I think many of the laptop users have encountered the problem - how to find a driver for a laptop... Time passes and someday, a new laptop reads "to mess up". Now I'm not talking about laptop-netbook keyboards that are flooded (with coffee or beer - which is even worse). I mean the Operating System. In this case, problems with the OS depend on many factors...
- How well does the user know the computer...
- How often does he use...
- Is anyone using...
- Etc.
There is such a phrase - "80% Windows errors are half a meter from the monitor screen..." I absolutely agree with these words!
As a person who has been professionally repairing and configuring computers and laptops in his city for more than 10 years, having an address book on his phone with more than 4 thousand registered clients, I can say with absolute certainty - if you have problems with your computer, first of all, look for the problem in the lack of your own knowledge...
And my site was created just to expand your knowledge, so - welcome to the new lesson!
Windows is "not childishly buggy"!
It is impossible to work on the Internet!
Games freeze and crash!
You can, of course, try to restore the system. But, there is one caveat... If your problem is due to viruses, for example the Sality virus or Conficker, then in this case it is worth reinstalling the system. At least because these viruses are found in your OS, all files with the extension .exe and infect them... And the file with the extension .exe is the launch file for any program. In this case, it is easier to reinstall the Operating System, first saving the data you need to a free disk partition.
Even your antivirus, which you once paid for1500-2000 rubles, this is a file with the extension.exe . Do you really think that they will give you the perfect remedy for all viral problems in2000 rubles?! Yes evenfor 10000r. You won’t find an ideal remedy, because it already plays a role here -Human factor. Just as it is impossible to eradicate crimes, so isIt is impossible to eliminate all computer viruses!
Therefore, we don’t strain ourselves, but decide what to do. If your computer technician did not take care that, after installing the Operating System for you (on a laptop or computer) Windows systems, make an image (scan, copy) of your system disk using the same program Acronis True Image, which will contain all installed and necessary programs, as well as drivers, then - after reinstalling Windows OS, you may encounter the following:
- You will not be able to launch games that were previously launched.
- There will be no Internet access.
- SD cards from your camera will no longer be detected, etc...
An unscrupulous repairman may tell you that the problem can be solved by replacing the video card, or hard drive, or something else. Just to earn even more money from you. Or because the master himself lacks knowledge... Only because you are not smart enough with computers...
Just in order to somehow eliminate such situations (I don’t like “hucksters” and non-professionals...) I write articles and lessons on repairing and setting up a computer.
This does not mean that if the master told you that you need to change HDD, then he is deceiving you! Never insult a person with distrust and reproaches if you understand little about the problem and call a specialist to solve your problem! It’s just that if you have doubts due to lack of knowledge (and doubts arise - EXACTLY from LACK OF KNOWLEDGE!), then you can always ask a question on my website and within 24 hours - get a response. I visit the site approximately once a day.
Okay, enough foreplay. I hope the information written above was useful to you. Let's get to practice!
How to find a driver for a laptop:
So, let's look at the example of a problem with a video driver, if after reinstalling the Operating System you suddenly :), games stop running - go to "Device Manager":
1. left mouse button, click "Start" (lower left part of the monitor screen),
3. in the context menu that appears, left-click "properties". (If you have Windows XP, then left-click - “Hardware” - “Device Manager”. If you have Windows 7, in the left menu block click “Device Manager”).
4. In the window that opens we find the equipment marked Exclamation Mark(usually signed as unknown device, but there may be another inscription). The main thing to remember is that if there is a Voskl. Sign- This means that the driver is not installed. In Windows 7, if during installation of the Operating System, the installation program was unable to install the driver on the video card, the “standard video driver” will be installed by default (this happens if your copy of Windows- older equipment in your laptop or computer. In this case, the video adapter will not show Voskl in the “device manager”. Sign, but your games will still not start until you install a “standard video adapter” instead - the correct driver for your video card!).
5. Left-click twice on the problematic equipment. A window will appear in which we click “Information” and select “properties” with the left buttonEquipment ID. Next, select it by clicking on it once with the left button :) andpress "Ctrl" on the keyboard and, without releasing it, press "C".
