Microsoft Microsoft / / How to Manually Install Any Driver on a Windows Computer June 12, 2025How to Manually Install Any Driver on a Windows ComputerFor Windows to properly interact with and access the computer’s physical hardware, the operating system must have the appropriate device drivers installed. In this post, we will explore how to manually install any device driver on Windows 10/11 and Windows Server.Contents:Device Driver Automatic Installation on WindowsThe Windows image includes basic drivers for the most common types of devices. After connecting the device to the computer, Windows will automatically search the local driver store for the most suitable driver. Windows can for certain devices and install them.Try using the Device Manager to search for suitable drivers automatically. Run the Device Manager (devmgmt.msc). Right-click on the device for which the driver is missing, then select Update Driver -> Search automatically for updated driver software. If the Device Manager cannot find the driver, it will offer to search for it automatically in Windows Update. Click Search for updated drivers on Windows Updates or go to Settings -> Windows Update -> Check for Updates. The necessary drivers for branded (OEM) devices can usually be found by searching for the computer’s model name on the vendor’s website. If the computer is built from different hardware parts, you will most likely have to search for and install drivers separately.If Windows cannot automatically select the correct drivers, you will need to find and install them manually.How to Find Drivers for Unknown DevicesFirst, identify the manufacturer and model of the connected device. A yellow exclamation point icon will appear next to a device in Windows Device Manager if a device driver is missing.Open the properties of the unknown device and go to the Details tabIn the drop-down list, select the Hardware IDs property Copy the identifier. In this example, it is VID_2357&PID_010CThe device hardware identifier contains the Manufacturer ID (VID) and the Product ID (PID). The VID is 2357 and the PID is 010C in this case. Then, find out the model name of the device by its VID and PID on . In this example, the device is a TP-Link external USB network adapter (TL-WN722N v2/v3 [Realtek RTL8188EUS]). Learn how to .Find the driver for your Windows version and hardware model on the vendor’s website. In my case, this is the driver Windows 10/11 (TL—WN722N_V4_190409_Win10/11). Download the driver. It is strongly recommended to get drivers only from official hardware vendor websites. Avoid downloading drivers from third-party sources to mitigate the risk of malware, outdated versions, or compatibility issues.Manual Driver Installation Using an INF File on WindowsIn our example, the driver is compressed into a ZIP file that contains the automatic installer (setup.exe). It is used to automatically install drivers, as well as various additional tools from the vendor. In this example, we will not use this installer for driver installation.If you extract the installer using 7-Zip, you will find a folder containing only driver files. The driver directory must contain an INF file, which is a text file containing the driver configuration, description of dependent files, and installation rules. It may also contain optional CAT, DAT, SYS, and/or DLL files.There are several ways to manually install a driver from an INF file.Install the driver using the Device Manager.In Device Manager, right-click on your device and select Update Driver. Select Browse my computer for driver software Click the Browse button and specify the path to the folder containing the driver. To automatically scan subfolders for drivers, check the Include subfolders option. Click Next to proceed with the driver installation.You can also manually add a driver to the Driver Store. To do this, right-click on the driver INF file in File Explorer and select Install.Another option is to install the driver using the command prompt with the pnputil command:pnputil /add-driver c:\drivers\windows_10_64bit\netrtwlanu.inf You can install all the drivers stored in a directory, including subfolders:pnputil /add-driver C:\Drivers\*.inf /subdirs /install All installed drivers must be digitally signed in modern versions of Windows. This is a requirement of the policy. An error will appear during driver installation if the digital signature is missing or does not match the file hash.The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information.This will add the driver to the Windows Driver Store ( C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository ). In Device Manager, select the Update Driver option to automatically install the driver for your device from the local drive store.After identifying the device in Device Manager, you can move on to the next device for which drivers are missing. Let’s consider the optimal order for installing drivers in Windows. First, install the drivers for the chipset and motherboard controllers. After that, , then the video drivers for the GPU and audio cards, and finally, the drivers for external devices (drivers for printers, scanners, projectors, and other USB devices).How to Export and Import Drivers in WindowsYou can list all the third-party drivers installed in the Windows driver store (except for the built-in drivers):DISM /online /get-drivers /format:tableTo , specify its INF file name in the oemxx.inf format in the following command:pnputil /delete-driver oem46.inf /uninstall /forceIf you have multiple identical computers (same hardware model), you can on a reference machine and import them to the others. This streamlines driver deployment and ensures consistency across devices.Export all installed Windows drivers to the C:\Drivers directory: dism /online /export-driver /destination:C:\DriversNow, you can copy the Drivers folder to another computer and install (import) all the drivers with a single command:pnputil.exe /export-driver * c:\driversThese into the Windows installation image. In this case, all hardware devices will be detected automatically upon operating system installation, eliminating the need for manual driver installation. You can use a simple PowerShell script to . This helps clean up the system drive. 0 comment 0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest Questions and AnswersWindows 10Windows 11Windows Server 2025 previous post next post Related Reading January 25, 2025 October 16, 2024 August 12, 2024 September 4, 2024 September 26, 2024 December 16, 2024 October 8, 2024 August 11, 2024Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also without commenting. Current ye@r * Leave this field empty Recent Posts June 23, 2025 June 12, 2025 June 2, 2025 June 2, 2025 May 26, 2025 May 19, 2025 May 13, 2025 May 6, 2025 April 29, 2025 April 21, 2025Follow us Popular Posts @2014 - 2024 - Windows OS Hub. All about operating systems for sysadmins , Windows Update updates drivers for various hardware including network adapters, printers, scanners, and video cards. Drivers updated through Windows Update are normally recent and up to date. However, drivers can also be updated through Device Manager. Drivers updated through Device Manager can be done either automatically or manually., To update drivers automatically on Windows 11, you can use Windows Update or Device Manager. For Windows Update, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update, and click “Check for updates.”.