I think many of the laptop users have encountered the problem - how to find a driver for a laptop... Time passes and someday, a new laptop reads "to mess up". Now I'm not talking about laptop-netbook keyboards that are flooded (with coffee or beer - which is even worse). I mean the Operating System. In this case, problems with the OS depend on many factors...

• How well does the user know the computer...
• How often does he use...
• Is anyone using...
• Etc.

There is such a phrase - "80% of Windows errors are located half a meter from the monitor screen..." I absolutely agree with these words!

As a person who has been professionally repairing and configuring computers and laptops in his city for more than 10 years, having an address book on his phone with more than 4 thousand registered clients, I can say with absolute certainty - if you have problems with your computer, first of all, look for the problem in the lack of your own knowledge...

And my site was created just to expand your knowledge, so - welcome to the new lesson!

Windows is "not childishly buggy"!

It is impossible to work on the Internet!

Games freeze and crash!

You can, of course, try to restore the system. But, there is one caveat... If your problem is due to viruses, for example the Sality virus or Conficker, then in this case it is worth reinstalling the system. At least because these viruses are found in your OS, all files with the extension .exe and infect them... And the file with the extension .exe is the launch file for any program. In this case, it is easier to reinstall the Operating System, first saving the data you need to a free disk partition.

Even your antivirus, which you once paid for1500-2000 rubles, this is a file with the extension.exe . Do you really think that they will give you the perfect remedy for all viral problems in2000 rubles?! Yes evenfor 10000r. You won’t find an ideal remedy, because it already plays a role here -Human factor. Just as it is impossible to eradicate crimes, so isIt is impossible to eliminate all computer viruses!

Therefore, we don’t strain ourselves, but decide what to do. If your computer technician did not take care that, after installing the Windows Operating System (on your laptop or computer), make an image (scan, copy) of your system disk using the same program Acronis True Image, which will contain all the installed and necessary programs, as well as drivers, then - after reinstalling the Windows OS, you may encounter the following:

• You will not be able to launch games that were previously launched.
• There will be no Internet access.
• SD cards from your camera will no longer be detected, etc...

An unscrupulous repairman may tell you that the problem can be solved by replacing the video card, or hard drive, or something else. Just to earn even more money from you. Or because the master himself lacks knowledge... Only because you are not smart enough with computers...

Just in order to somehow eliminate such situations (I don’t like “hucksters” and non-professionals...) I write articles and lessons on repairing and setting up a computer.

This does not mean that if the technician told you that you need to change the hard drive, then he is deceiving you! Never insult a person with distrust and reproaches if you understand little about the problem and call a specialist to solve your problem! It’s just that if you have doubts due to lack of knowledge (and doubts arise - EXACTLY from LACK OF KNOWLEDGE!), then you can always ask a question on my website and within 24 hours - get a response. I visit the site approximately once a day.

Okay, enough foreplay. I hope the information written above was useful to you. Let's get to practice!

How to find a driver for a laptop:

So, let's look at the example of a problem with a video driver, if after reinstalling the Operating System you suddenly :), games stop starting - go to "Device Manager":

1. left mouse button, click "Start" (lower left part of the monitor screen),

3. in the context menu that appears, left-click "properties". (If you have Windows XP, then left-click - “Hardware” - “Device Manager”. If you have Windows 7, in the left menu block click “Device Manager”).

4. In the window that opens we find the equipment marked Exclamation Mark(usually signed as unknown device, but there may be another inscription). The main thing to remember is that if there is a Voskl. Sign- This means that the driver is not installed. In Windows 7, if during installation of the Operating System, the installation program was unable to install the driver on the video card, the “standard video driver” will be installed by default (This happens if your copy of Windows is older than the equipment in your laptop or computer. In this case, there will be no Vocal sign on the video adapter in the "device manager", but your games will still not start until do not install the “standard video adapter” instead - the correct driver for your video card!).

5. Left-click twice on the problematic equipment. A window will appear in which we click “Information” and select “properties” with the left buttonEquipment ID. Next, select it by clicking on it once with the left button :) andpress "Ctrl" on the keyboard and, without releasing it, press "C".

6. In an empty space on the desktop on the monitor screen, right-click, select “create”, then left-click “text document”.

7. Open the created document, click once with the mouse anywhere in the document window and press on the keyboard "ctrl" + "V".

