How To Update Drivers In Windows XP

The easy way to update your drivers in Windows XP

There are 2 ways of updating your drivers in Windows XP.  First I am going to tell you the easy way.  But let me start by giving you some information on why its important to have your drivers updated.

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Let me start with just a quick story.  I called a buddy of mine before I became good at computers to help me fix my slow computer.  He told me to start I needed to update all my drivers.  He said I could download some software that helps me do it, or I could find them all manually.  I went the manual route and greatly regretted it.  I had to visit several different websites of the manufactures and still did not get all I needed.  Three of the companies I was dealing with told me I had to order a disc to get the driver for a small fee.  It was ridiculous and I ended up downloading the software.

My friend also told me that day that 97% of computer problems are usually caused because its drivers are not updated.  I downloaded the software, it scanned my computer and downloaded and installed all the drivers I needed automatically.   After this happened my computers performance went up considerably.  I couldn’t believe that it was just because my computers drivers were outdated.

Now today I am going to show you how to download and install drivers in Windows XP but first I want to save you a lot of time and frustration by telling you about the software I used.

How To Update Drivers In Windows XP

Don’t be a sucker, update your drivers the easy way.

Say hello to Driver Robot, your next best friend to your computer.  If you want to save yourself a lot of work and quickly make your computer run faster and smoother then you need Driver Robot.  When my friend told me to download him I laughed and said I could just find the drivers myself.  What I didn’t know was that there were a lot more drivers than I realized that I needed.  And a lot of them weren’t even available online.

Driver Robot is going to go out and get all your driver updates for Windows XP automatically.  All you have to do is click a button.  Don’t think there is much to getting all your drivers updated?  Well have a look at this list.  Theses are all the things you need to consider if you are going to update your drivers manually.

Here is a good list of all the devices that you will have to manually search for to update, download and install your latest drives.

• Sound card drivers: If your system has an outdated sound card driver, you might hear weird popping and snapping noises during playback (especially in video games). Certain sound card features, like surround sound, optical in/out, or firewire, might not function. A missing sound card driver will usually mean that your PC’s sound won’t work at all. Driver Robot’s device database has driver updates for every single Windows XP & Vista-compatible sound card.
• Printer drivers: While Windows XP & Vista do come with a few drivers for generic and popular printers, you still need the latest driver from the printer manufacturer to get advanced functionality like ink level monitoring, print quality control, and other printer features. Driver Robot’s printer driver database spans dozens of printer manufacturers – we guarantee that Driver Robot will have drivers for your printer.
• Video card drivers: Windows can usually function without a video card driver update, but if you want to use your screen’s full resolution, play games, or watch movies, you need to install video drivers from the manufacturer. Be careful, though – installing the wrong driver can cause screen artifacts, random crashes, and poor performance. Use Driver Robot to update your video card. Driver Robot has drivers for every single XP & Vista-compatible video card.
• Motherboard drivers: Your system will usually function properly without motherboard drivers, but for maximum stability you should always be running the latest motherboard driver updates from the manufacturer.
• Webcam drivers: Many webcams have advanced features that are only accessible if you have the manufacturer drivers running on your system. Driver Robot can detect and update thousands of different webcams, giving you access to features like color adjustments, quality, servo motor control, and others.
• Wireless drivers: Because of the flaky nature of wireless networks, having the latest drivers for your wireless card is absolutely critical. Without them, your network connection might drop randomly, freeze your system, or go really slowly. (If you’re missing your wireless driver, the wireless card won’t work at all!) Driver Robot can automatically update your wireless drivers – and if your system is offline, you can use the Driver Robot exporter.
• Ethernet drivers: Even the latest version of Windows Vista can’t automatically detect and install drivers for all types of Ethernet cards. To get your Ethernet working at maximum speed and efficiency, you need hardware drivers from the manufacturer. Driver Robot can install these for you, even if your computer is offline (by using the Driver Robot exporter).
• FireWire drivers: Windows might automatically detect your FireWire device, but you still need the most recent FireWire drivers in order to get the maximum possible throughput from your FireWire connection. Driver Robot can update FireWire drivers whether your FireWire port is built in to the motherboard, in an offboard card, or inside your sound card.
• USB drivers: Just like FireWire, USB usually works without a driver update – unless you want to get full speed out of it! If you’re using an external hard drive or a memory stick and you’re wondering why it takes so long to get files on to it, try using Driver Robot to update your system’s USB drivers.
• Chipset drivers: Chipset drivers are a critical component to system stability, since they control disk and memory access. Using Driver Robot to get the latest chipset drivers from your manufacturer means that your system will crash less often, respond faster, and get better disk access. Installing chipset drivers should be one of the first things you do after running Windows for the frist time.
• DVD drivers: Is your DVD drive slow at reading from DVDs or CDs? That’s because while Windows includes basic DVD-reading functionality, true speed comes from having the optimized hardware drivers for your DVD player. Use Driver Robot to automatically update your DVD drive drivers to optimize DVD performance.
• Mouse drivers: Windows does include a generic mouse driver that works with most pointing devices, but to use features like extra buttons, sensitivity controls, and other adjustments, you need the driver software from your mouse’s manufacturer. Driver Robot’s database includes mouse drivers for every model of mouse produced since 2001.
• Keyboard drivers: Just like mouse drivers, Windows includes basic keyboard functionality by default – but using extra features like media keys or touchpads requires a driver from the keyboard manufacturer. Driver Robot will automatically install the right driver for your keyboard, letting you use all those extra bells and whistles.
• Disk drive drivers: Some hard drives require special drivers for Windows to read and write to them correctly. Not using these drivers can lead to degraded disk performance and hard drive errors. Get Driver Robot and use it to update your disk drive drivers and you won’t have to worry about this.
• Monitor drivers: You’ve just bought a shiny new LCD – so why does the picture look so shoddy? You need the latest monitor drivers from your screen manufacturer for Windows to recognize your monitor and feed it the optimal signal. Use Driver Robot to update your monitor drivers and improve your picture quality.

