Many users are faced with the need to configure the operating system using drivers. These are special programs that are used to interact with equipment and operating system. They allow you to listen to music on your device, play video files and run various applications. If you encounter problems using devices, then you need to read the information on how to install drivers on your computer.

Why do you need drivers on a Windows computer

Each hardware component for interaction with a computer is equipped with a driver. They are needed for:

• motherboard chipset;
• sound card;
• network card;
• video cards;
• controllers responsible for the interaction of disks and other devices.

It is necessary to install software components for device operability, starting from the main board control circuit and ending with utilities for controller interaction.

How to check which drivers are needed?

By default, the operating system already contains the necessary set of drivers to run, but they may be outdated or partially inoperative. Therefore, after installing a new Windows versions, you need to check for working versions of the drivers and download them. This can be done like this:

1. Go through the main menu to the "Control Panel". Locate Device Manager and click on it.
2. You will see a list of all computer hardware. For convenience, it is organized into sections.
3. Check each partition for uninstalled components. They are marked with a yellow question mark. On some operating systems, they are marked with a black exclamation point within a yellow triangle. The appearance of such a sign means that no drivers were found during the installation of Windows or their version is excessively outdated.

Now you just have to find the missing components and install them on your device. To do this, you can resort to the help of disks, Internet sites, the Update Center and utilities. Let's deal with each case separately.

FROM motherboard and a video card, the kit always comes with disks containing all the drivers necessary for their operation. Installing the driver from the disk is carried out according to the instructions:

1. Place the boot media in optical drive. Wait for the boot menu to appear and select Run AutoPlay. This item appears first in the list and may be titled differently. If the start menu is not displayed, then you need to start the installation through "My Computer". To do this, select the drive icon and right-click on it. Select "Open" or "Install" from the drop-down list. The third option is to open the disk through the "Explorer" by double-clicking on the left mouse button, select the one that has the exe extension in the list of files.
2. Usually the disk contains a complete set of drivers. He will appear in front of you on the list. Install the Chipset drivers first. The installation procedure is standard, you need to agree with the terms of the license and confirm your actions several times. Do not change the folder for downloading the software, the system will choose the one you need.
3. Restart your computer, then install the Audio and LAN software in the same way. This will activate the sound and network components of the motherboard. After each download, you need to restart your device to avoid errors.

There is no need to install other programs and utilities that may be on the disk - software for the chipset, sound and network cards is enough. If, after installing them, you find unidentified devices in the manager, then you need to look for components for them separately.

In the same way, drivers are installed on if they are necessary for a video card or a standard video controller. A disk with software, if the video card is not standard, comes in addition.

How to download and install drivers on a computer from the Internet

If you have purchased a motherboard for a long time, then the software for it is already outdated and it may not be displayed correctly in the manager. The latest version can be downloaded from the hardware manufacturer's website. To do this, you must already have a LAN setup program installed, or you can use a USB modem (a smartphone can be an alternative).

Before you install drivers on your computer, you need to find out who made your motherboard. You can act through the "Device Manager". Then you need to go to the site, its address looks like the name of the manufacturer and the prefix com/ru. On this portal, you need to select your board model (usually the software is located in a section called "Service" or "Support"). Since the range of boards can be large, it is better to use the search bar. Enter the name of the board in it as indicated in the "Device Manager". If you need drivers for a video card, then they are searched in the same way.

Then you will only have to choose the operating system model and the missing utilities - for the chipset, sound and network cards. Now you just have to click the "Download" button and wait for the file to be received. The solution to the problem of how to install the downloaded driver on your computer depends on the form in which you receive desired program. If this is a standard exe file, then it is enough to launch it by double-clicking the left mouse button. If you received the utility in an archive, then you first need to unpack it, for this you will need to additionally download or install from DVD program winrar or 7zip. The installation algorithm does not differ from what is shown for downloading utilities from a disk.

If you could not find the necessary drivers on the manufacturer's website, then you need to contact the chipset manufacturer. In this case, you need to act in the same way, but enter the chipset model in the search bar. In this case, you will have to look for drivers for sound and a network card manually.