6. In an empty space on the desktop on the monitor screen, right-click, select “create”, then left-click “text document”.
7. Open the created document, click once with the mouse anywhere in the document window and press on the keyboard "ctrl" + "V".
8. Open an Internet browser and paste it into the address bar - http://www.devid.info/ru/
9. In the driver search site that opens, in the search bar (where it says - "Enter driver code") paste the copied code from text document and press "Search":
If you have Windows XP, then select XP from the list of suggested drivers; if you have Windows 7, select the driver for Windows 7. Be sure to take into account the bit depth of the Operating System! What system and bitness do you have? (can be 32 or 64 bits), you can look in the computer properties (an example for 7 is in the first picture above...). Having selected the driver, click on the icon to the right of it in the form of a floppy disk. A window will appear asking you to download the driver, click once with the left mouse button on the file with the extension .zip or .rar
Click again on the file with the extension .zip and we get a file download window. Choose "Save":
12. In the new window, select where we want to save this file(By default, “My Documents” or “Desktop” is suggested) and wait until the file is downloaded to your computer...
13. Open the downloaded file archive with the driver, find the file with the extension .exe and start the installation by double-clicking on it with the left mouse button.
After completing the driver installation, reboot the computer or laptop and be glad that it has disappeared from the “device manager” Voskl. Sign!
Thank you for attention!
The problem of finding and installing drivers has existed since the release of Windows. For example, in Windows XP this problem was most acute, since there were no universal drivers at that time, and immediately after installing Windws XP, a whole list of devices appeared in the device manager for which drivers were not found. In Windows 7, 8, 8.1, this problem has become less acute, since these operating systems have universal drivers, which often fit almost every computer/laptop. But we must admit that when using such drivers, some of the functionality either did not work correctly or did not work at all, for example, the maximum screen resolution was not used or the video camera showed the picture upside down. Therefore the problem searching and installing drivers still remains the first problem after installation operating system. In order to help solve this problem, this article was written.
First of all, I want to warn you that all the methods described below are as safe as possible and, if performed correctly, will not harm the computer, but nevertheless, I recommend make a restore point so that in case of problems you can return to original state .
So, after installing the operating system, you have unidentified devices in device manager .
Find the driver disk.
Quite often, discs are lost, thrown away, and sometimes are not included at all, so this method is not suitable for everyone, in which case read the methods below.
Download drivers from the official website.
If you cannot find drivers for your laptop, just go to the official website of the laptop manufacturer, find your laptop model (enter the laptop model in the search bar), select the operating system you installed and download all available drivers.
List of laptop manufacturers' websites:
Acer - www.acer.ru.
ASUS - www.asus.com
HP - www.hp.com/en
Dell - www.dell.ru
MSI - www.msi.com
Samsung - www.samsung.ru
Toshiba - www.toshiba.com.ru
Sony - www.sony.ru
Lenovo - www.lenovo.com
eMachines - en.emachines.com
LG - www.lg.com
Gigabyte - www.gigabyte.ru
Below is an example of searching for drivers for an ASUS laptop.
If you have a computer, then look at the markings of each of the computer components ( motherboard, video card, network card, etc.) for this it is not at all necessary to disassemble it - . Then go to the component manufacturer's website and download drivers for your version of the operating system.
Search for drivers by hardware ID.
Another way find and download drivers use the site http://devid.info/ru. This site contains information about a large number of hardware IDs and drivers for them. All you have to do is look at the ID of the unknown device and use a search to find it on the website and download it.
To view the device ID, go to the device manager, right-click on unknown device select "Properties"
In the properties window, go to the "Details" tab and in the "Property" field, select "Equipment ID" in the Values field you will see the coveted set of characters. Perhaps the data will not be in two lines, in which case check each of the lines by copying it to search bar Online.
Copy this set of characters and paste it into the search bar on the website http://devid.info/ru.
After the drivers are found, all you have to do is download them, be careful because there are quite a lot of advertisements on this site.
In my case, the drivers were for Windows XP x64, although I needed them for Windows 7 x64, nevertheless I downloaded those that were offered. It turned out that the archive contained drivers for other versions of operating systems, so download the most suitable one from the offer, it is quite possible that what you need will be there.
