How to enable search for new hardware in Windows 7. Configuration elements of the Add Hardware Wizard. Installing drivers through the hardware manager
The driver installation problem occurs when installing the operating system, as well as when driver files or the Windows registry are damaged. Sometimes driver problems are not easy to fix, in cases where the system or user installed the “wrong” driver. Further material will be presented in relation to the Windows XP operating system, although much of it will be suitable for Vista and Windows 7 with minor changes. Installation of drivers can be divided into six methods.
1. Install the driver on a device detected by the system. Master of new equipment.
As you know, after installing or connecting a new device, Windows automatically detects the PnP device and tries to select and install the appropriate driver. If a suitable driver is found, the system automatically installs it and displays a message like “The equipment is installed and ready to use.” If the device is not detected, then you need to look at the “Device Manager” to make sure that it was not detected earlier and does not appear there under a question mark or with an exclamation mark. These signs are usually yellow. If question marks and exclamation marks are present in Device Manager, then there are two options. The first is to remove this uninstalled device to allow the system to detect it again. In order for the system to detect the device again, after deleting it, in the “Device Manager” window, click the “Action” button at the top and select “Update hardware configuration”. The second option is to click on the question mark or icon with an exclamation mark and in the window that opens, either click the “Reinstall” button, or if it is not there, select the “Driver” tab, and on the opened tab click the “Update Driver” button. In both cases, the “Hardware Update Wizard” will be launched. Sometimes Windows makes a mistake in selecting drivers and in this case the device will not work at all or will not work correctly. In this case, you need to reinstall the driver using one of the following methods. If a suitable driver is not found by the system, the “Found New Hardware Wizard” is launched, the operation of which can be read in the article.
2. Hardware Installation Wizard.
Since the system, as a rule, detects devices itself, installing drivers using the Add Hardware Wizard is not often used. Running the Add Hardware Wizard may actually be necessary to install ancient devices without PnP auto-detection and to detect, without rebooting, a device that has been removed from the system. To launch the Add Hardware Wizard, you need to open the “Control Panel” window through the “Start” menu, find the “Add Hardware” option in the panel and double-click on it to launch the “Add Hardware Wizard.” Working with the equipment master is described in detail
3. Installing drivers through the CD menu.
Each motherboard and many devices come with a CD containing drivers and software. To install drivers in this case, just insert the disk into the drive and if autorun works, a menu will appear on the display screen where you need to select the driver installation item. If autorun does not work, then you need to start the disk manually through “My Computer” or “Explorer”.
4. Install the driver by running the installation file.
The driver installation can also be started by clicking the startup file setup.exe or install.exe, which is located in the folder with the driver files. Drivers are often supplied as a self-extracting archive in the form of a single executable file. This especially applies to drivers downloaded from the Internet, where the drivers are usually posted in this form on the device manufacturer’s website. After opening such a file, double-clicking it unpacks it into a temporary folder and automatically starts the driver installation. In some cases, only unpacking occurs, and you need to launch it yourself.
5. Installing drivers through the hardware manager.
Typically, this method is used when the equipment was detected, but not installed and marked in the device manager in the form of question marks, or the devices were installed with an error and marked with an exclamation mark.
How to act in these cases has already been mentioned in the first paragraph.
6. Installation using special installation programs and driver updates.
There are special CDs with packages and collections of drivers and programs for system analysis, selection and automatic installation of drivers. Most often these are DVDs. Since they contain a large number of drivers for various devices, the search and installation process from these disks usually takes quite a long time, and sometimes a very long time. There are also programs for system analysis, selection, Internet search, installation and updating of drivers. I used such a program once. She misidentified something for me and installed it so crookedly that it was difficult to restore later. I haven't used this product since then. Although the question is certainly interesting and requires research.
When you install new hardware into your computer, when Windows starts, the system automatically detects its presence and tries to install what is necessary for its operation. However, if for some reason the automatic detection of new hardware does not occur, you can run the Hardware Installation Wizard yourself. It should be noted that most often very old or very new devices are not automatically recognized. Old devices do not support automatic recognition, and new devices are simply not known to Windows XP, as they appeared after the system was released. Sometimes some exotic devices that are not widely used cannot be identified. Please also note that some devices may not be compatible with Windows XP. In this case, nothing can be done, and you will not be able to install the device. If the device should, in principle, work in Windows XP, but the necessary drivers are not installed automatically, you should use the services of the Hardware Installation Wizard.