How to find drivers for your version of Windows OS?

Sometimes the previous search options do not allow you to find what you are looking for. It has to do with what you put new version OS for which the manufacturer has not yet prepared a utility package, or you are using outdated version without support. In this case, you can proceed as follows:

• use Windows Update;
• download utilities for previous version OS;
• use special utilities;
• manually install the required software.

Let's deal with the most in a simple way- use of the standard software of the operating system - Windows Update. It will help you install utilities for the normal operation of network and sound equipment. To work with standard features, follow the algorithm:

1. Go to the "Hardware and Sound" menu.
2. Right-click on the name of your PC and in the drop-down menu, find "Device installation settings".
3. In the window that opens, put a marker in front of the phrase "Use Update Center if the drivers are not found on the computer." Save your change.

Now the operating system itself will search for and update drivers. However, this method is not good enough, as errors often occur. Sometimes it is better to install an additional utility on your PC that will help it quickly install and update all the necessary components.

Utilities for the previous version of the OS are downloaded from the manufacturer's website. You need to check compatibility first. software: Drivers from the "seven" are suitable for Windows 8 and 10. Windows 7 itself works adequately with those designed for Vista. The only thing you need to consider when searching is the bit depth of the system. You cannot install components intended for a 32-bit system on a 64-bit one.

Popular utilities for finding and updating drivers

If you do not want to roam the sites and look for individual components for system interaction, you must install one of the special programs. Automatic installation drivers is produced by one of the utilities:

1. DriverPack Solution - this application contains a large collection of drivers for systems with different configurations. For home use, it is recommended to use the online version of this program, but it will only work if you have no network problems. If you often work with a computer that is not connected to the World Wide Web, you should turn to the offline version, but you will have to download and install it on a USB flash drive with a capacity of at least 12 GB.
2. Snappy Driver Installer is a popular utility from one of the developers behind DriverPack Solution. Available in two versions - Lite and Full. You don't need to install it. The first version of the utility searches for and installs drivers from the Internet, and the second can be downloaded from external HDD(its volume is more than 30 GB).
3. Driver Booster is chosen by amateurs computer games who often encounter the fact that the installation asks for a driver. This is a truly automated utility that scans the system and installs the missing components in one click. The developers claim that the software components installed on your PC have been improved to improve system performance, which is very important when playing games.
4. Driver Genius - has a trial period of 30 days. It's good for regular use, but the license will cost around $30. It has a driver package backup feature, useful for those who frequently reinstall the system.
5. Driver Checker - will cost you about $40, but it collects several useful features: backup, restoration, removal of failures, export of software components from other devices united in one local network. This program was the first to be optimized for Windows 10. The disadvantage of the utility is that it does not have a full trial period. Without payment, it only reserves drivers.
6. DriverMax Free is an English-language application that can not only update software, but also create a starting point for system restore. This software is free, but then you need to use it in manual mode, if you want to fully automate the process, you will have to pay about $11 per year for a license.
7. Driver Magician is an English-language utility that has a trial period of 13 days. It can back up not only drivers, but also individual user folders, for example, "Documents" and others.

The listed applications deserve best reviews from users. They are compatible with any version of Windows and are easy to use. In addition to them, you can resort to using other programs that are no less simple. Even a beginner who has minimal knowledge of working with a PC can cope with updating and installing software using utilities. After the completion of any of the listed programs, you need to reboot the system in order to save the changes made to its work.

Manual search and installation of drivers on a computer

The most difficult task is the forced installation of software components, which is done manually. It is worth resorting to if an error occurs when installing the driver in other ways. Proceed according to the algorithm:

1. Go to "Device Manager" and find the device on which the software could not be installed.
2. Right-click on it and find the "Properties" item in the drop-down menu. He usually goes last.
3. Go to the "Details" tab in the window that appears.
4. In the top selection box, stop at the "Device ID" item.
5. You will see a line with a set of characters. Copy it.
6. Go to any site that offers to find drivers or paste the copied value into the search bar.
7. From the search results, select the site that offers to download drivers for your version of Windows. Download the required archive or .exe file, install it in the same way as the drivers from the official hardware manufacturer.

