Apparently, it is no secret to anyone that the hardware installed in a computer system and some virtual devices will not work without special software called drivers. But only Windows does not always install exactly what is needed for a particular device, but automatically installs the software that from its point of view is the most suitable, and after that the equipment does not work correctly (or even does not work at all). How and where to download drivers for certain components of a computer system will be discussed later.
Drivers Update in Windows
The simplest thing you can do to install the driver or update it is to use the “Device Manager”, in which you can update the software through the PCM on the selected device or through the properties section on the driver tab.
Actually, the user does not need to think about where to download the driver. The system will select the driver from its own database or try to find its updated version on the Internet (most often on the Microsoft website, since some drivers are installed even during the installation of critical update packages for the system itself). But this is not an option, since the driver found may not correspond to the hardware or be compatible only partially with it. Therefore, you will have to use other methods.
Where to download drivers for Windows?
So where to find the right driver? The answer to this question, I think, is obvious: on the Internet resource of the equipment manufacturer. Today, almost all manufacturers of equipment and developers of management software for it on their official sites upload drivers for free download. The user only needs to know the model of the device and download the driver that is most suitable for him (preferably the latest version).
In the case of laptops, the situation is much simpler. Again, the user does not need to think where to download the driver. It is enough to go to the manufacturer’s website, select your model and download the full package, which is designed for a particular laptop model. In exactly the same way, you can download the driver for only one idle device. In addition, some manufacturers place automated online testing systems on their resources, which allow not only monitoring the computer configuration, but also in the test results to derive recommendations for installing software with direct download links.
Where can I download drivers for specific non-working devices?
But what does the owners of hand-held stationary computers do when it is not possible to find out the model of a specific component installed on the motherboard, or if the equipment in the corresponding dispatcher is displayed as an unknown device? Where to download drivers?
The situation looks hopeless. But there is a solution. And, unfortunately, not all users know about it. Despite the fact that the device in the dispatcher does not seem to be recognized, in fact it is not. In any case, you can find out the type of equipment by the special identifiers VEN and DEV. VEN stands for Vendor (manufacturer), DEV stands for Device. Such identifiers are standard and are part of a single global information system. Thus, it is possible to find the right control software from them.
You can find out the identifiers themselves on the information tab in the properties of the selected device in the manager, where the display of the equipment ID is selected from the drop-down list.
But where to download drivers by such criteria? The Internet is now full of specialized sites with huge databases of drivers, in which the search is performed on just such identifiers. It is enough to copy the longest line with the specified identifiers in the dispatcher’s information list (it exactly corresponds to the selected device to the full) and paste it into the search field of the Internet resource, then download the necessary driver and install it yourself.
Automation of download and installation of management software
So, where to download the driver, figured out. Finally, we will see how to simplify the task of finding the most relevant versions of such software and integrating it into the operating system.
To do this, you can use applications like Driver Booster. All user participation is reduced only to starting the process of scanning devices, and then agree to the installation of updates, upon completion of which a system restart will be required.