Brief educational program: What is a driver, what is it for? What is a driver and why is it needed? How to install and remove drivers correctly. What to do if you can't install the driver
Inexperienced PC users are often faced with driver installation questions: what is a driver? Why do you need a driver at all? Where to get and how to install drivers? And in general, what exactly do they eat this driver with?
What is a driver - a simple explanation
A computer is a whole set of devices, not just one device. Each device connected to a computer - a screen, keyboard, printer, video card and any other - requires that the operating system “understand” what can be done with such a device. The newly connected device is not yet known to the system. Windows simply does not “understand” what kind of new device was included in its equipment.
A driver is a program that allows the operating system to “talk” to the device. A kind of “translator” who is able to talk to Windows and explain to the system how to use the new device. Each device has its own driver. For a video card you need one “translator”, for a mouse - a completely different one.
How to install the driver?
For most devices, drivers are already included in the operating system. For example, when it detects a new flash drive, Windows sends an electrical signal to it. As if asking: “Who are you going to be?” In response, the flash drive says: “I am a drive that is connected via a USB interface, and in order to communicate with me, download driver No. 15619, which is in your archive.” In a split second, Windows finds the required file, reads it, and finds out the entire work history of the flash drive, using all its capabilities. This is roughly how drivers are installed.
The newer the version of Windows, the greater the chance that you will not need to install separate drivers for a newly connected device - they will be included in the operating system. For example, Windows XP can immediately start working with the vast majority of flash drives, but for the oldest Windows 98 this is an almost impossible task. Windows 7 contains a huge collection of programs for working with printers, scanners, video cards and other equipment. But the same XP does not recognize office devices such as office equipment, three-in-one, scanners, and other things so well. There is no such large collection of drivers in its depths.
What to do if the driver does not install automatically
However, many devices are unknown even to the latest versions of the OS. Every day, manufacturers release new printers and more modern video cards. Even familiar mice are overgrown with a huge number of unusual buttons.
If the driver is not installed automatically, then in such cases the message that many people dislike appears on the screen: “The device is installed incorrectly.” This problem is easily solved - you need to install the necessary driver. Install it manually, because the operating system has already informed you that its collection does not have a suitable “translator” program to work with this device.
Installing the driver from disk
To manually install the driver, first of all, look in the box in which the device was sold to you. As a rule, CDs with programs recorded on them are supplied with the devices. After inserting the disc into the drive, answer a few simple system questions that appear in the Found New Hardware Wizard, and the driver is installed! And the questions are really simple - at the level:
- Do you want to install the driver now?
- I want to install the driver in the folder C:/Windows/Drivers. Can I install the driver there, or do you suggest another location?
- You will probably have to restart your computer after installation. Do you allow us to do this now, or will we reboot later?
There is no driver disk. Where can I get the driver?
If the device came to you without a disk or it was lost, then the latest version of the driver can always be found on the manufacturer’s website and downloaded from there. Look at the brand of the new equipment and look for the official website for that model. Simply enter the company name and device model into a search engine (Google or Yandex).
For example, let's try to install the driver for the network adapter. This is the internal structure of a computer, the connector of which is similar to a telephone “socket”, only slightly thicker and larger. A network cable is inserted there, and the computer is connected to the local network. By the way, this method of installing the driver is also suitable for any other device - webcam, mouse, modem. Just replace the name of the manufacturer and model with what is written on your device. It’s even better to immediately formulate a request that will lead us to the manufacturer’s official website. In our example, this will be “Realtek Ethernet controller official website”.
So, the computer detected a new device. And I couldn't install the driver for it. We don't have the disk at hand.
First, let's open Device Manager. This is a program that shows all the devices that make up the computer and that are connected to it. The Device Manager is called up like this: Right-click on the “Computer” icon, a menu will appear. In it you need to select the bottom line (Properties) and left-click on it.
In “Properties” you need to select “Device Manager” (aka Device manager in the English version of the OS).
This is what Device Manager looks like in Windows 7. It looks a little differently in Windows XP and other versions of the operating system, but the essence remains the same. Please note that at the very bottom line of Device Manager, a device called Ethernet Controller is highlighted. Uninstalled devices are always marked with a question mark or exclamation mark to the left of the device name. This means that Windows cannot really work with this device yet.
