Official Microsoft Driver Updates

In the search box, type Update, and then, in the list of results, click Windows Update. In the left pane, click Check for updates, and then wait while Windows looks for the latest updates for your computer. If there are any available updates, click the link in the box under Windows Update to see more information about each update. Each type of update might include drivers. To use this site to find and download updates, you need to change your security settings to allow ActiveX controls and active scripting. To get updates but allow your security settings to continue blocking potentially harmful ActiveX controls and scripting from other sites, make this site a trusted website.

Driver updater tools do just what you're probably thinking—they help you update some or all of the device drivers installed in Windows for your computer's hardware.

These free driver updater programs make it easy to keep your drivers updated. Use one, and you won't need to deal with Device Manager so much, nor will you need to go find the right driver from your hardware maker yourself.

You need not use free driver updater software to update drivers, but if you use one, don't pay for it. These programs are for your convenience only. See How Do I Update Drivers in Windows? for steps on manually updating hardware drivers.

Open the Microsoft Store app by typing 'Microsoft Store' into the taskbar search and press Enter. Click on the icon choose Downloads and Updates. Click Get Updates. Note: If you get a 'You're good to go' message after clicking Get Updates, you don't have any new updates to install. Aug 05, 2015 Windows 10 and previous versions of Windows such as Windows 7 share the same driver model, so it should work. Press Windows key + X. Click Device Manager. Once device manager is open, select the device, right click it and click Update Driver Software. This will launch the update driver software wizard, which presents two options.

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Driver Booster

What We Like

Downloads drivers from within the program
Creates a restore point before updating drivers
Scans for outdated drivers on a schedule
No limit on driver downloads and updates

What We Don't Like

An internet connection is needed to scan for driver updates
Always shows an 'activate now' button to get the pro version

Driver Booster is the best free driver updater program. It's compatible with all versions of Windows and makes updating drivers simple.

Driver Booster runs automatically to find outdated drivers. When new updates appear, download them from inside the Driver Booster program to avoid downloading them manually.

Before you install a driver, you can see how the new driver version compares with the currently installed driver, which is helpful. Driver Booster creates a restore point before installing a driver in the event something goes wrong with the installation.

There's an option in the settings to install drivers in the background, which hides installation wizards and other popup messages. This is handy so you don't have to click through so many windows when installing new drivers.

Driver Booster works in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

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DriverPack Solution

What We Like

Lets you install outdated drivers even when offline
Downloads are performed quickly
Drivers can be installed without any prompts or user input

What We Don't Like

Doesn't support scheduled scans
The program is often sluggish
Drivers can't be hidden so as to avoid seeing them in scans

DriverPack Solution has a user interface that's easier to use than most of the others on this list. There are only a few buttons and no confusing screens or options.

This program supports bulk downloads and automated installs so that you don't have to click through any installation wizards.

When you first open DriverPack Solution, choose to download and install all of the drivers automatically or pick for yourself which ones you want to update.

There's also some basic system information included in DriverPack Solution, as well as a software downloader that can install some recommended programs to your computer.

DriverPack Solution supports Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

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Snappy Driver Installer

What We Like

Has no advertisements
Completely portable (no install necessary)
Downloads drivers from within the software
Supports offline driver installations
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What We Don't Like

Scan schedules are not supported
The program isn't as easy to use as similar software

Snappy Driver Installer is another freeware driver updater tool that's a bit like DriverPack Solution.

Download several drivers at once for many different types of devices. After they're downloaded, the program gives you immediate access to install the updates—with or without an internet connection.

Snappy Driver Installer is easy to use and doesn't even need to be installed. Nightclub city game free. Use something like an external hard drive to transport and install the downloaded drivers to any other computer.

Snapper Driver Installer doesn't advertisements, doesn't limit download speeds, and can install as many drivers as you need without any limitations.

This program works with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

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Driver Talent

What We Like

Installs quickly
You don't have to download drivers manually—they download from inside the software
The program is easy to use
Drivers get backed up before each installation or uninstallation

What We Don't Like

Setup might try to install an unrelated program
Bulk downloading is not supported (you have to download each driver one by one)
The schedule for scanning for outdated drivers can't be customized

Driver Talent (previously called DriveTheLife) is a straightforward driver updater program that downloads device drivers so you don't have to search the internet for official download links.

This application not only updates outdated and missing drivers but also fixes corrupted ones and backs up all your installed drivers.

The size of a driver as well as its release date and version number are displayed for you before you download it to verify you're getting what you're after.