8. Open an Internet browser and paste it into the address bar - http://www.devid.info/ru/

9. In the driver search site that opens, in the search bar (where it says - "Enter driver code") paste the copied code from the text document and click "Search":

If you have Windows XP, then select XP from the list of suggested drivers; if you have Windows 7, select the driver for Windows 7. Be sure to take into account the bit depth of the Operating System! What system and bitness do you have? (can be 32 or 64 bits), you can look in the computer properties (an example for 7 is in the first picture above...). Having selected the driver, click on the icon to the right of it in the form of a floppy disk. A window will appear asking you to download the driver, click once with the left mouse button on the file with the extension .zip or .rar

Click again on the file with the extension .zip and we get a file download window. Choose "Save":

12. In a new window, select where we want to save this file (By default, “My Documents” or “Desktop” is suggested) and wait until the file is downloaded to your computer...

13. Open the downloaded file archive with the driver, find the file with the extension .exe and start the installation by double-clicking on it with the left mouse button.

After completing the driver installation, reboot the computer or laptop and be glad that it has disappeared from the “device manager” Voskl. Sign!

Thank you for attention!

Downloading drivers for Windows 7 sometimes becomes necessary. Many users, when reinstalling the old operating system on Windows 7, were faced with the fact that some devices (printers, scanners, etc.) stopped working, and in order to restore their functionality, you need to download drivers for Windows 7. Let's look at what a driver is and what is it for?

A driver is a program that ensures correct interaction between the computer and other devices. It turns out that for any device, be it a mouse or a printer, a driver is needed, otherwise the computer simply will not understand how to work with it.

There are three ways to install drivers on your computer:

• installation using standard Windows Update;
• installation using device manufacturer CDs;
• installation of drivers downloaded yourself.

Method one

Let's look at how to find and download official drivers for Windows 7 using standard tools. For example, you connected a new device to your computer and want to know if it requires a driver. To do this, type “Device Manager” in the Windows search bar. Open it.

If you need to install a driver for a device, then in the list that opens it will be in the “Other devices” line and will have a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark next to it.

In order to install the driver, right-click on the device and select the line "Update driver". The window that appears will offer two options - “Automatic search” or “Search on this computer.”

At the moment we are interested in automatic search for drivers. When you select this item, the operating system will try to find drivers for Windows 7 on Microsoft servers.

For standard, not very new and common devices, as a rule, drivers are found, and a message appears on the screen stating that the drivers are installed. All that remains is to click OK.

In some cases, you will need to restart your computer. A message about this will appear on the screen.

Method two

As a rule, manufacturers of all kinds of printers, scanners and MFPs also supply CDs with software and drivers along with the equipment.

In order to install such drivers you must:

1. Read the instructions. They can be either printed or electronic - on the same CD.
2. Run the installation file, after which the application will launch and further installation will be carried out according to the instructions.

If the CD does not contain drivers for your operating system, then you need to download new drivers for Windows 7.

Method three

If for some reason there are no drivers for your devices, and Windows cannot install them automatically and the CDs are lost, then there is a way out - download drivers for your Windows 7 computer from the official website.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Go to the official website of the device manufacturer.
2. Use the search to find your device (you will need to indicate the name and model).
3. Select the Windows 7 operating system.
4. Select the bit depth of the operating system (x86, x64).
5. Download the installer file.

Further installation will follow the same installation method as installing from a CD.

Let's consider a special case of installation. If you downloaded the driver, unpacked the archive and did not find any startup file there, but only files with the *.inf extension. Such drivers will have to be installed manually.

To do this, open "Task Manager" and find your hardware in the list of devices. Right-click to open the menu and select "Update Driver".

The installation should begin. At the end of which the device will be installed and ready for use. You may need to restart your computer.

Search for drivers

Finding drivers on the Internet is not a difficult task, but at the same time it is very dangerous.

Recently, the Internet has simply been flooded with virus software. Fraudsters disguise it as all sorts of useful programs and drivers.

Therefore, entering lines like: download free drivers for windows 7 maximum in a search engine. Be careful to download drivers only from the official websites of device manufacturers.

Never install drivers that are not suitable for your operating system. Even if the device works (which is unlikely), systematic errors and system failures are guaranteed.