The first response from Yandex will lead us to the official website of the manufacturer. Please note that you should not pay attention to sites like “[email protected]”. They have nothing to do with the manufacturer's website. The maximum that they will advise is to download some kind of stupid program with incomprehensible tasks. From an unknown source, by the way. You should always use only the official websites of the equipment manufacturer.
On the site, pay attention to the sections called “Technical Support”, “Drivers and Software”, “Downloads” and the like. On English-language sites, as in our example, look for the headings Download, Support, Drivers. And in our example, the website of the Taiwanese network adapter manufacturer Realtek already offers to select the most popular user requests - pay attention to the lower right corner of the picture. What we needed was the Realtek GBE Controller Driver. Let's click on it...
And select the desired operating system. This is Windows 7, in the case of our example. The very first link.
A window opens asking you to save or run the driver program. It’s better to select “Save”, because the driver may be useful someday. A few minutes (or seconds - it all depends on the speed of your Internet connection) - and you’re done. The driver is saved on your PC.
All that remains is to launch it by double-clicking on the driver file. Left button, of course.
The driver installation window will appear. A few simple questions...
And everything is ready! The device called Network Adapter has been successfully installed. It's ready to go. The driver is installed.
Finally about drivers
Experienced users prefer to install drivers not from the included disk, but to download the latest version from the official website - often this method allows the equipment to work faster, more stable, and sometimes even adds new features. Drivers are updated very often, so it's best to work with the latest version.
Finally, you can try installing the driver in semi-automatic mode. Using not the internal “collection” of Windows drivers, but a huge library from the Microsoft website. Read about such driver installation in the following article about drivers.
And further. In a modern computer, doing something wrong is a very difficult task. The computer will not deteriorate, will not break, and will not stop loading. Installing drivers seems like a difficult task only at first glance. Everything is very, very simple. There is no need to call a "geek" for this purpose. Installing the driver can be compared to wiping off dust from your computer. We take a damp cloth, gently wipe it, and the family’s electronic friend is sparkling clean again. Not difficult? Same with the driver. Installing it yourself is very easy. Don’t be afraid of anything and feel free to try: now the answer to the question “how to install the driver” is completely resolved!
Good luck with your experiments!
For the most part, a driver is a computer program with which the operating system gains access to the hardware of various devices, after which it is able to use them for its intended purpose. In general, to use most internal (components) or external (peripherals) computer devices, a driver will be needed.
Thus, almost every user, while using a computer, is, in one way or another, forced to deal with installing drivers on their system. For example, you bought a new printer, brought it home and connected it to your computer. Although Windows will likely detect its connection and display the name of the device, printing to it will not be possible until you install the driver that comes with it.
The same will have to be done if you connect a scanner, camera or digital video camera, web camera, mobile phone, various manipulators and joysticks, as well as many other various external devices that can work together with your PC. And even if you purchase and install components such as a video or sound card, a wired or wireless network card, all kinds of controllers and other expansion cards into your system unit, you cannot do without drivers.
Of course, inside your computer there are a huge number of different electronic components and chips, which are also identified by the operating system as independent devices.
In this picture, you can see only a small part of the devices detected by Windows and imagine that for each of them to work correctly, driver installation is required. Probably, a logical question arises here: “So, should the user independently install software for all these devices?” Fortunately this is not the case. In fact, the distribution of any operating system always includes a library with drivers, which, if necessary, are installed along with it. During installation, the OS scans your computer for installed devices and checks its library for the presence of suitable drivers. If there are any, they are installed automatically.
In general, if the system in its distribution did not have a basic set of drivers, then installing it on the computer itself would be impossible. For example, this is why any Windows installation begins with unpacking the basic software for the main PC components.
Typically, the necessary drivers are supplied with the equipment on a CD. Whether you're buying a desktop or laptop, an external peripheral, or internal components, always make sure it includes a driver disc. Of course, not all separately sold devices require driver installation. For example, monitors, RAM, hard drives, optical drives, keyboards, mice and some other computer components do not require installation of special software for normal operation in the system, but if you are not sure about this, it would be a good idea to clarify this point with the seller . Also, the disks that come with the equipment may contain useful programs and utilities that make it easier to work with this device and expand its capabilities, allowing you to achieve maximum functionality from it.