An alternative version includes network drivers and works offline, which is perfect if you need to install drivers but don't have the proper network driver installed.

There's also a feature within Driver Talent that lets you download all the drivers necessary for the computer so that you can easily reinstall them should you reinstall the OS later.

Driver Talent works with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

Some antivirus engines identify Driver Talent as malicious. You can see the results here. However, the overwhelming results show that it's clean, so proceed with caution.

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DriversCloud

What We Like

Lets you install beta driver updates
Has the option to show only WHQL certified driver updates
Shows lots of detail on the drivers

What We Don't Like

Drivers have to be downloaded manually
Doesn't support bulk downloads or updates

DriversCloud (previously called Ma-Config) is a free web service locates detailed information about your hardware and software, including outdated drivers.

The process works by downloading a program that allows a web browser to gather information from your computer.

From the website, you can find categories such as BSOD Analysis, My Drivers, Autorun, Network Configuration, and other areas you can browse.

When you need to update a driver, inspect the new driver's information compared to the currently installed driver—the version number, manufacturer, INF file name and date, and hardware ID.

Available for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, and Windows 2000.

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DriverIdentifier

Microsoft Approved Driver Update Software

What We Like

Works offline without a connection to the internet
Use it as a portable program
It's easy to understand and use
Includes helpful information about the drivers

What We Don't Like

Microsoft Drivers Download Center

Drivers have to be downloaded manually from your web browser
Won't check for outdated drivers on a schedule
You must create a user account before you can download drivers
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DriverIdentifier is a simple but useful free driver updater program.

It scans for drivers if you don't have an internet connection, helpful if your network card driver isn't working. When the scan completes, DriverIdentifier saves the list of drivers to an HTML file.

Just open the file on a computer that does have an internet connection so the DriverIdentifier website can cross-reference the results with their databases. Drivers that need updating will have an Update link next to them.

There's also a portable version of DriverIdentifier available.

DriverIdentifier finds Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP drivers.

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Free Driver Scout

What We Like

Can be configured to update drivers automatically
Multiple drivers can be downloaded in bulk
Supports scheduled outdated driver scans

What We Don't Like

Other driver updaters find more outdated drivers
Setup might try to install other programs
An update hasn't been released for the software in a long time

Free Driver Scout is an amazing driver updater because it provides true automatic updating.

This means the program will automatically scan for any required updates, automatically download the updates, and then automatically install them, without requiring any input from you, which can't be said for any other program in this list.

Device drivers can be excluded from a scan with Free Driver Scout so they don’t show up as needing an update in the future.

Free Driver Scout backs up backs up some or all of your drivers and restores them as needed.

Free Driver Scout includes a helpful utility called the OS Migration Tool. Run it if you’re going to install a different Windows operating system to your computer. It will find the device drivers for the new OS and save them to a custom location, like a flash drive. Then, when you have the other Windows operating system installed, you can use the same tool to restore those OS-specific drivers so you don’t have to worry about finding the device drivers again.

Driver Scout v1.0 works in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

https://fabriclucky.netlify.app/windows-vista-password-reset-usb.html. Here I’m going to use tool, which comes as a Live CD ISO image that can also be burned onto a USB drive.

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Driver Easy

What We Like

Scheduling is supported to check for driver updates automatically
Can be used at home and at work
Driver scans are quick
Downloads driver updates directly from within the software

What We Don't Like

Drivers download slowly
Updates have to be installed manually
Doesn't support bulk downloads
Some features are available only after payment

Driver Easy finds updates for drivers in Windows. Schedule a scan to check for outdated drivers and it'll prompt you to download an update. A scan can be scheduled daily, weekly, monthly, when your PC is idle, or even every time you log on to Windows.

Driver Easy downloads drivers from inside the program without opening an external web browser.

There are additional features included in Driver Easy as well, like viewing hardware information and scanning for driver updates when you don't have an internet connection.

Driver Easy runs in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

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Device Doctor

What We Like

Drivers get downloaded from inside the application
Outdated drivers are checked when the computer goes idle
The program is simple to understand
Can be used as a portable program

What We Don't Like

Limits driver downloads to one per day
A driver's version number and date isn't shown to verify that the update is newer than the current one
Won't automatically update the driver after the download
Doesn't make restore points before updating drivers
Shows ads

Device Doctor is a simple and easy to use driver update program. It runs as a regular program or as a portable one that doesn't need to be installed.

Schedule scans to check for outdated drivers and then when an update is found, you'll be taken to a website to manually download it.

