Step-by-Step Guide to Updating Drivers in Windows 7

This walkthrough demonstrates the driver update process for a network tease in Windows 7 Ultimate, but all steps can be followed precisely in any other edition—including Home Premium, Professional, Starter, etc. These steps besides apply to any kind of driver, whether it ‘s for the video recording card, fathom card, etc. This operation should take less than 15 minutes for most kinds of hardware. If you ‘d preferably a platform update the driver for you, try a unblock driver updater creature. We created this bit-by-bit scout to accompany our master How to Update Drivers in Windows how-to guide. Updating drivers can be a little complicated, so this ocular tutorial should help clarify any confusion you might have had looking over the how-to. For exemplar, you might need to install drivers in Windows 7 for a patch of hardware if you ‘re troubleshooting a problem with the device, if a driver is n’t mechanically installed during a Windows facility, or if a driver update enables raw features you ‘d like to utilize.

Updating drivers in Windows 7 is n’t something you do on a regular footing, but you might find yourself needing to do indeed for any of several reasons. 01
of 20

Download the Latest Windows 7 driver for the Hardware

Download the Latest Windows 7 driver for the Hardware .
The beginning thing you need to do is to download the latest driver for the device from the hardware manufacturer ‘s web site. It ‘s crucial to download a driver immediately from its generator so that you ‘re surely you ‘re getting the most valid, tested, and recent driver possible
See How to Find and Download Drivers From Manufacturer Websites if you need help .
As you can see in the screenshot above, we ‘ve visited Intel ‘s site to download the driver for an Intel-based network card. The download came in the form of a single, compressed file .
You must download either a 32-bit or 64-bit driver, corresponding to the type of Windows 7 you have installed. If you ‘re not certain, see Am I Running a 32-bit or 64-bit interpretation of Windows ? for aid. many drivers available today are packaged for automatic facility. This means that all you have to do is run the download file, and the drivers will be updated automatically. The instructions given on the manufacturer ‘s web site should tell you if the drivers you ‘re downloading are configured this way. If then, there ‘s no reason to continue with these steps—just run the course of study and follow any instructions .
02
of 20

Extract the Driver Files From the Compressed download

Extract the Driver Files From the Compressed Download .
When you download a driver for a piece of hardware in your computer, you ‘re actually downloading a compressed file that contains the one or more actual driver files, plus versatile early auxiliary files necessity to get the driver installed in Windows 7 .
thus, before you can update the drivers for a specific slice of hardware, you have to extract the files from the download you completed in the former step .
Windows 7 has built-in compression/decompression software, but we prefer a dedicate program like the free 7-Zip, chiefly because it supports indeed many more formats than Windows 7 does natively. There are enough of free file extractor programs out there if you do n’t care for 7-Zip .
regardless of the broadcast used, you can normally right-click on the downloaded charge and choose to Extract the files to a folder. Be sure to create a new booklet to extract the files to, and make certain you choose to create the newly booklet somewhere you ‘ll remember .

03
of 20

unfold Device Manager From the Control Panel in Windows 7

open Device Manager From the Control Panel in Windows 7 .
now that the driver files are extracted cook to be used, open Device Manager from the Control Panel .
In Windows 7, hardware management, including updating drivers, is accomplished from within Device Manager .

04
of 20

Locate the Hardware Device You Want to Update the Drivers For .
With Device Manager open, locate the hardware device you want to update the drivers for .
Navigate through the hardware device categories by using the > picture. Under each hardware class will be the one or more devices that belong to that class .

05
of 20

Open the Hardware Device ‘s Properties

Open the Hardware Device ‘s Properties .
After locating the hardware that you want to update the driver for, right-click its appoint or icon and then select Properties .
Make certain to right-click the actual device entrance, not the category that the device is in. For exercise, in this model, you ‘d right-click the Intel(R) Pro/1000 line like the screenshot shows, not Network adapters .
06
of 20

Start the Update Driver Software Wizard .
Start the Update Driver Software sorcerer by beginning going into the Driver check and then choosing Update Driver .

07
of 20

Choose to Locate and Install Driver Software Manually

Choose to Locate and Install Driver Software Manually .
The first question asked by the update charming is “ How do you want to search for driver software ? ”
Choose Browse my computer for driver software. This option will allow you to manually select the driver you want installed—the one you downloaded in the foremost step .
By manually selecting the driver to install, you can be certain that the best driver, the one directly from the manufacturer that you just downloaded, is the driver that will be installed .