If for some reason the driver media was lost, the latest versions can almost always be found on the Internet by downloading from the equipment manufacturer’s website in the appropriate section. True, in order to get the necessary driver, you will need some specific knowledge of the parameters and characteristics of the device for which they are being sought, which can confuse an inexperienced user. To avoid such misunderstandings, try not to lose the driver disks that came with the device. Even if they contain hopelessly outdated versions of programs, it is still better than nothing.
WHEN SHOULD YOU INSTALL DRIVERS YOURSELF?
Let's see in what cases you still need the ability to install drivers yourself.
Installing or reinstalling the operating system on a desktop PC (system unit). We can say that this is the most difficult case. Despite the fact that the OS distribution itself may have an impressive library of drivers, the chances that it will contain everything you need for your computer’s devices are very low. This is especially true for components that were released later than the system itself. In Windows, you can check for unidentified components by opening the Device Manager window:
- In Windows XP, click Start and select Control Panel. In Control Panel, double-click on the System icon. In the window that opens, select the “Hardware” tab at the top, and in it “Device Manager”.
- In Windows Vista, 7, click “Start” and select “Control Panel”. In Control Panel, double-click on the "Device Manager" icon.
If yellow exclamation or question marks are found next to any devices, then mandatory driver installation is required for them.
Also, we should not forget that the drivers included in the OS distribution become hopelessly outdated over time, since computer hardware manufacturers are constantly improving the software for their products, eliminating all kinds of errors and shortcomings. As a rule, installing the latest versions of drivers has a positive effect not only on the operation of the target device, but also on the system as a whole.
Therefore, after installing a new operating system, for the internal components of the computer, it is recommended to install the latest versions of drivers, which can be downloaded from the manufacturers’ websites. If the process of finding the latest versions is difficult, then it’s time to prepare the disks that came with the equipment.
When installing drivers, it is always recommended to start with the software for the chipset, since it combines almost all the most important system devices and components of the computer. Then, as a rule, the video driver (Video) is installed. Software for the remaining devices: sound card (Sound), wired/wireless network interface (LAN/Wireless) and other various controllers and expansion cards can be installed in any order.
After completing the installation of drivers for all internal devices, be sure to check in the “Device Manager” that there are no question marks or exclamation marks next to any components. If everything is in order, then you can begin installing software for peripherals (scanners, printers, web cameras, etc.).
Installing or reinstalling the operating system on a laptop. As a rule, most laptops are sold with a pre-installed operating system, which contains all the drivers necessary for it. If for some reason you decide to reinstall the system and return the laptop to factory settings, then in the vast majority of cases, for this purpose there is a special closed partition containing a distribution kit with the OS and all the necessary software. The user only needs to start the installation process (as indicated in the instructions for the device) and wait for it to complete.
But there are often cases when a laptop is purchased without an operating system or you decide to install an OS different from the one with which it was sold. In such a situation, you will not only have to install the drivers yourself, but in any case download them from the manufacturer’s website, since you will not have any disks with drivers on hand, which in turn can make life very difficult for inexperienced users. Another unpleasant moment for beginners may be the fact that laptops, as a rule, have many specific additional devices that will require not only the installation of additional drivers, but also special programs for them.
Be sure, before you start installing the operating system you have chosen, make sure that there is software for it on the manufacturer’s website at all, or if it exists, then in full. It is not uncommon that for some laptop models, support for a particular operating system is not provided by the developers. In this case, the set of drivers and programs may be incomplete, which will greatly reduce the functionality and stability of the mobile device. The only way out of this situation is to install drivers from enthusiasts or similar devices, but as you understand, without any guarantee of correct operation.
Connecting or installing a new device. As you use your computer, over time, you can expand its capabilities by purchasing additional peripheral equipment or even improving its internal hardware. In most cases, after installing or connecting new equipment, for its normal operation, you will need to install a driver.