You cannot install drivers from a 32-bit system for 64-bit Windows 7. To find a driver for a 64-bit system, type in any search engine: download drivers for windows 7 x64 for free and among the links select the link to the website of the manufacturer of your device. Then download and install the driver using one of the methods described above.

Read how to set up sound on a computer with Windows 7. Detailed instructions on setting up headphones on a Windows 7 device are in this article.

Conclusion

There is another way to install a driver for Windows 7 for free without registration - use driver collections. Typically, drivers there are updated regularly and are a kind of alternative to servers with drivers from Microsoft.

Many people associate the word “storage” exclusively with information, but specialists and more advanced users know that in Windows, drivers are also stored and actively used as needed.

Who are drivers and when are they needed?

A driver is a so-called connecting bridge between the hardware and the computer device system. He always provides assistance in indicating the OS, what is connected to the computer and how it works. Driver acts as a program with files that interact with devices. After Windows is installed on a new computer, the operating system immediately knows nothing about external devices and requires drivers to “get to know you”.

Usually, new versions of the OS immediately have “firewood” for working with the following programs:

• bluetooth
• sound
• home network
• video
• additional devices

Video, like sound with standard settings, does not allow you to enjoy all the benefits of connected devices without installing “firewood”.

Where are any Drivers stored in Windows 7?

In the seventh version of Windows, key installed drivers are placed in a folder called “Drivers”. It is located on drive: C/windows/system32. Even if the folder is found, you will not need to copy it for further reinstallation. The best practice is to use Device Manager.

For example, you wanted to know where the sound driver is located. To do this, you need to expand the line for audio video and gaming devices and select the sound driver by clicking on properties. When the window opens, you should go to the information tab, highlight the option called “device description”. There will be information about the location of the required driver and other data.

You can also use the official website of your computer manufacturer. There they have the latest versions of released “firewood” and numerous programs that provide the opportunity to make a quick update or a backup copy. Experts do not recommend using this method for inexperienced users (to avoid possible system errors).

Having studied the information and strictly followed the instructions, you can correctly find the drivers and perform the necessary manipulations with them.

The problem of finding and installing drivers has existed since the release of Windows. For example, in Windows XP this problem was most acute, since there were no universal drivers at that time, and immediately after installing Windws XP, a whole list of devices appeared in the device manager for which drivers were not found. In Windows 7, 8, 8.1, this problem became less acute, since these operating systems have universal drivers that often fit almost every computer/laptop. But we must admit that when using such drivers, some of the functionality either did not work correctly or did not work at all, for example, the maximum screen resolution was not used or the video camera showed the picture upside down. Therefore the problem searching and installing drivers still remains the first problem after installing the operating system. In order to help solve this problem, this article was written.

First of all, I want to warn you that all the methods described below are as safe as possible and, if performed correctly, will not harm the computer, but nevertheless, I recommend make a restore point so that in case of problems you can return to original state .

So, after installing the operating system, you have unidentified devices in device manager .

Find the driver disk.

Quite often, discs are lost, thrown away, and sometimes are not included at all, so this method is not suitable for everyone, in which case read the methods below.

Download drivers from the official website.

If you cannot find drivers for your laptop, just go to the official website of the laptop manufacturer, find your laptop model (enter the laptop model in the search bar), select the operating system you installed and download all available drivers.

List of laptop manufacturers' websites:
Acer - www.acer.ru.
ASUS - www.asus.com
HP - www.hp.com/ru
Dell - www.dell.ru
MSI - www.msi.com
Samsung - www.samsung.ru
Toshiba - www.toshiba.com.ru
Sony - www.sony.ru
Lenovo - www.lenovo.com
eMachines - en.emachines.com
LG - www.lg.com
Gigabyte - www.gigabyte.ru

Below is an example of searching for drivers for an ASUS laptop.

If you have a computer, then look at the markings of each of the computer components (motherboard, video card, network card, etc.) to do this, it is not at all necessary to disassemble it. Then go to the component manufacturer's website and download drivers for your version of the operating system.

Search for drivers by hardware ID.

Another way find and download drivers use the site http://devid.info/ru. This site contains information about a large number of hardware IDs and drivers for them. All you have to do is look at the ID of the unknown device and use a search to find it on the website and download it.

To view the device ID, go to Device Manager, right-click on the unknown device, select "Properties"

In the properties window, go to the "Details" tab and in the "Property" field, select "Equipment ID" in the Values ​​field you will see the coveted set of characters. Perhaps the data will not be in two lines, in which case check each line by copying it into the search bar on the site.