08
of 20

Choose to Pick From a list of Device Drivers on Your Computer

Choose to Pick From a number of Device Drivers on Your Computer .
On the future screen, where you ‘re told to Browse for driver software on your computer, rather choice Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer at the bottomland of the window .
In some cases, plainly browsing to the extracted folder location would be dependable enough here but the Let me pick from a number of device drivers on my calculator option gives you more see in situations where there are multiple drivers available in the distill folder, which is much the font .
09
of 20

choose ‘Have Disk ‘

Click the Have Disk Button .
On the Select Network Adapter1 blind, choose Have Disk .
You do n’t need to select a Network Adapter here. The zero, one, or more entries in that box do n’t directly represent the actual device ( s ) you have installed, but rather represent the available drivers that Windows 7 has for this detail slice of hardware. By selecting Have Disk, you ‘re skipping this existing driver survival process and telling Windows that you have better drivers you ‘d like to install that it is n’t yet aware of. [ 1 ] The name of this screen will be different depending on the kind of hardware you ‘re updating the drivers for. A more generic Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware is common .

10
of 20

Select ‘Browse ‘

Click the Browse Button .
Select Browse on the Install From Disk windowpane .

11
of 20

voyage to the Folder with the Extracted Driver Files

navigate to the Folder with the Extracted Driver Files .
In the Locate File window, use the Look in drop-down box at the top and/or the shortcuts on the leave to navigate to the booklet with the extracted driver files that you created in Step 2 .
There may be multiple folders within the extract booklet, so be sure to work your way to the one for Windows 7 if it exists. Some downloads will besides include both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of a driver with the 32-bit driver in one folder and the 64-bit version in another, sometimes nested under an engage arrangement labeled booklet equally well. Long fib short : If nicely named folders exist, get your direction to the matchless that makes the most common sense based on your calculator. If you ‘re not that lucky, do n’t worry about it, just navigate to the booklet with the extracted driver files .

12
of 20

Choose Any INF File in the booklet

Choose Any INF File in the Folder .
Select any INF file that displays in the file list and then press Open. The Update Driver Software ace will read the data from all the INF files in this booklet .
INF files are the only files that Device Manager accepts for driver apparatus information. indeed while you may know that a booklet you ‘ve selected has all sorts of files in it, it ‘s an INF file that the Update Driver Software sorcerer is looking for .
Not sure which INF file to choose when there are several?
It in truth does n’t matter which INF file you open, since Windows will only actually use the appropriate one from the folder .
Couldn’t find an INF file in the folder you selected from your driver download?
Try looking in another booklet within the excerpt drivers. possibly you chose the wrong one .
Couldn’t find an INF file in any folder from the extracted driver files?
The driver download may have been damaged, or you may not have extracted them properly. Try downloading and extracting the drivers again. See mistreat 1 and 2 again if you need help .

13
of 20

Confirm Your Folder Choice

Confirm Your Folder Choice .
Press OK second on the Install From Disk window .
You might notice the path to the booklet you chose in the last footstep in the text box .

14
of 20

Start the Windows 7 Driver Installation Process

Start the Windows 7 Driver Installation Process .
You ‘re nowadays back to the Select Network Adapter screen you saw in Step 9. This time, however, you want to choose the correct driver and then select Next.
only one compatible driver is listed in the model above. however, you may have multiple drivers listed that Windows 7 sees as compatible with the hardware you ‘re updating the drivers for. If that ‘s the case for you, try your best to choose the right driver based on your cognition of the model of the hardware device .
15
of 20

Wait While Windows 7 Installs the Updated Driver .
Wait while the charming completes the driver facility action .
Windows is using the information included in the INF files you provided in Step 12 to copy the proper driver files and make the proper register entries for your hardware .

16
of 20

close the Update Driver Software Window .
Assuming the driver update process completed successfully, you ‘ll see the “ Windows has successfully updated your driver software ” message .
Select Close to close this window .
You’re not finished yet!
You need to restart your calculator and make certain your hardware is working properly with its new drivers .

17
of 20

resume Your Computer

resume Your Computer .
not all driver updates require a restart of your calculator. tied if you ‘re not prompted, I always recommend restarting anyhow .
The driver update process involves changes to the Windows Registry and early important areas of your computer, and resume is a dear way to confirm that updating drivers has n’t negatively impacted some other area of Windows .

18
of 20

Wait While Windows Restarts

Wait While Windows Restarts .
Wait for Windows to in full restart and then logarithm in as you normally do .

19
of 20

Check the Device ‘s Status for Errors

Check the Device ‘s Status for Errors .
once logged in, check the device ‘s status in Device Manager and make sure it reads “ This device is working properly. ”
If you receive a Device Manager erroneousness code that you were n’t receiving before the update, it ‘s possible that there was an issue during the driver update and you should roll back the driver immediately .
20
of 20

Test the Hardware

finally, you should test the hardware device and make indisputable it ‘s working properly .
In this exemplar, since we updated the drivers for the network tease, a dim-witted test of the network or the internet in Windows 7 should prove that things are working by rights.

Were you trying to fix a Device Manager error code but a driver update didn’t work?
If a driver update did n’t fix your problem, reelect to the troubleshooting information for your error code. Most device director error codes have respective possible solutions .

source : https://thefartiste.com
Category : Tech