Open your control panel and select the link Printer and other equipment(Printer and Other Hardware), then select the link in the taskbar Equipment installation(Add Hardware). The first dialog of the Hardware Installation Wizard will appear (Fig. 16.21).
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Rice. 16.21. Welcome and device selection |
Click the button Further(Next) to continue working. A search for installed hardware will be performed, and the results of this search will be displayed as a list in the next dialog of the Hardware Installation Wizard (Fig. 16.21, right). Devices for which drivers are not installed or that work with errors have a question mark on this list. By selecting such a device and pressing the button Further(Next), you will continue the wizard in the hardware driver update mode. If you are adding new equipment, then select the item Adding a new device(Add New Hardware Device) and click the button Further(Next). The following wizard dialog will appear, prompting you to automatically search for new devices (Fig. 16.22). Automatic search mode is offered by default and is marked as recommended for use. However, if you know exactly the model of your device, you can select it from the list, thereby avoiding wasting extra time searching. If the switch is set to automatic search mode and the Next button is clicked, the following dialog will display a progress indicator illustrating the search process (Fig. 16.22, right). Once the search is complete, its results will be displayed in the wizard dialog.
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Rice. 16.22. Mode selection and search |
Sometimes the program cannot automatically detect a new device. In this case, click the button Back(Back) to return to the add mode selection and set the switch to Selecting equipment from the list(Manually Select from list). Now press the button again Further(Next). The following wizard dialog will appear, displaying a list of device groups (Fig. 16.23).
Select the group to which your device belongs from the list. If there is no such group in the list, select the element Show all devices(List All Devices). After selecting a device group, click the button Further(Next) to display the next wizard dialog (Fig. 16.23).
The dialog contains a list of manufacturers and a list of models of the selected equipment group. First, in the list of manufacturers, select the manufacturer of your equipment, and then in the list of models, select its model. Please note that to the left of the modem model names there is a zzzz icon . This is a digital signature icon indicating that this equipment has been tested on Windows XP. It may happen that you will not find your equipment on these lists. Then you will have to use a floppy disk or CD, which should be included in the equipment delivery package. To use a floppy disk, press the button Install from disk(Have disk). A folder and drive selection dialog will appear. Insert the floppy disk that should be included with your equipment and click OK to close the dialog. If the device driver is on a CD, enter the drive letter in the input field and then click OK. In the file selection dialog that appears, select the desired file and click the button Open(Open) to open the file and close the search dialog. A new dialog will appear showing which device drivers are on the disk. Select the device driver and click OK to continue with the installation. Depending on the type of equipment being installed, several more installation wizard dialogs may appear to indicate specific equipment parameters. At the end of the wizard, the new hardware will be installed on your computer, and you can start working with it.
After installing a new driver, even if you did everything correctly, the hardware may not work properly or the system may be unstable. Windows XP allows you to uninstall a device driver and revert to the previous driver. To revert to a previous working device driver, right-click on the desktop icon My computer(My Computer) to display the sub menu. From this menu, select the command Properties device Manager(Device Manager). Next, select the device whose driver you want to return from the list and click the button Properties(Properties). In the dialog that appears, select the tab Driver(Driver) and press the button Return driver(Rollback Driver). The previous version of the device driver will be restored.
When you update device drivers, the system remembers the last working driver. This happens automatically every time the Windows system boots. If you have problems with new drivers and cannot boot your system to reset the driver, you should use the Last Known Good Configuration tool. To do this, during boot, press the key on the keyboard to select special boot modes. In the menu that appears, select the configuration called Last known successful(Last Known Good). The computer will boot successfully and you can decide what to do next while still working in Windows.
Windows 7 Hardware Wizard
To install a device that Windows 7 cannot recognize and install automatically, use the Add Hardware Wizard.
Open Start -> Control Panel -> Device Manager. In the Device Manager window that opens, right-click on the name of your computer (the top line) and select the item in the context menu Install old device.