Installing drivers using programs.
There are a lot of programs to help you find, download and install drivers, the only thing is that these programs are by and large paid. In this example I will consider one of free programs - DriverPack Solution. this program is available in two versions, the first version ( online) - is installed on a computer/laptop that has problems with drivers (it is necessary that the network card works and has access to the Internet), scans your computer/laptop and displays a list of drivers that need to be installed, then clicking the “Install and Update” button the program will install all the necessary drivers.
Second version ( full version ) is suitable if the computer/laptop that has problems with drivers does not have access to the Internet or drivers are not installed on network card. After downloading the program, run the DriverPackSolution.exe file, the program will scan your computer/laptop and show you all the devices that require installation and updates to see which devices will installed driver and check the “Settings” and “Expert Mode” boxes. After this, indicate which drivers you want to install (updating drivers is not necessary if you do not experience problems with the operation of these devices).
After this, the drivers will be installed.
In conclusion, I would like to add that you should not download drivers from suspicious sources, sites that require money from you, a phone number, sending SMS, etc. you risk being scammed or downloading a virus.
What are drivers and why are they needed?
The driver is a kind of bridge between the system and the computer hardware. With its help, the Operating System is told everything that is connected to the computer and how to interact with it.
A driver is not a physical device; you cannot “touch” it. This is a program containing files with which the system can interact with devices.
When you are alone, the OS knows nothing about external devices computer, so it needs to be “introduced” to them through drivers.
Some versions of Windows already have pre-installed drivers. Usually this is the minimum - for working with sound, video, network, bluetooth, etc.
It cannot be said that without drivers and immediately after installing the OS you will not be able to work with your computer. You will have sound and video, but these are standard settings and you will not be able to fully take advantage of all the “delights” of the connected devices until you install their drivers.
This applies not only to the new OS on the computer; drivers must also be installed for other new devices that you will connect in the future.
Drivers are needed for almost all equipment that is or will be connected to the computer: sound card, mice and keyboards with additional keys, various joysticks, etc.
For example, if you have not installed drivers for your sophisticated sound card, you will not be able to fully enjoy the sound from your speakers. Or without installed drivers for the video card, you will have problems with graphics. Well, without drivers for printers, copiers, scanners, web cameras, etc., they will not work and the system will not see them, even though they are connected.
Yes, you may see in the lower right corner that the system has found, for example, a printer, but when you try to print something, nothing will work.
Where are the drivers located and located in windows?
You can find the driver in (system_drive_letter):\WINDOWS\SYSTM32\. They often don't have just one file. They are scattered throughout this folder and have extensions: *.sys, *.dll, *.vxt, *.drv and *.inf (containing installation information).
How can I find out which drivers are installed?
Go to Device Manager. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Next we look for him there.
Or you can use the program.
How to install the driver?
Usually, complete with a device or computer, there are always disks on which there are installation drivers
. In this case, you just need to run the disc and follow the instructions.
If automatic installation has not started, then you need to Open the disk through My computer, find and run the setup.exe file there.
If there are no disks, then you need to search on the Internet, for example on such well-known sites as and.
When you connect a new device, a yellow question mark will appear next to it in Device Manager. In this case, right-click on this line and specify the path to the disk or file with the drivers.
How to roll back and remove a driver.
In Device Manager, right-click on the desired line and select Properties. The following is indicated on the screenshot:
Apparently, there is no need to say that most users know that for correct operation Absolutely everything installed on a computer, equipment in the form of “hardware” components and some virtual devices, requires special software called drivers. However, quite often questions arise about, for example, where the printer driver is located in Windows 7 (as well as in other operating systems of this family) or some other device connected to the system, when control software needs to be integrated into the system in manual mode. Let's try to find out, taking into account some of the nuances associated with installing and updating such software components.
Where is the installed driver folder in Windows 7 and other systems?
On various forums on the Internet, questions related to determining the exact location of the driver for a particular device can be found quite often.