Installing newer versions of drivers to replace existing ones. As noted above, equipment manufacturers are trying to constantly improve the software for their devices, not only correcting various possible errors, but also optimizing it to work on various operating systems. In turn, this improves the stability of computer components, and in some cases, expands their functionality and increases performance.
One of the most striking examples of the usefulness of updating drivers is the case with video cards, whose manufacturers optimize their software day and night not only to increase the performance of their products in new games, but also to eliminate all kinds of errors during operation. Thus, timely updating the driver for your video adapter will help you avoid unpleasant moments associated with possible “bugs” or crashes during gameplay and may slightly increase the device’s performance in certain applications.
In general, driver “crooks” can have a very negative impact on the operation of any computer component, causing persistent user dislike from endless “glitches” and problems during operation. As a rule, inexperienced users attribute all these troubles to a possible manufacturing defect in the device, trying to solve the problems by contacting the warranty department. But in many cases, it is enough just to update or reinstall the driver to normalize the operation of the device.
Now, you probably already understand that the process of installing a driver into the operating system is an integral part of operating a computer, and if you do not have a qualified assistant, then it’s time to move on to the practical part, where we will look at how to install these same drivers.
INSTALLING DRIVERS
To make it easier to understand the process of installing drivers, we will divide it into two parts. The first is starting the installation (before the driver installer window appears), and the second is the installation itself.
Let's look at three main situations in which it is most likely that you will have to start installing the driver.
INSTALLING FROM DISK
Case one - installing the driver from disk. There is nothing complicated in this method, except that you just need to select the right disk correctly. After installing it into the optical drive, if you have the autorun option enabled, a window will open in front of you in which you need to select a file to launch. As a rule, it is called “...autorun.exe” or “...setup.exe” and has the manufacturer’s proprietary icon. If such a window does not open automatically, then simply open the root directory of the disk through Explorer (or the “My Computer” icon), find there a file with the name indicated above (or similar to it) and run it by double-clicking the mouse.
Most developers try to make life easier for ordinary users and therefore provide their driver installers with colorful and, in principle, understandable graphical shells. For example, this is what the interface looks like from the installation disk from an MSI motherboard.
At the top, the tab for drivers is selected, and in the middle, windows are displayed with the names of the devices contained on the motherboard (chipset, built-in video, wired network interface, RAID array, audio card, etc.), by clicking on which you can sequentially start installing the drivers for the corresponding devices. As you can see, everything is simple.
And this is, for example, what the window for launching the installation of drivers for a video card looks like.
Here, to start the installation, just click on the “Install Drivers” option.
INSTALLATION FROM ARCHIVE OR FILE
Case two - installing drivers from downloaded files from the manufacturer’s website. As a rule, in order for such files to take up as little space as possible on the server and for users to download them faster, their size is reduced by archiving. Therefore, before you start installing the driver from such a file, you must first unzip it.
It is true here too that software developers have tried to make it easier to accommodate inexperienced users. Try double-clicking on such a file, and most likely the unzipping process will begin automatically. All you have to do is specify the folder into which the selected driver file will be unpacked. It is better not to unpack such files anywhere, but to create a folder for them on your hard drive in advance with a self-explanatory name, for example “Drivers”. Firstly, there may be several of them, and secondly, they may be useful to you in the future, and this will make it much easier for you to find them on your computer.
Here I would like to give one more piece of advice. At the moment when you select a folder to unpack files, you can easily rename the file itself. For what? Here's a live example.
In the picture on the left you can see the names of the downloaded driver files for the Toshiba laptop. Is anything clear? It's good if you just downloaded them, and remember which ones are for which devices. Well, or you need to install a full set of drivers, in which case you can simply run all the files one by one. What if in a month or two you need to reinstall the sound card driver? That's right, you'll have to look for it and download it again, because you won't be able to find it in such a list. That’s why you shouldn’t be lazy, and try to name the files with meaningful names, as is done in the right picture, so that later everything will be extremely clear.
After unpacking the archives is completed, in many cases the driver installation process begins automatically. If this did not happen, and you used the previous tips, then it will not be difficult for you to find the folder with unpacked drivers on your computer and start installing them directly from it. To do this, simply double-click on the selected file.