Click Here Now To Easily Update Your Drivers With A Free Scan With Driver Robot.

So if you want to be like me and ignore the easy solution go ahead and scroll down below.  I will show you how to update drivers in Windows XP.

How To Update Drivers In Windows XP

Now the hard way, learn how to find, download and install drivers in Windows XP.

Updating drivers for a piece of hardware is necessary when Windows XP doesn’t install a device automatically, when the hardware is having some kind of problem, or as part of some other hardware troubleshooting.

Updating a driver is often the solution to a Device Manager error code. Updating the drivers for a piece of hardware will sometimes enable additional features for the hardware as well.

Follow these easy steps to update drivers from within Device Manager in Windows XP:

Download the latest drivers from the hardware manufacturer’s website. Drivers from the manufacturer will be the most up to date but there are several other driver download options.

As part of this driver update process, you can choose to update drivers from Windows Update or from a hardware installation disc but updating drivers manually (as described below) is usually more effective.

Note: Many drivers come packaged with software that automatically installs the driver. The manufacturer’s website will tell you if the driver download is packaged this way and if so, the steps below aren’t usually necessary.

I have included screen shots below to illustrate the step.  Please click any of the pics to enlarge them if you are having trouble seeing the step.

The steps below are only to be followed after you have gone through the trouble to find, and download all your drivers.  Put all the downloaded drivers into a folder so that they will be easy to find.  Name each folder after the hardware you are downloading it for.

Open Device Manager from the Windows XP Computer Management utility.  Please go to how to get to device manager in Windows Xp for a complete guide on how to open device manager.

Note: There are also several other ways of opening Device Manager. It doesn’t matter which way you choose.

With Device Manager open, locate the hardware device that you want to update the drivers for. Today for example I am going to search for a driver update for my keyboard.

Note: Navigate through the categories of hardware devices by clicking the [+] icon. Specific hardware devices are listed under the major hardware categories.

After finding the hardware you’re updating drivers for, right click on the hardware’s name or icon and choose Properties. In this Properties window, click the Driver tab.

You can see the keyboard I am going to update right here.

There you can see the driver tab.

Click the Update Driver… button. The Hardware Update Wizard will begin.

There is the Update Driver Button

To the “Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?” question, choose the No, not this time radio button and then click the Next > button.

Select No, and hit Next.

To the “What do you want the wizard to do?” question, choose the Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) radio button and then click the Next > button.

The next window that appears will be the Please choose your search and installation options. window containing several radio buttons and checkboxes.

Choose the Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install. radio button and then click the Next > button.

Click the Have Disk… button on the Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. window.

Click the Browse… button on the Install From Disk dialog box that appeared.

I do appologize, I do not have screen shots from here on out.  All my hardware is up to date and current so I do not have any drivers available for any of my hardware.  Please use the step by step instructions below.

In the Locate File dialog box that appears next, navigate to the folder that you extracted as part of the driver download in Step 1 above. There may be multiple folders within the extracted folder so be sure to work your way to the one for Windows XP if it exists. It’s okay if there isn’t a specific XP folder.

Click the INF file that displays in the file list and click the Open button.

Note: INF files are the only files that Device Manager accepts for driver setup information. See the tips at the bottom of the page for some INF file troubleshooting.

Click the OK button back on the Install From Disk dialog box.

Choose the newly added hardware back on the Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. window and then click the Next > button.

If you’re prompted with a message warning you about the software for the hardware device not passing the Windows Logo testing, click the Continue Anyway button. Many drivers are not Windows certified but are still perfectly safe to install.

Important: If you’re installing a driver obtained from anywhere other than the manufacturer of the hardware, click the STOP Installation button instead and obtain drivers from the manufacturer directly.

The Hardware Update Wizard will now use the instructions provided in the INF file from Step 11 to install the updated drivers for your hardware. Follow any additional instructions on screen to complete the driver update.

After the driver update is complete, click Yes to the “Do you want to restart your computer now?”System Settings Change dialog box. question on

Note: Not all driver updates require a restart of your computer. Even if you’re not prompted, I always recommend restarting anyway. The driver update process involves changes to the Windows Registry and other important areas of your computer and restarting is a good way to confirm that updating drivers hasn’t negatively impacted some other area of Windows.

If a driver update causes an issue, you can always roll back the driver.

1. Couldn’t find an INF file in a folder from your driver download? Try another folder.
2. Couldn’t find an INF file in any folder from the extracted driver files? The driver download may have been corrupted. Try downloading and extracting the drivers again.
3. Find multiple INF files in a folder from your driver download? Try each one until the drivers for your hardware are installed properly.

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