In some cases, alternative services offer components without an executable. In this case, the installation will proceed differently. Again, go to "Device Manager", right-click on an unidentified device and stop the selection on the item "Update driver". In the next window, put a marker on the line: "Search for drivers on this PC." Specify the path to the desired file in the downloads folder. The operating system will do the rest for you. A reboot is required upon completion of the installation.

Now you know how to install the necessary drivers. This is not a complicated procedure that will allow you to enjoy all the features of your PC. Share the received information with your friends, comment and tell your stories.

After all, all this economy is not enough just to connect to a computer or even insert it inside system block. It is necessary that Windows 10 accept the new hardware as native and be able to work with it normally.

Drivers are a kind of “translators” from a pro-slave language to a working one: each manufacturer writes these programs (and most importantly, they constantly improve and update them) for all their devices. There will be no drivers - and Windows simply will not be able to work with this piece of iron.

To see a list of all drivers installed on the system, right-click on the icon in the lower left corner of the screen, and then select the Device Manager command from the menu that appears. If you see an exclamation mark next to some item in this menu, the driver is not installed, does not work correctly and needs to be updated.

During installation, Windows independently determines the drivers for the vast majority of devices, and only in some cases you will need to download and install the driver separately from the hardware manufacturer's website. There is nothing complicated in this procedure: the drivers are installed as the most common programs.

Driver update

So, what drivers will we have to update?

Video card. This package must be installed first, because of all the computer fraternity, the video card is perhaps the most quarrelsome. If you don’t service it on time, it will refuse to work on its own and pull the entire computer with it. Therefore, even if your card (for example, based on an NVIDIA chipset)

Windows recognized it on its own and even installed drivers for it from its own stash - do not be lazy, go to the manufacturer's website and download the latest driver package.

By the way, drivers for video cards are updated very often - usually once a month.

You can find drivers for video cards on the sites:

• NVIDIA (GeForce series video cards) - NVIDIA.ru;
• ATI Catalyst (AMD/ATI chipsets) - radeon.ru .

Video card drivers are also built into Windows itself (which also knows how to automatically update via Windows 10 Update), but new versions appear much more often on the sites mentioned above. By the way, latest versions driver packages from NVIDIA and AMD are also able to update themselves without waiting for user intervention. There are special utilities for updating other important drivers - for example, for Intel chipsets and integrated graphics adapters, you can use the online system at downloadcenter.intel.com

Built-in sound. Let me remind you once again that drivers for sound modules built into motherboards (HD Audio Codec Driver) can be found on realtek.com.

You may need to update the network card driver and WiFi module(They can be found on the website of the motherboard manufacturer). I personally highly recommend doing this, if only because the standard network card driver in Windows does not provide the maximum data transfer rate over local network. For example, just now installed Windows with the standard network driver, I can transfer files to my network drive at no more than 10 Mbps. But as soon as you go to the Realtek website and download a brand new proprietary driver, the speed increased almost five times! And this, you see, is a lot.

Automatic driver installation

But we will most likely have to install the drivers for the following devices from scratch.

Printer. Almost all printers are perfectly recognized by Windows at the first connection, and the system installs drivers for them automatically. But I do not advise you to rely on them: in this version, you will not get the lion's share of proprietary diagnostic tools and print settings. Do not be lazy, go to the manufacturer's website and download the branded driver!

Separate sound card. A rare, even exotic beast in our era of integrated sound. Therefore, most likely, your separate “sound recorder” from Asus or Creative Windows simply does not recognize.

It is possible that there are other devices in your system that you forgot to mention and which, nevertheless, also require your attention. To do this, immediately after starting working with Windows, go to the Device Manager and see if all components are recognized and functioning correctly.