In the first two cases, after starting the installation, the direct process of installing the software into the operating system will begin. In general, nowadays, almost any software, including device drivers, has installers with a graphical interface. The installation process itself, regardless of the software being installed, follows approximately the same pattern. As a rule, windows appear in front of the user, after familiarizing themselves with the contents of which, it is necessary to make some choice to continue the installation. After accepting all kinds of license agreements and selecting initial settings, the process of integrating the application into the operating system will begin. The last step is usually to reboot the system. Let's see how this happens using the example of quickly installing a video card driver.
Most likely, the first thing you will see in the installation program of most drivers will be a license agreement with the developers, if you do not accept it, further installation will be impossible. This is what happened in our example. Click the “I Accept” button. Continue".
In the next window we are asked to select installation options.
You will also encounter this type of window quite often during the installation of various types of software. For inexperienced users, it is definitely worth choosing express installation. It is always recommended by developers, as it reduces user actions at the time of installation to a minimum. In this case, after clicking the “Next” button, the program will carry out all other settings automatically and begin installation.
With a custom installation, the user is given the right to select only the components he needs for installation.
In our case, we’ll leave only the graphics driver and click “Next”, after which you just have to wait for the installation process to complete.
After the installation is complete, it is advisable to restart the computer so that all changes are accepted by the system and the driver works correctly.
INSTALLING FROM TASK MANAGER
Case three - installing the driver from the device manager. This method stands apart from the previous two, since in its essence it is completely different from them. It is worth noting that previously drivers for computer equipment were not included in auxiliary graphic shells and this installation method was the most common. And now, many advanced users prefer this particular method, since in this case only device drivers are installed, without any auxiliary programs, beautiful graphical shells and other tinsel, which can significantly speed up the boot and operation of the computer and prevents unnecessary accumulation on the disk software.
But even if you are a fan of a simple custom installation using a graphical interface, this method may still be useful to you, for example, if, after installing all the drivers, you still find yellow question marks in the Windows Device Manager and have absolutely no idea what it is maybe per device. It is also not uncommon for installation disks to simply not have a graphical interface for launching the installation, and the driver itself also does not have a graphical installer. For example, this is often found in drivers designed for all kinds of controllers.
Having opened the Windows Device Manager, select the device for which you plan to install or update the driver. For example, we will install the driver for a USB wireless network card.
Double-click the left mouse button on the device with the yellow exclamation mark. In the device properties window that opens, select the “Driver” tab.
As you can see in the figure, we can perform several actions with the device driver, but in our case (as well as in the case of updating the driver), we select the “Update” item.
In the window that opens, you can choose to automatically search for drivers or specify their location on the computer manually. In our example, the automatic search for software did not produce results, but this is not surprising. We do not have a disk with drivers for this device, just as they are not on the computer’s hard drive. The main hope was to search for them on the Internet, but as a rule it never gives positive results.
Well, you'll have to spend some time downloading the driver from the manufacturer's website. Having saved the found archive with the necessary software to your computer, be sure to unpack it. So, now we have a folder with drivers on our hard drive, and if we select automatic search again, then most likely the installer will now find them and install them without problems. But since we know the location of the drivers, let’s get acquainted with the second mode and, after clicking on the “Update” option again, select manual installation of drivers.
In the window that opens, specify the path to the desired folder and click “Next”
After waiting for the device installation to complete, you can close the driver update window.
As you can see, changes have occurred in the device properties window. Now you can see the device name and information about the installed driver. There have also been changes in the device manager.
It can be seen that there are no longer any devices marked with yellow signs, and the name of the new equipment has appeared in the network adapters tab. All this tells us that the driver installation was completed correctly and the new device is working normally.
This concludes the article on drivers, and we advise you to practice to consolidate the material. For example, try to find the latest driver for your video card on the manufacturer’s website and update the existing one.
I receive a lot of letters with questions like this: “What are drivers, why are they needed and how to install them?”
And although about such concepts as driver I wanted to talk to you a little later, but I see that the topic is quite relevant. Therefore, let’s not put it off for a long time and let’s get to know this concept better.
The computer you are currently working on consists of many components.