Because you have to download updates outside of Device Doctor, you may sometimes need to unzip driver files before using them. You can do that with a file unzip tool like the one included in Windows or a utility like 7-Zip.

Device Doctor is limited to downloading just one driver per day. It's designed to find drivers for Windows XP through Windows 10.

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DriverHub

What We Like

Really clean, easy-to-understand interface
Downloads drivers automatically after you click the install button
Bulk downloading is supported
Supports an easy and an advanced mode depending on how you want to use the program

What We Don't Like

You might be asked to install another program during setup

The DriverHub driver updater is easy to use because it downloads and installs the drivers for you and has a whole section of the program dedicated to recovery should something go wrong.

The program itself has a clean interface with only a few menu buttons. In the settings are some options for changing the download folder and disabling program update checks.

You can keep things simple and install whatever DriverHub recommends, or you can go into Advanced Mode to pick which drivers to get, to see version numbers, and to install alternate drivers (i.e., a newer driver but not the current version).

The Useful programs section of DriverHub isn't driver related but does include some helpful links to Windows utilities, like Disk Management, Task Manager, power supply settings, display settings, and more.

DriverHub works in Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

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DriverMax

What We Like

No prompts when updating drivers (they install automatically)
Can optionally install only signed drivers
Drivers are downloaded from inside the program
Also lets you back up all your device drivers

What We Don't Like

Identified as a potentially unwanted program by some antivirus tools
Doesn't always find the right driver
Limits driver downloads to two per day and 10 per month
Only one driver can be downloaded at one time (no bulk download option)

DriverMax is a free Windows program that updates outdated drivers. However, it's limited in a few areas.

In addition to updating old drivers, DriverMax can back up some or all of the currently installed drivers, restore backed up drivers, roll back drivers, and identify unknown hardware.

DriverMax discovered a significantly higher number of outdated drivers than every other program from this list did. We checked the version numbers against the currently installed drivers and they all seemed to be valid updates.

DriverMax finds drivers for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

Although DriverMax limits the number of downloads you can perform per day and per month, you can still check for outdated drivers; you're just limited when it comes to downloading the drivers. We talk more in the review about why this isn't as bad of a limit as it might sound.

All your computer hardware, from the motherboard to the webcam, needs drivers to function properly. Here’s how to download the official device drivers for your hardware, whether you’re using Windows 10 or 7.

Windows Automatically Downloads Drivers

If your PC and its connected devices are working properly, you probably don’t need to download drivers. When you install Windows on a computer or connect a peripheral to your PC, Windows automatically downloads and installs the appropriate drivers. Device manufacturers upload these official drivers to Windows Update so Windows can install them automatically. Any important updates are delivered via Windows Update, too. This is the safest way to update your drivers on Windows, because they go through fairly extensive testing by Microsoft.

Windows Update has more drivers on Windows 10, so this works better on Windows 10 systems. But even Windows 7 PCs can get many drivers through Windows Update.

In some cases, you’ll want to download the official drivers straight from the manufacturer instead of Microsoft. If you’ve just installed Windows on a PC or plugged in a peripheral and something isn’t working properly, it’s time to get the official drivers from the manufacturer’s download site. If you need a hardware utility that isn’t included in the standard Windows drivers—for example, touchpad or mouse drivers may include control panels with additional settings if you get them from the manufacturer—that’s also a good reason to get them from the manufacturer.

We also recommend you install the latest graphics drivers for your system’s NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel graphics hardware if you play PC games. The drivers available from Windows Update tend to be older, which means they won’t work as well with newer games. The Windows drivers don’t have useful tools like NVIDIA GeForce Experience and AMD ReLive that you get from the manufacturer, either. These tools allow you to optimize your games, record and stream your gameplay, take screenshots, and easily update your graphics drivers in the future.

RELATED:How to Update Your Graphics Drivers for Maximum Gaming Performance

You’ll Need the Manufacturer and Model Number of Your Device

To manually download a driver for a piece of hardware, you’ll need to know the manufacturer of the hardware, as well as its model number. This information is printed on the device’s packaging, on any receipts you have, and often even on the device itself if you look carefully. You can also download the free version of Speccy, which can show you this information about many of your devices.

RELATED:How to Get Detailed Information About Your PC

If you purchased a desktop computer or laptop, you just need to know which manufacturer and model number of computer you have. For example, if you need a Wi-Fi driver for a Dell XPS 13 (2018 model), you don’t need to know what internal Wi-Fi hardware it has. You just need to head to the Dell website, look up the XPS 13 (2018 model) page, and download the Wi-Fi driver for that PC. The model name and number is often printed on a label somewhere on the PC itself, and should also be on any box or receipt you have.