Copy this set of characters and paste it into the search bar on the website http://devid.info/ru.

After the drivers are found, all you have to do is download them, be careful because there are quite a lot of advertisements on this site.

In my case, the drivers were for Windows XP x64, although I needed them for Windows 7 x64, nevertheless I downloaded those that were offered. It turned out that the archive contained drivers for other versions of operating systems, so download the most suitable one from the offer, it is quite possible that what you need will be there.

Installing drivers using programs.

There are a lot of programs to help you find, download and install drivers, the only thing is that these programs are by and large paid. In this example, I will consider one of the free programs - DriverPack Solution. this program is available in two versions, the first version ( online) - is installed on a computer/laptop that has problems with drivers (it is necessary that the network card works and has access to the Internet), scans your computer/laptop and displays a list of drivers that need to be installed, then clicking the “Install and Update” button the program will install all the necessary drivers.

Second version ( full version ) is suitable if the computer/laptop that has problems with drivers does not have access to the Internet or the drivers for the network card are not installed. After downloading the program, run the DriverPackSolution.exe file, the program will scan your computer/laptop and show you all the devices that require installation and updating, to see which devices will have the installed drivers, check the “Settings” and “Expert Mode” boxes. After this, indicate which drivers you want to install (updating drivers is not necessary if you do not experience problems with the operation of these devices).

After this, the drivers will be installed.

In conclusion, I would like to add that you should not download drivers from suspicious sources, sites that require money from you, a phone number, sending SMS, etc. you risk being scammed or downloading a virus.

Apparently, there is no need to say that most users know that for the correct operation of absolutely everything installed on a computer, equipment in the form of “hardware” components and some virtual devices, special software called drivers is required. However, quite often questions arise about, for example, where the printer driver is located in Windows 7 (as well as in other operating systems of this family) or some other device connected to the system, when control software needs to be integrated into the system manually. Let's try to find out, taking into account some of the nuances associated with installing and updating such software components.

Where is the installed driver folder in Windows 7 and other systems?

On various forums on the Internet, questions related to determining the exact location of the driver for a particular device can be found quite often.

Some users claim that the main directory is the System32 directory in the root folder of the system, others believe that the storage location for the control software is the drivers directory subfolded in System32 or the DriverStore folder. Who is right? Both are right, since, depending on the type of driver itself (SYS, VXD, DRV, etc.), the location of the files may change.

How to determine the exact location of the driver?

Now let's try to find out where the drivers are located in Windows 7 by determining their exact location on the disk in the system partition. To do this, it is absolutely not necessary to “dig up” the specified folders manually. In addition, when you search by device name, you are unlikely to find the corresponding driver.

The easiest way is to use the standard “Device Manager”, select the desired device, go to the properties item through the RMB menu and click the details button on the driver tab. After this, a special window will be displayed, which will show all absolute (full) paths to the directory in which they are located.

Where are the drivers in Windows 7 for updating?

However, knowing the exact location of the control software may not be enough to update it. Many users rely solely on the operating system itself when trying to install updates. In general, true. However, in this situation, you should remember that when searching for the required driver, Windows first scans already installed components.

If you set a search for updated drivers on the network (Internet), access is made only to Microsoft Corporation databases, and drivers are installed that are either digitally signed by the corporation, or software from those manufacturers for which support is declared. In this situation, it is better to use automated applications. But where are the drivers in Windows 7 that can be updated? Unfortunately, they are not in the system. But the corresponding programs access exclusively the websites of equipment manufacturers and developers of such software, after which they install updated components without user intervention.

Where are the drivers loaded during manual download?

Finally, let's look at where the drivers are located in Windows 7 for cases where the user found and downloaded them themselves. Typically, in browsers that are installed in all the latest versions of Windows, the folder for saving downloads is silently assigned to the “Downloads” directory, and the presence of such folders is provided for all accounts registered in the system. If your browser is enabled to constantly prompt you to save downloaded content, you can specify the folder yourself. Typically, files in EXE or INF formats are available for download.

In the first case, the driver and accompanying software are installed by launching the applet as an administrator, in the second - through the RMB menu and selecting the installation item. If the system reports that this type of action is not supported, the update can be done through the “Device Manager” by using the browse button to indicate where the INF file was saved.