If you have a personal computer, then this is a separate system unit (often called a processor, which is not entirely true), a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, maybe also a printer, a video camera, speakers and a microphone. May be something else. And all these components of a personal computer are connected by wires.
Among the devices invisible to us (hidden in the system unit) are the video card and sound card, to which the monitor, speakers and microphone are connected.
If you have a laptop, netbook or all-in-one, then all of the listed components (well, almost all) are compactly combined into one case. But in any case, they are components of a computer.
So here it is. In order for each of these components to work and work correctly, special programs are needed that allow these devices to function.
For example, a special program installed for a video card allows you to admire the screen of your monitor, the pictures on which have 32 million color shades and the flicker of the monitor does not irritate your eyes.
Moving a physical mouse, which is in your hand, across a table or mat causes the mouse pointer to move across the monitor screen in the same direction in which you move the physical mouse. And these manipulations are also controlled by a special program.
When you press a key on your keyboard, the exact character that is “drawn” on the key is printed on the monitor screen. And this symbol is printed exactly in the place you specified. And this is also done by a special program installed on your computer.
And all these special programs are called drivers or device drivers . Essentially this is device management programs .
So, two answers to the question, "What are drivers, What are they needed for?", I hope we got it. Now it remains to find out how to install them.
I would rephrase this question a little. Do I need to install drivers on your computer? And if necessary, then how?
In most cases To you personally There is no need to install drivers on your computer and here's why.
If you bought a computer in a specialized store, then, as a rule, all the necessary drivers for your computer’s devices are already installed and installed correctly (i.e. they provide correct operation of your devices).
Even if you have to reinstall the operating system, you shouldn’t have too many difficulties with drivers. The operating system distribution kit (installation CD/DVD disk) contains almost all standard drivers. And during installation, the operating system itself will determine what equipment is installed and install the necessary programs itself.
The latest versions of operating systems are generally simpler. If after installation it turns out that the distribution does not have the necessary driver, then the operating system goes online, downloads the necessary driver and installs it. True, there is one subtlety here. The network must be configured and the Internet connected, i.e. drivers for the network card must already be installed.
But in any case, when purchasing a personal computer, a disk with the necessary drivers must be included with it. Well, if this is a laptop, then the installation files for restoring the operating system and drivers are usually recorded on a protected partition of the hard drive.
But, of course, there are situations when you yourself will have to install the drivers manually.
Here are a couple of examples. You have decided to change your video card (in a personal computer this is quite simple) with a new, sophisticated one with some of the latest graphics accelerator for professional work with 3D graphics. Or bought a new MFP (multifunctional device - copier, scanner and printer - all in one).
In this case, a disk with the necessary drivers must be included with the video card or printer. The disc is inserted into the CD/DVD drive. The program automatically starts with a “beautiful” menu with offers to install drivers and related software. Select the necessary programs and applications. Start the installation. After some time, the operating system will inform you that the drivers and necessary programs and applications are installed.
Okay, this is new equipment. How can I see what equipment is already installed and whether there are any problems with the drivers? Are all drivers installed and, if not, how to install them?
In order to see what equipment is installed on your computer and in what state it is, you need to “call” device Manager.
I will show how the device manager is called using examples for two popular operating systems from Microsoft - Windows XP and Windows7.
For Windows XP:
For Windows 7:
IN Device Manager window You see a description of the devices installed on your computer. If opposite the description you left-click on the “plus sign” (Windows XP) or “arrow (Windows 7)”, a description of which specific hardware model you have installed will open.
It is from this window that device drivers are installed or updated.
If your list is “clean”, that is, without yellow exclamation marks and red crosses, then all your drivers are installed and working correctly.
It’s a little worse if you see exclamation marks against the devices against the background of yellow circles.
This means that the driver is not installed entirely correctly and conflicts with another device. In this case, you need to remove this driver and restart the computer so that it detects the device again and installs the driver again. If the exclamation mark remains after this, you will have to look for the latest updated driver version for this device on the Internet.
And it’s really not good if there’s a red cross next to the device.
This means that the operating system does not have a driver for this device in its arsenal. This means you need to look for the driver on the Internet, download it and install it.