By the way, you still need to choose the right driver for your piece of iron, depending on which version of Windows you are working with. For example, it is useless to slip a driver for a 64-bit system into a 32-bit version of Windows. But the reverse focus passes: Windows 64-bit quietly eats drivers for a 32-bit system. But this is an extreme and not very desirable option, you can use it only if 64-bit drivers for your hardware do not exist in nature. The same applies to drivers for Windows 8: most likely, your "ten" "eats" them for a sweet soul, but it's better to look for newer versions.

In a word, do not be surprised if, during the installation of the driver, Windows “pleases” you with a warning window - your drivers, they say, are not certified and neither Windows, nor Microsoft Corporation, nor personally Bill Gates bear any responsibility for their performance. Keep calm and don't panic.

After installing the driver, try restarting your computer - now at least one question mark in the list of devices should disappear ... "Conflicting" devices, whose names in the list are equipped with an exclamation mark, can simply be deleted (to do this, right-click on the device name and select relevant paragraph context menu). It is hoped that after rebooting Windows will install this device correctly.

Driver installers

You can always find new versions of drivers on the Internet on the page of the manufacturer of your components. These addresses are usually listed in the device documentation, and a small list can be found in the appendix to this book. It is best to download the necessary drivers to a special folder on your hard drive and update them from time to time.

Well, if it so happened that you need to install Windows on some old computer or a laptop for which you can't find drivers? Well, there is a recipe for this case too: immediately after installing Windows 10, download and install the DriverPack Solution program (drp.su/ru/).

It will allow you to install drivers or update for all hardware, just don't rush to press the button automatic update, and go to "expert mode", otherwise the program will happily install a bunch of unnecessary software from Yandex, Chinese antivirus and other advertising tinsel on your computer. In expert mode, you will have to update the drivers one by one, but this is not too big a price to pay for security.

The main competitor of DriverPack is driver program Booster (http://ru.iobit.com/driver-booster/). She also comes for free, but unobtrusively recommends sheltering full version for 1000 rubles a year: after that, you don’t have to worry about finding or updating drivers at all, because the program will completely take over this task. Linux users, of course, will not miss the opportunity to remind you that this system can update drivers on its own without any additional utilities - and we, long-suffering Windows users, can only envy such a luxury.

You can update all the drivers on your computer using another one, this time free program- Snappy Driver Installer (https://sdi-tool.org/?lang=en).

Driver Certification

It is known that one of the most common reasons for the “fall” of the operating system was precisely the drivers various devices- the errors contained in them could put the entire system into a stupor. In an effort to overcome such a misfortune, Microsoft introduced its own driver certification system from various manufacturers, which, in theory, was supposed to completely solve the problem of driver "conflicts". And indeed - certified drivers work reliably and practically do not give rise to problems. However, their number, alas, is not too large, and for many devices there are no certified drivers at all! In addition, certification is a slow process, and while a specific driver version receives the desired certificate, dozens of its modified and corrected “descendants” will already have time to appear.

If the driver is not installed

If the driver is not installed and the system categorically refuses to install the driver for your device as “not signed”, that is, not approved by Microsoft, and there is no other one at hand and on the website of the hardware manufacturer, well, you can make the system be more accommodating by disabling driver signature control in general. Dangerous, but sometimes there is no other way out. You do it this way: when you restart your computer, press the F8 button - and if you do it at the right time, immediately after the motherboard logo disappears from the screen, the Boot Menu will open in front of you. One of its points just allows you to disable the verification of the "signature".

If you have a question about how to install drivers on a laptop, then there are several ways to complete this procedure: download software from the manufacturer's official website, use automatic search or manual installation from a disk, or use the DriverPack Solution program.

Installation from the official site

The safest way to install drivers on a laptop is to download them from the device manufacturer's website. In this case, they will definitely have the current version and full compatibility.

But before downloading the drivers, you need to find out the model of the laptop. You can view this information on the device case, on the battery, or using system tools - for example, command line.

1. Launch Command Prompt.
2. Type "wmic csproduct get name" and press Enter.

The device model will be displayed in the command line window. If you do not recognize it, then you will not be able to understand what drivers are needed for the equipment to work correctly.