Another way to launch the Add Hardware Wizard is to open Start, type in the search bar hdwwiz and press Enter.
The Hardware Installation Wizard window will open and after clicking the button Further you will be given two options:
- Perform search and automatic installation of equipment;
- Select equipment from the list and install it manually.
If the equipment is found, then click Further and follow the Wizard's instructions to install the driver. If the equipment could not be found, you will see this window:
If your device is not in the list, double-click Show all devices(top item) and wait until Windows 7 creates a list of all devices for which drivers are in the database.
If your device is not in this list, then click the button Install from disk...
Now click the button Review and specify the drive or folder where the device driver file is located (a file with the extension .inf, not .exe). The folder with the .inf file can be located either on removable media or on a hard drive. Click OK and follow the installation program instructions.
Note. A digitally signed driver is a driver that has been tested to be compatible with Windows 7. Installing a driver that is not digitally signed may cause errors in the operating system (not necessary, but it can happen sometimes). Therefore, be sure to create a system restore point before installing the device.
If, after installing the device, Windows 7 starts to work with errors, then you need to roll back or remove the device driver, then turn off the computer and disconnect the device from the motherboard. If a device that is not compatible with Windows 7 is built into the motherboard, then after removing the driver, disable this device in the BIOS.
Practical task.
1. Start your work computer.
2. Make sure that the devices suggested by the teacher are not registered in the system. Make a list of suggested devices.
3. Connect the devices to the computer one by one. Record the automatic progress of device connection.
4. If the device does not connect automatically, use the Hardware Wizard. At what stage did you encounter difficulties? Record your progress.
5. Look in Device Manager to see what your connected devices look like. Write down their statuses.
6. Record in writing exactly which device drivers are missing.
The driver can also be installed if you use the Driver Installation (Update) Wizard, which is available in any Windows operating system. To launch the wizard, follow these steps:
1. Click on the Start button > Settings > Control Panel. Then click on the “System” icon (Figure 1).
When installing drivers under Windows XP, the names of the dialog boxes and the path to the installation wizard may not differ significantly.
2. Before you is the “System Properties” window, go to the “Hardware” tab. Then click on the “Device Manager” button (Fig. 2).
3. In the “Device Manager” window (Fig. 3), you see all found and installed devices. For devices marked with a yellow circle with an exclamation mark, you need to install (update) the driver. Highlight the “Video Controller (VGA Compatible)” devices and then click on it.
4. In the “Video Controller (VGA Compatible) Properties” window, go to the “Driver” tab and click the “Update Driver” button (Fig. 4).
5. The “Driver Update Wizard” will launch. To continue, click the “Next” button (Fig. 5).
6. In this dialog box, the installation wizard prompts you to search for any suitable driver (recommended) or select the appropriate one from the list. Select the recommended option and click the “Next” button (Fig. 6).
7. In this window, the installation wizard needs to indicate where the drivers are located. Since we have the necessary drivers on the CD, we indicate “CD-ROM drives” and continue the installation by clicking on the “Next” button (Fig. 7).
8. The search begins for a suitable driver for the “NVIDIA GeForge2MX/MX400” device
As soon as a suitable driver is found, a window will appear asking you to install it or select another. In the case I'm discussing here, the installation wizard did not correctly detect the operating system and found a driver for the Windows 98/Me operating system.
If you continue installing the found driver, the installation operation will end with an error and a warning that the found driver does not match the Windows 2000 operating system.
If the wizard correctly identified the driver, then you immediately go to step 11.
9. To select another driver, check the box next to the “Install one of the other drivers” option and continue the installation by clicking the “Next” button (Fig. 8).
10. In this dialog box, highlight the driver for your operating system. You may ask, which of the listed drivers is right for me? Everything is very simple, as a rule, drivers are located in folders called operating systems, for example: win9xme - Windows 98/Me, win2k - Windows 2000/XP, etc. Therefore, select the driver for Windows 2000 and click the “Next” button (Fig. 9).
The Found New Hardware Wizard tool launches automatically in Microsoft Windows operating systems of all versions when the necessary devices are connected. However, it is possible to manually launch the selected utility.