A reasonable question may arise: how, what and where to look, if we have the most general idea about these same drivers.
For this purpose on the Internet there are so-called forums, where you can ask a question you are interested in and will definitely receive an answer.
Forums are usually thematic. And the forums have thematic sections. Find a section with a “rough” topic for your problem, describe your problem in the words you can describe it. You will definitely receive an answer. Maybe not right away. Maybe there will be a couple or three clarifying questions.
Beginner PC Users Forum - https://www.linux.org.ru/forum/talks/12412862
That's all for today. Good luck and creative success to everyone.
For blog updates Beginner computer users and be the first to know about new articles and lessons.
With respect to all my readers and subscribers
Oleg Ivashinenko
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6 comments on this post
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At the very beginning of my training on a PC, I decided to connect a printer that I had bought for my daughter a long time ago, but she practically never used it. There was a need to install drivers. Experts I knew gave me these, but the Phaaser 3210 copier refused to respond. I had to turn to a friend. Indeed, the drivers for the specified model turned out to be incompatible. The latter told me that if the copier is Japanese, then its “Brains” are Samsung. And exactly. The printer works perfectly (they used to do it well). Why is this story? To the fact that “Learning is light, not learning, darkness.” Thank you Oleg for the Lessons. | |
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to meet a person who is not associated with computers and who has not come across various computer terms. In this article we will try to explain the meaning of the term “driver” and how to install drivers on a PC.
A driver is a program that allows higher-level computer programs to interact with hardware devices.
Typically, a driver communicates with a particular device through continuous operation of the computer buses. After receiving a request from the PC, the device sends its data to the driver, which is used in the interaction between the driver and the computer.
So, what is a driver? Roughly speaking, a driver is the point of interaction between device data, applications, and the operating system (OS). Additionally, drivers vary depending on the specific hardware and OS used.
It should be noted that logical device drivers (LDD) are supplied by the OS itself, while physical layer drivers (PDD) are created by the device manufacturer. The interaction occurs according to the following scheme: the OS sends requests to the device by accessing logical layers, which in turn access the physical layer of certain equipment. The latter actually executes the requests. For example, depending on the platform functionality, standard XON/XOFF communication protocols handle the logic layer serial port. Conversely, if it is necessary to interact with the OS, the hardware device accesses the logical layer through the physical layer.
Drivers used on Windows have the extension .sys, while drivers on Linux have the extension .ko. In addition to standard application drivers (printers, network cards, etc.), there are also virtual drivers (32-bit DLLs required for hardware virtualization) and open drivers (SANE - for scanners, CUPS - for printers, Vidix - for video and etc.).
How to install the driver?
It is worth noting that operating systems treat device installation differently. If, for example, Windows XP requires recording almost all drivers, then in Windows 7 a larger number of drivers are already included in the OS itself. When purchasing a computer, a disk with the necessary drivers is supplied with it, but when purchasing a laptop, the drivers are located on the hard drive, most often in a folder called “drivers”. A confident PC user can install them independently by clicking on the appropriate file (in the case of laptops) or by inserting a disk with drivers into the drive and clicking on the phrase “Install drivers”.
But if a person is interested in computers at an amateur level, then he should use special programs that help find, update, record or remove one or another missing driver. Let's remember one important detail: if something does not work on a new computer or when recording/rewriting the OS, this means only one thing - the required driver is missing! Therefore, let’s not rack our brains and guess what kind of driver we need, but turn to the help of the universal driver installation manager DriverPack Solution 12.3, which will automatically select the necessary driver, unpack it and install it.
The advantages are obvious: it supports all versions of Windows, saves time, and is easy to use. Thanks to the universal manager, you can select and download free drivers for video and audio cards, motherboard, wi-fi, network card, input devices, controller, bluetooth, chipset, modem, processor, monitor, scanner, web camera, usb, card reader and other devices.
The program supports all computer models and includes driver support for laptops Acer, Asus, DELL, eMachines, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, Lenovo, MSI Samsung, Sony, Toshiba. In addition, it downloads drivers from manufacturers such as Amd, Atheros, Ati (Radeon), Intel, Nvidia (GeForce), Realtek and Via.