When downloading from the official site, one more condition is required - Internet access is required. If after Windows installation the system lacks the software of the network card and the Wi-Fi module, then you will have to download the drivers on another computer or install them from a disk.

The site may not have drivers for all devices - this also happens. But this does not mean that they are not needed, because they do not have to be installed. It's just that some drivers don't have a version for Windows 10.

Therefore, for example, if Windows 8 was originally installed on the laptop, then you first need to open the page with drivers for Windows 8 and install them all. Then you can already go to the Windows 10 page and see what updates are available - usually there are not many of them.

Driver installation

If you downloaded software for a laptop, then it is also important to install it correctly, following a certain order. But before installing the software, create a restore point. If something goes wrong after adding the drivers, you can quickly roll back the system back to a healthy state.

1. Windows updates.
2. Chipset.
3. Disk controller.
4. Integrated video card.
5. Discrete graphics adapter.
6. Sound card.
7. Network Card.
8. WiFi module.
9. Bluetooth adapter.
10. USB controller.
11. Card reader.
12. Webcam.
13. Utilities for touchpad, keyboard (hotkey support), etc.

Usually, on the manufacturer's website, the drivers are presented in exactly the order in which they need to be installed. Above are the most important drivers(for example, a chipset), below are utilities that you can do without, and manuals.

The hardware software is downloaded as executable files. Drivers are installed like regular programs, some require a mandatory reboot to save the new configuration. In any case, if you follow the sequence during installation, then no problems will arise.

Automatic and manual search

If downloading drivers from the official site seems too complicated, then try installing the drivers through the device manager from a disk or from a folder. With this built-in tool, you can find out exactly what drivers are needed, and then install them from a disk or download from the Internet.

The order is no longer so important here - just look at which device is marked with an exclamation mark. This designation indicates that the equipment needs to be installed or updated. How to carry out such an operation correctly:

If you run an automatic search, then Windows will try to find out which drivers are needed on its own, and then download and install the necessary software. When choosing manual search, you can specify the specific location where the drivers are stored. This method, for example, allows you to install the device software from a disk, if available.

In addition, some driver versions downloaded from the manufacturer's website may not have an executable file. To install such software, you will also have to use a manual search through the device manager. You just need to specify the folder in which the drivers are located in order to start their installation.

Application DriverPack Solution

If you do not have the opportunity to access the Internet from a laptop, automatic search does not lead to anything, and there is no disk with equipment software, then use the DriverPack Solution program. This is a universal driver package that itself finds out what software the laptop needs, and then installs it from its base.

DriverPack Solution does not always accurately determine the type of hardware and may supply the wrong software, but if you need to install a lot of drivers, then this is the best option. Errors, if they occur, can be quickly corrected by manually updating the software through the device manager.

After starting, DriverPack Solution tries to find out the models of devices installed on the laptop. When the scan is completed, a list of drivers that need to be installed appears. A couple of recommendations for using the program:

• Turn on expert mode.
• Do not install all drivers at once, install them one by one.
• Clean up the startup list after using the program by disabling the application to automatically update drivers.
• Don't forget to check the functionality of the equipment.

If a device is not working, reinstall its drivers using one of the methods listed above. In any case, the priority will be to download the software from the official site, but an automatic search through the device manager is also suitable.

Hello dear reader! The topic of today's article will be drivers. We will understand the very concept of what a driver is, their purpose, and also learn how to install a driver.

Let's start with the concept of a driver - this is special program, through which the operating system can control any device. It is necessary for every computer device (both external and internal).

Not all equipment needs an installation that requires user intervention. This is because the operating system has a built-in set of drivers for the most popular devices, when connected, you only need to wait a while before starting work.

In order to check if the device driver is installed, you can use the Windows Device Manager. To open it, you need to right-click on "My Computer" and select the "Properties" menu.

If you have Windows 7, then on the left click " Extra options”, a window will open in which go to the “Hardware” tab and click on the “Device Manager” button.

