Frequently Asked Question

The world will be a better place if all hardware manufacturers provide device drivers the SAME way. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Some companies provide drivers as direct executables (click-and-go!), some as zipped or compressed files, others ‘repackage’ drivers by other companies and provide them in a different format (e.g., HP repackages Intel drivers for use in their products), and so on.

DriverFinder is designed to take care of A LOT of different driver installers so that you can install them in one click. Sometimes, however, a few more steps are involved.

Note: The following steps assume that you have already downloaded the driver recommendations of DriverFinder to your PC.

Solution #1. Use DriverFinder to automatically install the driver for you.

By clicking the Update button on each out-of-date device, it will automatically download the driver and install it for you.

Note: If you cannot unzip a driver file, this means your PC is not capable of handling the decompressed file as provided by the driver manufacturer. You can download the free tool 7-zip to de-compress most file types.

Solution #2. Extract and install zipped drivers.

1. Download, install and set 7-zip as your default zip extractor.
   
   Tip: Please see article titled "Download 7-zip and Set as Default Extractor".


2. Go to DriverFinder download location.
   
   
   
   • For Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\DriverFinder\Download
     
     
   • For Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\DriverFinder\Download
   
   
3. You will see several numbered folders, open each folder and look for a zip file.


4. Right-click on the zip file, select 7-Zip and then select Extract to "filename\".
   
   


5. Open the extracted folder and run the driver installation file (setup or other).

Solution #4. Install downloaded drivers via Hardware Update Wizard.

Please see the article titled Update Drivers via the Hardware Update Wizard.

Solution #5. Uninstall old drivers before installing the news ones you got from DriverFinder.

Note: The following procedure requires a bit of know-how regarding the use of Windows' Device Manager. Please do this only if you are sure which drivers you want to uninstall.

Sometimes, new drivers will not work unless you completely uninstall the old ones first. In this case, follow these steps:

1. Open the Run window.
   
   
   • For Windows XP: Click the Windows Start button and select Run.
     
     
   
   
   • For Windows Vista and 7: Click the Windows Start button > All Programs > Accessories > Run.
     
     
   
   
   • For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10: Right-click the Windows Start button and select Run.
     
     
     
     
   • For Windows 11: Right-click the Windows Start button and select Run.
   
   
   
   
2. Type devmgmt.msc, then click the OK button to open Device Manager.
   
   


3. Select the device whose driver you want to uninstall (e.g., Sound, video and game controllers).


4. Right-click the specific device and then click Uninstall device.
   
   


5. Open DriverFinder.


6. Click Scan Results.


7. Click Open or Install to install the new driver.

To open Device Manager in Windows 11, please refer to this link: How to Open Device Manager in Windows 11