If you’re mucking around with a new Windows installation, you’re probably going to run into driver headaches.
No matter whether you’re installing a fresh copy of Windows on a freshly built rig or simply upgrading your PC to a new version of Windows, the OS fails to properly identify all of the hardware connected to the system more often than not. I typically like to download drivers for all of the major components in a PC before I even begin an OS installation, but inevitably a motherboard will have an obscure controller on-board or the system will have a non-descript add-in card that Windows doesn’t recognize.
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People deal with driver problems in different ways. Some will hit a motherboard manufacturer’s website and search for the mobo, in hopes of identifying a component by the perusing the motherboard’s manual or spec sheet. Some folks resort to yanking the rig apart--ick—and searching the web for random part numbers on chips or cards they don’t recognize. You’ll likely have some success using either method (I have), but there is a much better way to identify unknown devices in Windows—and you don’t have to whip out any tools to do it.
Delving into the unknown
If you’ve just installed Windows and the Device Manager is loaded with “Unknown devices” or “Other devices” that are in an error state or without any drivers installed, don’t fret! You’re only a few clicks away from ascertaining all of the information you need to identify the device and download its drivers.
![Drivers Drivers](https://www.movzio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Windows_Driver_S4.jpg)
Windows will usually brand all of the unrecognized devices in Device Manager with a black exclamation point (!) on a yellow sign. If you’re lucky, the device’s name will be listed and you can simply search for its drivers. Otherwise, the device will most likely be labeled an “Unknown device,” which is not very helpful.
The detective work
To find drivers for hardware that Windows refuses to recognize, open Device Manager (a search from the Start menu or Windows 8 Start screen brings it up lickity-split), right-click on the listing for the Unknown Device, select Properties from the context menu, and then click on the Details tab at the top of the resulting window.
On the Details tab, you’ll see a drop down menu labeled “Property”. The items listed in that drop down menu will offer up a wealth of information about the mysterious device, but it’s the Hardware IDs that are most relevant to this discussion. Select Hardware IDs from the drop down menu and the “Value” field below will populate with a list of values. Consulting the Oracle—excuse me—searching Google for one of the values listed in the Window will usually yield the device’s identity.
ID’ing the suspect
To easily search for drivers for a particular Hardware ID, right-click on the top-most value (usually the one with the longest string of characters) and choose Copy from the menu. Then simply paste that value into your favorite search engine. I typically have the best luck by searching for a Hardware ID along with the OS version and the words “drivers” or “driver”, and “download.”
For example, when installing Windows 8.1 on a Dell XPS 12 recently, I had a number of unknown devices listed in device manager. One of the Hardware Ids was:
PCIVEN_8086&DEV_0153&SUBSYS_05891028
So, I did a search for “PCIVEN_8086&DEV_0153&SUBSYS_05891028 Windows 8.1 driver download”. One of the very first results was for an Intel Dynamic Platform & Thermal Framework Driver. I downloaded and installed the driver, and bingo! It did the trick.
It’s not rocket science, but being able to quickly identify and find drivers for unknown devices in Windows can save a lot of time, especially if you’re constantly upgrading or building systems. If you’ve got any similar tips, we’d love to hear them; please comment below and give a fellow reader a hand.
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The best place to download a driver is direct from the hardware manufacturer. Before you can update a driver, you'll need to find and download the latest version.
Drivers downloaded from the manufacturer will be the most tested and up to date available. The manufacturer is almost always the original source of any driver you find anywhere else, so why not download it from the source?
If downloading drivers direct from the manufacturer isn't possible there are several other driver download sources available. Free driver updater programs are another option, too, and are often quicker and easier to use than downloading drivers manually.
Follow the steps below to find and download drivers direct from hardware manufacturer websites:
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- Identify the make and model of the specific hardware you need drivers for. You'll need this information so you know what company to contact and then what specific drivers to download from their website.A great way to do this, short of opening your computer, is to use a free system information tool. For example, We were able to use Speccy to find details on our video card, which turned out to be an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745.If you're trying to find drivers for a branded computer system (like a Dell desktop, a Toshiba laptop, etc.), all you need is the exact model number of your complete system. You shouldn't need to identify the specifics of any individual piece of hardware in your computer unless you've upgraded it yourself.
- Find the hardware manufacturer's support website. Nearly every hardware manufacturer in the world has a website with detailed support information including driver downloads, manuals, troubleshooting information, etc.To continue with the example from above, we were able to research that information online to lead ys to the NVIDIA GeForce Drivers page to download the driver we needed. Acdsee for pentax 2.0.
- Locate the driver download area of the manufacturer's support site.The driver download area could be called by any of several different names including Downloads, Software Downloads, Driver Downloads, Drivers, Drivers and Firmware, Drivers and Software, etc. If you visit a website's home page first, look for a Support area. Any driver download options will probably be located within that area of the website.
- Using the website's navigation or search abilities, choose the specific hardware you need drivers for.Every website is different, so it's hard to give precise instructions on how to navigate through a catalog of driver downloads, but most support sites that we've seen are fairly easy to use. If you have trouble finding your way around a specific website, your best bet is to contact the company directly.
- Choose the drivers designed for your operating system. For example, if you're using Windows 10, choose the drivers designed for Windows 10.Some websites can even auto-suggest these options for you by quickly scanning your computer for that information.You must also choose between 32-bit and 64-bit drivers. If you're running a 32-bit version of Windows, you must install 32-bit drivers. If you're running a 64-bit version of Windows, you must install 64-bit drivers.Not sure what type of Windows you have installed? See Am I Running a 32-bit or 64-bit Version of Windows? for instructions on finding out. Also, see What Version of Windows Do I Have? if you're not sure whether you're running Windows 10, Windows XP, Windows 7, etc.
- Download the drivers to your computer. Save the downloaded file to your desktop or to another familiar location.Many drivers available today are configured for automatic installation. This means that all you have to do is run the downloaded file and the drivers will be updated automatically. The instructions given on the manufacturer's website should tell you if the drivers you're downloading are configured this way. If so, there's no reason to continue with these steps.
- Extract the downloaded drivers. Instructions provided on the driver download page on the hardware manufacturer's website should provide detailed instructions on extracting the drivers.Usually, this involves decompressing the many driver files located in the compressed file you downloaded. There are free file extractor programs that will handle this job for you. Most compressed files have a file extension of ZIP or maybe RAR, but most of the programs in that list will handle either, like 7-Zip.Sometimes the compressed files are in a self-extracting format with an EXE file extension, making the install process very easy.
- The downloaded drivers for your hardware are now ready for updating in Device Manager.