If you have Windows XP installed, then when you click on "Properties", a window will open where you need to go to the "Hardware" - "Device Manager" tab.

If there are no items in the list that have yellow question marks or exclamation points in a yellow circle, we can assume that all the necessary drivers are installed on the computer. Otherwise, you do not have any driver installed or there is a device conflict.

So, we figured out what a driver is.

Now let's talk about the pressing problem, the lack of the necessary driver on the computer, where you can get it and how to install it.

Driver installation procedure

Driver installation usually occurs using two methods: an executable file (.exe) and an installation information file (.inf).

In the first case, the installation comes down to running the file and answering the installer's questions. The installer itself will find the device for which the driver is being installed or report its absence if the wrong file was launched. For most devices, driver installation is not possible if it is not connected to a computer.

With this installation method exe) additional components are often installed with the driver. Sometimes the user is asked if these add-ons are needed, and sometimes they are installed automatically without notification. These may be various support centers that report the status of the printer and offer to buy consumables or utilities for more detailed settings devices.

Additional programs that are installed with drivers play an auxiliary role, but are not responsible for the device's performance. Such components can be convenient and useful, or they can interfere. If, after installing the driver, you find new programs, and they do not bring any benefit at all, you can safely remove them.

When installing from a file. inf You must first run the driver update wizard for the specific device. To do this, right-click on the line with an unknown device, and select the menu item "Update driver" (in Windows XP) or "Update drivers" (in Windows 7) in the manager.

You can also wait until Windows detects a new device and starts the installation wizard when you boot your computer. In the window that appears, you will need to refuse to search for a driver on the Internet and click "Next".

In the next step, you can leave the switch on the item "Automatic" or " Automatic search updated drivers", in this case it will take a long time to wait, so it is better to check the box "Install from a list or specified location" or "Search for a driver on this computer".

In this case, you will need to specify the path to the folder that contains the file with information about installing the driver. The installation wizard will scan the folder or all removable media and select the appropriate file for the device. If you select "Search on Removable Media" in Windows XP, the procedure will take a little longer than when specifying a specific folder. With this method, only the driver itself will be installed without any additional components.

During installation, a message may appear stating that "The driver is not digitally signed." The digital signature of the driver is a guarantee that you are dealing with an original product that has been tested for compatibility with the OS.

"Originality" means that the file has not been modified by anyone other than the hardware manufacturer itself. If the file is obtained from a reliable source (the disk supplied with the equipment or the official website of the manufacturer), then you can agree to install without a signature, otherwise it is advisable to abandon the installation and look for a reliable driver.

It's also not uncommon for Windows to show a message that a driver has not been tested for your version of Windows. See below for what the message looks like. If you are sure that the driver you are installing is suitable for your system, then click Continue Anyway.

During the installation of the driver, the system may issue a security warning, do not worry and click "Install this driver software anyway". See below for what the error looks like.

Where to find drivers

The easiest and most reliable way to find the right driver is to use the disc that comes with the hardware. They usually have two installation methods. That is, there are both inf- and exe-files. In addition, the autorun has a convenient menu in which it is easy to navigate and select the desired component.

After clicking on the menu, the autorun program will launch itself desired file drivers. The presence of .inf files also makes it possible to use the update wizard Windows drivers, specifying as the search location optical disc. In such disks, there is an "Install all" button ("Install all").

Such an installation source may not work for several simple reasons: the disk was not included with the equipment, it was lost or became unusable, it is also possible that there are no drivers for your operating system on the disk (for example, the printer was bought in Windows times XP and you switched to Windows 7).

If there is no disk, you will have to contact the manufacturer's website. For search the correct driver on the site you need to navigate by the words: “Download (Download)”, “Support (Support)”, “Driver (Driver)”.

Once in the desired section, select the category of the device (video card, sound, etc.), and then the model from the list (or manually enter it in the search field), and the operating system in which the device will work.

Let me remind you that you can find out the name of the OS in the system properties - "Win" + "Pause Break" or right-click on "My Computer" and select "Properties".