Official Microsoft Driver Updates

Of course, if you built your own PC, you’ll need to know which internal components you used. You’ll have to get each hardware component’s drivers from that manufacturer’s website.

How to Identify a Device in Windows

You can use the Device Manager to view hardware devices connected to your PC. To open it on Windows 10, right-click the Start button, and then select the “Device Manager” option. To open it on Windows 7, press Windows+R, type “devmgmt.msc” into the box, and then press Enter.

Look through the list of devices in the Device Manager window to find the names of hardware devices connected to your PC. Those names will help you find their drivers.

If you see any “unknown devices,” those are devices that aren’t functioning properly because they don’t have any driver installed at all. You can often identify an unknown device by looking at its hardware ID.

RELATED:How to Find Drivers for Unknown Devices in the Device Manager

Official Driver Download Links

We recommend you get your drivers straight from the hardware manufacturer’s official websites. Skip the scammy “driver downloader” apps you may see online. Here’s a list of the official places to get drivers:

Acer provides drivers for its Aspire, Predator, TravelMate, and other PCs, as well as various Acer-made accessories.

Alienware users can get driver software from Dell’s website, as Dell owns the Alienware brand.

AMD offers driver downloads for its Radeon GPUs as well as AMD APUs like Ryzen that include Radeon graphics. AMD’s website also hosts chipset drivers you may need for motherboards with AMD chipsets—in other words, if your system has an AMD CPU.

Apple provides Boot Camp support software that contains Windows drivers for its Macs, assuming you’re running Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp.

ASUS hosts drivers for laptop and desktop PCs like its ZenBook and Republic of Gamers (ROG) line of products, as well as other ASUS-branded gear.

Brother offers a variety of drivers for its printers, fax machines, and scanners.

Canon‘s website provides drivers for its digital cameras, printers, and scanners.

Corsair makes hardware utilities available for its gaming mice, keyboard, and headsets.

Web page making software. Creative provides downloads for its Sound Blaster hardware and other peripherals.

Dell makes drivers for its Inspiron, Latitude, XPS, and other PC hardware products available online, as well as drivers for any other Dell products you might have.

Epson offers downloads for its printers, scanners, projects, and other hardware devices.

HP provides drivers for its Pavilion, EliteBook, ProBook, Envy, Omen, and other PC lines, as well as HP printers and other products.

Intel offers driver downloads for everything from its Intel integrated graphics to its Wi-Fi hardware, Ethernet controllers, motherboards with Intel chipsets, and Intel solid-state drives. You may need to jump through some hoops to install the latest Intel graphics drivers if your PC manufacturer tries to stop you.

Lenovo hosts driver download for its ThinkPad, IdeaPad, Yoga, and other PCs, in addition to other Lenovo accessories.

Official Microsoft Driver Updates For Windows 10

Logitech‘s website offers downloads for its mice, keyboards, webcams, and other peripherals.

Microsoft offers driver downloads for products like Microsoft mice and keyboards. For Surface devices, Microsoft normally distributes drivers only through Windows Update. However, manual Surface driver downloads are also available if you really need them.

Free Microsoft Driver Updates For Windows …

MSI provides downloads for its laptops, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, gaming peripherals, and other products.

NVIDIA offers drivers for its GeForce graphics hardware as well as other NVIDIA products, like its TITAN series of GPUs.

Razer hosts software downloads for the Razer Synapse and Razer Surround utilities, which are designed for Razer’s gaming mice, keyboards, and headsets.

Realtek makes audio drivers available on its website, although you can likely get the Realtek high definition audio drivers for your PC from your PC or motherboard manufacturer, too.

Samsung‘s download center offers drivers for Windows laptops and desktops as well as every other Samsung product, including Samsung solid-state drives.

Sony still hosts driver downloads for its discontinued VAIO laptops and desktops as well as various Sony-made accessories.

Microsoft Driver Updates Windows 10

SteelSeries offers the SteelSeries Engine hardware utility for its gaming headsets, mice, and keyboards.

Synaptics‘ website just advises you get Synaptics touchpad drivers from your laptop manufacturer rather than using generic drivers. Head to your laptop manufacture’s page.

Toshiba hosts driver downloads for its computers and other peripherals.

Western Digital provides firmware and utilities intended for use with Western Digital storage drives.

For other brands, just head to the manufacturer’s official website and look for a download page.

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