Are Windows’ drivers accessible for backup?

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What I’ve often wondered is, where does Windows keep all its installed drivers, and are they accessible for backing up manually? In Device Manager, it’s easy to point at a folder to install loose (that is, not .exe) files, and if I could save a folder of installed drivers, that would help me accomplish a lot of things and save a lot of times.

I use DriverMax, a subscription software. It finds drivers for just about everything, and they are vetted by a huge group of users. I do computer builds and repairs, so the service is invaluable. It also backs up all your drivers, but when I have to replace a bad hard drive, that’s not possible of course.

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The actual driver files usually consist of an INF and a DLL/SYS or two, but once installed there is no easy way to get them out again or identify them easily for backup. All you can do is save the files before you install them.

I have never used an automated driver updater, I prefer to use the Vendor/Device IDs from Device Manager and working from there you can find corresponding references in the INF file of the correct driver.

cheers, Paul

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Hey, Paul: I used to also do the Vendor/ID trick, but my driver tool is far faster and superior in that regard. It is one of the very few things I will actually pay a yearly fee for.
But as to your first point, how do you save them? Are they all in a folder somewhere that can be backed up, and then use Device Manager to get at them? Or are you talking about identifying them first, used the device IDs.

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I have a wireless driver saved in my Downloads folder so that I can do a fresh install of it without having to download first.

If you save them to there, then you can copy them onto a suitably sized USB stick – putting them into relevant folders, say for Realtek, Intel etc.

I used to use the free Slimdrivers to identify if any were out of date, but found when using the program to update, it wasn’t updating to what it was giving as a later driver at all.

I continued to use it for a while and then would go to the vendors sites for the update, but generally my Win 7 ones are up to date and I only reinstall if any become buggy rather than looking for updates all of the time.

IObit has a freebie updater but I think it’s best to go to the vendor sites for the updates.

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Sudo, as I mentioned, I do computer repairs, so I’m talking about other people’s PCs, not my own. So there is no way with a ruined Windows install to save drivers. If I have a system that is still functioning, I run DriverMax to back up all the drivers. BUT most PC’s drivers are so out of date that I need to get new ones anyway… and the program does that for me as well.

So if there was a folder with everything in it, I could just back that folder up. If it was just me, I wouldn’t really care.

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Sudo, as I mentioned, I do computer repairs, so I’m talking about other people’s PCs, not my own. So there is no way with a ruined Windows install to save drivers. If I have a system that is still functioning, I run DriverMax to back up all the drivers. BUT most PC’s drivers are so out of date that I need to get new ones anyway… and the program does that for me as well.

So if there was a folder with everything in it, I could just back that folder up. If it was just me, I wouldn’t really care.

In System32 there are three Drivers folders that you could back up and then just copy them back after the repair.

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In System32 there are three Drivers folders that you could back up and then just copy them back after the repair.

Does this address your topic ?

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Does this address your topic ?

I was trying to answer, but the Hurricane off the coast of Mexico did some fun stuff with my power yesterday. My original answer was “Do you know which three folders those are?

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I was trying to answer, but the Hurricane off the coast of Mexico did some fun stuff with my power yesterday. My original answer was “Do you know which three folders those are?

Hope you haven’t been hit too badly with the storm.

The three folders in System32 are listed as drivers, DRVSTORE and DriverStore.

The first one on mine is ~70MB, the blue DRVSTORE can be empty or small while DriverStore is ~1GB on my Win 7 x64 HP

In SysWOW64 there is just drivers which is ~4MB and DriverStore ~8KB

Because of the duplicate names, you may have to put them into folders of their own.

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I do not see the purpose of that type of service for the average user. Most people have just a couple of devices that need drivers and if it ain’t broke don’t fix applies here. For someone who works on other folks computers it can be a time saver. I used one for a while when I was trying to put XP on my Vista laptop (unsuccessfully) but that is the only time.

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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The drivers end up in Windows and System/32 folders, so no easy way to collect them together.

cheers, Paul

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Driver backup – http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/
will backup and restore your drivers.

Jerry

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Driver backup – http://sourceforge.net/projects/drvback/
will backup and restore your drivers.Jerry

Again, this kind of software is fine for working computers, but does no good with a hard drive that won’t boot. These programs can only back up active drivers.