Some users claim that the main directory is the System32 directory in the root folder of the system, others believe that the storage location for the control software is the drivers directory subfolded in System32 or the DriverStore folder. Who is right? Both are right, since, depending on the type of driver itself (SYS, VXD, DRV, etc.), the location of the files may change.
How to determine the exact location of the driver?
Now let's try to find out where the drivers are located in Windows 7 by determining their exact location on the disk in system partition. To do this, it is absolutely not necessary to “dig up” the specified folders manually. In addition, when you search by device name, you are unlikely to find the corresponding driver.
The easiest way is to use the standard “Device Manager”, select the desired device, go to the properties item through the RMB menu and click the details button on the driver tab. After this, a special window will be displayed, which will show all absolute (full) paths to the directory in which they are located.
Where are the drivers in Windows 7 for updating?
However, knowing the exact location of the control software may not be enough to update it. Many users rely solely on the operating system itself when trying to install updates. In general, true. However, in this situation, it should be remembered that when searching for the necessary Windows drivers First of all, it scans already installed components.
If a search for updated drivers is set on the network (Internet), access is made only to Microsoft Corporation databases, and drivers are installed that either have digital signature corporations, or software those manufacturers for which support is declared. In this situation, it is better to use automated applications. But where are the drivers in Windows 7 that can be updated? Unfortunately, they are not in the system. But the corresponding programs access exclusively the websites of equipment manufacturers and developers of such software, after which they install updated components without user intervention.
Where are the drivers loaded during manual download?
Finally, let's look at where the drivers are located in Windows 7 for cases where the user found and downloaded them themselves. Usually in browsers that are installed in all the latest Windows versions The folder for saving downloads is silently assigned to the “Downloads” directory, and the presence of such folders is provided for all accounts registered in the system. If your browser is enabled to constantly prompt you to save downloaded content, you can specify the folder yourself. Typically, files in EXE or INF formats are available for download.
In the first case, the driver and accompanying software are installed by launching the applet as an administrator, in the second - through the RMB menu and selecting the installation item. If the system reports that this type of action is not supported, the update can be done through the “Device Manager” by using the browse button to indicate where the INF file was saved.
There are often times when you need to install a driver for a particular device, but there are no installation files on hand, only a folder with drivers without any Setup.exe. To solve this situation, you need to manually install drivers. How to do this is described below.
Let's consider Windows Vista
. When a user connects a device to it, something like this pops up:
If we don’t want to install the driver (for example, because we haven’t found it yet), click Cancel) But if we have already unpacked the driver into a folder, we can continue. Click on Find and install the driver
We refuse to search on the Internet (it rarely ends successfully) by clicking on Don't search the Internet
If the device came with a disk, insert it into the drive and press Further(the system itself will try to find required driver on the disk), if not, click on There is no such disk. Show other possibilities
In this case, in the window that appears, select
Click on the button Review and set the folder where the drivers are located
Then the installation process will start
That's it - the driver is installed
As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this process. The main problem is finding drivers
Now consider the case when there was no such pop-up window or we closed it by clicking Cancel. In this case, open the menu Start and right-click on the item Computer
. Select from the menu Properties
Then at the top left we launch device Manager
As a result, a window with system devices opens. Devices that are marked exclamation mark need to install drivers. In the example in the screenshot, such a device is Acer Module
Right-click on it and select from the menu Update drivers.... In the window that appears, click on Search for drivers on this computer
Click on the button Review and specify the folder with drivers for our device. Click Further
We are waiting for the driver to install
As a result, we have the driver installed
It is important to note that if you specified the folder with the wrong drivers, they will not install!
Now let's look at manually installing the driver in Windows XP. It is in many ways similar to the installation in Windows Vista
Let's begin. Go to the menu Start or on the desktop, right-click on the icon My computer and select from the menu Properties
A window will open Properties of the system. Go to the tab Equipment and click on device Manager
A window will open with devices installed in the system. Here, as in Windows Vista, devices that need to update their drivers are marked with an exclamation mark (I no longer have devices with uninstalled drivers, so I took them as an example sound card). Right-click on one of them and select from the menu Update driver...
In system properties, the device will be displayed without an exclamation mark.
If you still have questions after reading this material, please ask them.