We invite you to read the step-by-step instructions to find out how to install driver on a PC using the DriverPack Solution program.
Step one - go to the website http://drp.su/ru and click on DriverPack Solution ---> Download:
Step two - The following page opens from which the program can be downloaded from the site or downloaded using Torrent:
Step three - Unpack the downloaded file into your computer, to do this, click on the Run button, then agree to the terms of the program and install it:
Step four- after installation, the DriverPack Solution program automatically opens:
Finally, after completing the search and installation of the necessary drivers, the following message appears.
Greetings to everyone who came to this article in search of answers to an exciting question: why do you need drivers for a computer? In this article I will try to give a complete answer to what these control programs are needed for.
It is these utilities that “indicate” all the constituent elements how to work in order to ensure the most comfortable interaction between a smart machine and a person. The absence or presence of outdated drivers will simply not allow you to enjoy all the delights of the high-tech world, and your PC will not work at its full potential. It's very easy to avoid this.
How? Let's find out!
What is this driver?
A driver is a small program through which the OS “understands” what devices are connected to the system unit, why they are needed, how to control them, and so on. These programs are created by device manufacturers themselves.
The easiest way to get the necessary utility on your computer is to take the disk with it out of the box with the purchased video, network or sound card (or any other device). Every developer always supplies it in the kit. Next, it is simply installed in the required directory (selected automatically, you do not need to search for it yourself), after which the system reboots. All. This is enough for the connected devices to work at full capacity.
Let's use an example: you bought a cool webcam for your favorite computer and connected it. However, it will not function as it should. First, the PC will see it and recognize it as some kind of unknown device. This is where you need to know why you need to install this management software and what to do with it. You will need to install this program from disk, after which the OS will “understand” what the driver is and how to interact with it.
How to install, I think it’s clear, I want to focus on one interesting feature. There is such a tricky thing as universal drivers. They are created by Microsoft for the most popular devices. This means that after reinstallation, the new Windows itself will recognize most of the connected devices and configure them. However, it is not always correct to use them, because they may not take into account certain features of top-end, for example, video cards and, as a result, do not enable all possible functions.
Alternative Search Options
If for some reason you need to reinstall the OS, but there are no disks with the necessary programs, then it is better to search for them before demolishing Windows. You can find everything you need on the Internet. Why in advance? Because after reinstallation, the network card will be an ordinary board sticking aimlessly in your system unit.
A computer without management utilities simply will not know what to do with it. You will not be able to go online and download all other utilities. The same story will happen with an audio device - if there is no sound driver, then you will not enjoy your favorite music, voice communication or watching movies before bed.
But if you are wondering where you can download the necessary and working driver, then the answer is simple - directly from the developer.
That is why you need to one by one enter into a search engine the names of all devices connected to your PC and download. Preferably from official sites, since:
- there they are always the freshest;
- developers provide users with guaranteed working utilities;
- There is no risk of downloading a dangerous virus and causing problems with drivers or the computer as a whole.
Where can they be stored on the computer?
If Windows is installed on your PC, then the folder with already installed programs can be found here:
- 32-bit OS - C:\windows\system32\drivers;
- 64-bit OS - C:\windows\syswow64\drivers.
All files are easy to distinguish; they have special extensions - *.sys, *.vxt, *.dll or *.inf.
It is not enough to know where drivers are stored in Windows; it is important to be able to use them correctly. If you know for sure that reinstallation is inevitable, but there is no way to get utilities for all devices, then a simple piece of advice can help: just install the Driver Genius program. With its help, it is easy to create a backup copy of all the necessary files, and then reinstall them on the updated PC.
There is a big pitfall here: the drivers may be outdated. This is especially true for graphics, because manufacturers work very intensively, constantly offering something new.
Perhaps the utilities worked great before, but the new Windows will clearly tell you: give me some new ones, I won’t work with these. And you will have to update the drivers.
Why is this necessary? To use all connected devices without experiencing discomfort.
I hope that you learned a lot of interesting things from this article. If it was useful, share it with your friends on social networks, maybe you will help them. Also subscribe to updates, because a lot of interesting things await you!
PS: Interesting video “Installing drivers in one click”
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