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Thanks, Jerry, but not the topic.

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The problem with backup post install is there may be files in several locations and obtaining those and the installation routines – usually in the INF file – may not occur via a straight file / folder copy.

cheers, Paul

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The problem with backup post install is there may be files in several locations and obtaining those and the installation routines – usually in the INF file – may not occur via a straight file / folder copy.cheers, Paul

Excellent point, and something that I wish Microsoft would consider worthy of addressing. They way they flay their system files around is unmanageable.

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Try Driver Magician Lite. The free portable version backs up all installed drivers to a remote location of your choice.

http://www.drivermagician.com/Lite.htm

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Try Driver Magician Lite. The free portable version backs up all installed drivers to a remote location of your choice.

http://www.drivermagician.com/Lite.htm

Looks like the lite version does not allow restore.

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Looks like the lite version does not allow restore.

Not from within the program. But it saves driver files in separate sub-folders for each device, and includes an .inf file for each which can be used to reinstall them.

That’s what it did for the 11 non-Microsoft drivers it found on my system just now. So restoration would be once per device sub-folder.

The non-Lite version probably enables restoring all with one click.

(I just realized that’s what Calimanco said at #16.)

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Not from within the program. But it saves driver files in separate sub-folders for each device, and includes an .inf file for each which can be used to reinstall them.

That’s what it did for the 11 non-Microsoft drivers it found on my system just now. So restoration would be once per device sub-folder.

The non-Lite version probably enables restoring all with one click.

(I just realized that’s what Calimanco said at #16.)

Then it is to be added to the arsenal

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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One at a time from the backup file.

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Windows Secrets Newsletter columnist Fred Langa recommends the following approach to updating drivers…

“Some drivers do need to be updated, but not as often as you might think. Generally, I recommend that you update drivers in either of these two circumstances: if you’re encountering a driver-specific problem — crashes, malfunctions, or similar serious errors — or if you learn of a security problem with a driver you’ve previously installed.

I certainly agree with almost all of what he says, with a couple of exceptions. Video drivers: manufacturers are always updating their display drivers. Gamers know this quite well, but the fallout is that every few months, you can probably eke out a bit more speed and a bit more screen clarity, by checking for updates. WiFi and ethernet drivers: the only reason to update these, on the manufacturers’ part, is to improve the performance or fix bugs, and with WiFi in particular that can be really important.

USB 3 drivers: since USB3 is still not a part of the OS, these are quite tricky to deal with. They often fail, and need to be replaced or updated. Regular USB: I have found that trying to update any USB2/1 drivers can easily screw them all up, so I leave those alone.

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Thanks, Sudo. I will do some tests and see what happens, and report back here.

Lots of rain south of Guadalajara, but here on Lake Chapala we have mountains between us and the coast. However, the federal electricity company still has years to go before they get the grid up to the standards of what he have up north. So anytime there is heavy rain/winds, we can expect fluctuations, brownouts, failures, and/or short gaps. We are okay, but our neighbours on the coast are in serious trouble. And there were streets in Guadalajara I’ve seen video of: looked like rivers, with cars floating by.

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It sounds very rough for some.

When we have flooding in the UK it can take months or longer for people to be able to move back into their homes.

Would it be worth getting an UPS to back up for when the power system goes on the blink ?

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It sounds very rough for some. When we have flooding in the UK it can take months or longer for people to be able to move back into their homes. Would it be worth getting an UPS to back up for when the power system goes on the blink ?

All is well now; sun is shining. It was terrible for people on the coast just north of Manzanillo, the big port town. And I saw video of streets turned into rivers in Guadalajara, with cars actually floating by sideways… it will take a lot of time and pain for some of these folks.

Meantime, I use breaker-enabled power bars for my system… I gave up on the over-priced and just-as-likely-to-blow-anyway UPS doohickeys a long time ago. I must note that the power supplies in both towers and laptops are actually a better defense: they blow before the shock hits the computer, usually. And actually, for these threads, I just didn’t realize that my post hadn’t gotten through during the quick series of on/off breaks.

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