite, DVD, Full, Configurator. We will briefly familiarize ourselves with all of them, then choose what you need. The Lite version will be installed on your computer. The DVD version will download to you as ISO image, which will need to be burned on DVD disc... Version Full can find almost all the drivers you need, works without installation and you can carry it on a USB flash drive.
The first thing that is offered is the Lite program. We will use it to find a driver for our "Main system device"
It is written in great detail how to work with Lite version, in our article "How to install a driver for a webcam" And here I will say a little shorter. Download it
then you install,
run, the program scans your operating system for all installed and not installed drivers. Immediately put a check mark on the "Settings" and "Expert mode" (it is more convenient to work), then go to the Online tab. As you can see, our problem is solved, the program was able to pick up a driver for our unknown "Main system device", to download and install our driver, click on the button with the ID of the equipment of our device: PCI \ VEN_1180 & DEV_0592 &
The file is downloaded, this is the installer of our driver, as it turned out on the Ricoh card reader. We launch it.
Ready.
Our unknown device Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller
In the same way, you can install the driver on any other device!
How to install drivers using DriverPack Solution DVD
Select the DVD version and Download.
To download, we need a free utorrent program, if you do not have it, download from the link
http://www.utorrent.com/intl/ru/
Install the driver on the web camera using DriverPack Solution DVD.
This version of the program is a disc image that can be burned onto a DVD disc and carried everywhere with you. Or you can open the image in the program DAEMON Tools Lite, and so work with the image. Open the image and run the DriverPack Solution.exe file.
A window already familiar to us opens. Go to the Drivers tab. We also put a tick on the items "Settings" and "Expert mode". As you can see, full information is provided on the situation with the drivers in our operating system. One driver for our webcam is missing. Check the checkbox of the webcam and select Intelligent installation (recommended). That's it, the driver for our webcam is installed. Please note 22 drivers can be upgraded to latest versions, but if your computer is stable, it is not necessary to do this.
How to install drivers using DriverPack Solution Full
We will use this package to install an unstable driver for the Intel Management Engine Interface, which is built into the motherboard chipset and performs important monitoring processes. In the Device Manager, you can see that opposite it stands yellow triangle with an exclamation mark, signaling that our device is not working properly.
Of course, this driver can be downloaded from the official Intel website, which we did in the article “How to install drivers on motherboard"(Link to the article above). In the same article, we will install this driver using the DriverPack Solution Full program
DriverPack Solution Full Contains a huge package of drivers, I carry it just in case on a USB flash drive. For example, friends will ask you to reinstall the operating system and after reinstalling it will turn out that the driver on the network card has not been installed, therefore you cannot go to the Internet and you cannot download the driver, so you can successfully install the driver on your network card using the DriverPack Solution Full assembly. which is on your flash drive.
How to work with this version is described in great detail in the article "How to download and install drivers on a motherboard" Here I will tell you the main thing.
Click Download,
you will need a torrent program to download again.
The program is downloaded in the .rar archive. Unzip the program to a folder. If you do not have an archiver, you can download the free 7-Zip from the website
http://www.7-zip.org/
As soon as the archive with the program has been unzipped into a folder, go to this folder and run the file in DriverPackSolution.exe.
In the program window that opens, we see that not all drivers are installed,
check the box for our Intel Management Engine Interface and click "Smart Install (Recommended)." Our driver is installed.
There are 7 outdated drivers that can be updated. Mark the driver data with a check mark and click Install.
You can install and update drivers selectively, tick the box desired device and click Intelligent Installation (Recommended). Or you can check the boxes on necessary drivers and click Install.
We go to the site www.ma-config.com/ru/. Click on the button "Start analysis"
"Automatic installation"
The plugin is downloaded to our computer, you can click "Run".
Plugin installation.
"Good"
"Refresh the page"
Full information about our computer is displayed.
Now you need to click "My drivers.
If you want to download or update any driver, click Download.
An article on this topic:
Drivers are responsible for the work physical devices such as sound chip, video card, controller hard drives and USB devices, Ethernet network and Wi-Fi, printers, etc. If there is no driver at all, then the device simply does not work, the system "does not see" it.
If the driver is very outdated, then everything may be fine, but the most recent driver improves the stability of the device, and, therefore, the entire system. Conflict with other devices is also reduced.
By default, the built-in Windows drivers from Microsoft are used. The built-in driver allows the device to start from standard parameters and they are not updated. Most devices have drivers from a manufacturer, such as Intel. Drivers from the manufacturer are updated and often have advanced settings.
Usually, to install a new driver or update an existing one, you need:
- go to the manufacturer's website
- specify the device model, version and bitness of Windows
- download and install the driver from the installer or.
And so with every device, of which there can be no dozen, including system ones.
DriverHub program
Instead of manual installation, you can use special program to automatically search for drivers. The program scans the system and checks against its database. Each device has a unique manufacturer and model identifier. Next, the installed version of the driver is checked with information about latest updates in the database. Based on the information received, the most suitable drivers are downloaded.
Usually, programs at the installation stage begin to require you to buy a premium version. This article will focus on completely free program DriverHub.
You can watch the video or continue reading the article:
The DriverHub driver updater has all the necessary features found in driver managers:
- Automatically search for missing or outdated drivers on your computer / laptop.
- Download the desired software from our own storage on the Internet
- Installing drivers on a computer in automatic mode.
- Ability to cancel (rollback to previous version) installing / updating the driver.
The interface of the program is quite simple, to get started, just click the big button "Find Now"
In just 10-20 seconds, the program will show the found drivers, with one click of a button you can install all of them. But I recommend switching to "Expert Mode" and checking what the program wants to install:
Now we go into each device and compare the information about the current driver on the right and the candidate for installation on the left. It is important to consider the following points:
- It's good if the current manufacturer is Microsoft, and the new driver is from another manufacturer, presumably from the device developer and newer
- It is not recommended to change the driver from the developer, i.e. from Microsoft to a driver from another developer. For example, change Intel to Synaptics
- It's good if the driver release date is newer, but the program may be wrong and suggest more old driver
- It is good if the driver version is higher, but it may be lower if another manufacturer or new line drivers.
For example, if the "old driver" is version 10.0.0.1 from 2009, and the "new" version is "4.1.3.0" from 2018, then the preference is given to the "new" driver.
I repeat, you don't have to do this and completely trust the program! So, leave the checkboxes on the selected drivers and click "Install". The word "Installed" should appear next to each device. If you have only errors, then the antivirus is probably interfering with the program. I have it and not a single driver was installed, although I did not receive any error warnings.
Settings and Recovery
In the DriverHub settings, you will find the same path to the folder where the new drivers are saved. Pay attention to the checkbox "Check system devices"
If you are very afraid that after the update the system will not work, then uncheck this box. In this case, new "firewood" will be selected only for peripheral devices such as printer, sound, Network Card and etc.
DriverHub benefits
- The DriverHub driver manager has the following advantageous features:
- Installation and use of the program does not require any financial investments, there are no restrictions on the duration of operation or the number of installed drivers.
- Guaranteed safe installation of software (drivers offered for download are checked for viruses).
- The ability to run on any (even weak) computers under Windows management(all versions above Windows XP).
- Ability to install and run the program from removable media (flash drives, disks, etc.). The only requirement is Internet access.