If we talk about laptops, then you should remember that the same model may have different modifications, respectively, some components may be missing or, on the contrary, added to the kit, a discrete card, for example. Therefore, you do not need to download everything from the page with drivers for your computer.

There is also another source of drivers, jokingly referred to by experts as a "secret weapon". This tool received such a loud name because it is able to install a driver on almost any modern device and usually installation occurs within 5-10 minutes.

This is a driver installation manager. This is a program that has a large collection of drivers for almost all current devices in one program.

It can be downloaded from the Internet. The most popular, but not the only one of its kind, is the Driver Pack Solution program. Once launched, it may ask you to download the latest drivers, then scan the system (this will take some time) and display a message about how many drivers need to be installed and how many need to be updated. After that, you just need to click the button that will start the installation process.

In order to see a list of devices for which the program intends to install drivers, you need to check the "Expert mode" box in the left part of the window. In this case, you will be able to choose which of the drivers you want to install and which not.

There is, of course, another way to find a driver - use google or another search engine and download it from the so-called warez sites. But it is not advisable to use this method, since you can easily run into a malicious program.

The administration of such sites usually disclaims all responsibility for the posted content, in addition, information on them can be added by ordinary users without additional verification.

Of course, there are resources that have been tested for many years, from which you can download without fear. And yet, you must understand that no one is safe, and even with drivers found on reliable sites, problems can arise.

See you soon!

P.S. I found a video for you where you can see clearly how to install the driver through the device manager.

You probably need to start an article on the topic “how to install a driver” with what a driver is and why it is needed at all. A driver is a special program that allows your operating system to work with a device. For example, a video card, modem, printer, network card and much more. In other words, anything you plug into your computer won't work unless you install a specific driver for that particular device.

A little background

Previously, although now there are still such people, users of the operating Windows systems XP (of course, this includes all previous versions of the OS) had to manually install each driver. That is why various questions arose about this: “how to install the driver”, “where to get the driver” and others.

Consider this question - "how to install a sound driver?" To do this, you need the disc that came with motherboard. In general, when buying any device, a driver disk should be included in the kit.

If you do not have this disc, for any reason (lost, it was not there when you bought it, or it is damaged, etc.), you will need to determine the exact name of your video card and then download the appropriate driver from the Internet.

If you can't determine the name, then take some assembly of Windows into which enthusiasts have built a set of drivers and programs.

Situation today

Windows developers 7 solved the problem of many installing drivers. Now, when the driver is installed automatically. The system determines which devices are available and installs drivers for them. We are talking about the most basic devices: video card, sound driver for modem, printer and other you will have to install it yourself.

How to install the driver manually?

You can install in several ways. To begin with, in any case, we need to find the driver. If there is no disk, then download it on the Internet. If you do not know the exact name of the device, then Everest. In it you can find out detailed information about your computer as a whole.

After we know the exact model of the device, download the driver. Next, let's proceed with the installation.

You can start the installation by clicking on the executable exe file. For example, setup.exe.

If you downloaded only the driver, then only it will be installed. But if you are using the disk that came with the device, then most likely you will be prompted to install any utilities, programs, components, and so on.

If you install the driver for the video card, you will be prompted to install more DirectX and PhysX.

If you just downloaded only the driver, then you will install only it and nothing else. Everything else will have to be hung separately.

How to install driver using .inf?

You can also install using a special .inf file that stores information about the installation.

In theory, in order not to suffer for a long time with the installation, after downloading the driver, reconnect the device or restart the computer. As soon as the system sees a device without a driver, an installation wizard will immediately appear, with which you can easily install all the necessary files.

It is possible otherwise. Open the properties of your computer. There you need to find the item "Devices" or "Device Manager". Find the right device. It is easy to find, because when a device does not have a driver, it displays a question mark.

We press the right button on the mouse and in the menu that opens, select the item - "Install driver" or "Update". Then everything will be simple (using the driver installation wizard).

Follow the instructions of this wizard and you will succeed.

If you fail to install the driver, it means that you have not downloaded what you need (for example, for another operating system).