Windows xp hardware id drivers. Finding a driver by hardware id is the best way to update
If we talk about the problem of finding a driver for any of the PC components, then after the release of Windows 7 this problem significantly lost its significance due to the fact that the 7 distribution kits, as a rule, have an extensive set of drivers for most PC hardware components (but not for all ). The “not for everyone” clause is not accidental - some users have non-standard or simply outdated equipment installed in their PCs. This is why you have to search for suitable drivers yourself.
Someone may say that there is nothing difficult about this, just enter the name of the equipment in a search engine, and a lot of offers to download a driver for the specified equipment will appear in the search results. In many cases, the downloaded driver will install and work correctly. But there are situations when a driver installed in this way stubbornly refuses to work, and even causes OS failures.
This is usually due to the fact that computer components are manufactured by different companies, which add their own specifics to their operation and require an exact match between the hardware and the driver. In such cases, you have to search for the driver using the code of the problematic hardware.
How to determine the device code
To do this, you need to call Device Manager. This is done like this: Start - Computer (right mouse button) - Properties - Device Manager. A window similar to this will appear:
Here is a list of all equipment categories. Each category element can contain several lines, for example, the category “sound, video and gaming devices”, if expanded, will show all multimedia devices installed on the system. Typically, if a driver is not installed for one of them, or is in a non-working state, then a question mark will be displayed next to it, indicating the “unknown” state.
To start searching for a driver for such equipment by its code, you need to select it and call the context menu with the right mouse button. In the context menu that appears, click “Properties”. After this, a window appears with several tabs:
in which you need to use the “Details” tab. When you open it, a window will appear in which there is a field called “property”. In this list you need to set the “Equipment ID” parameter and get something like this:
Now everything is ready to find out the code of the problematic device. It consists of two parameters VEN and DEV - these are digital designations of the manufacturer and the code itself. In the example in the last picture they have the values 10EC and 0887. If there are several lines here, you must use the first one. There is no need to remember or write them down; you just need to copy part of the line with their values to the clipboard. In our case, we need to copy a string like VEN_10EC&DEV_0887 - we will need it in the next step.
Driver search
There are two ways to find a device driver by its known code. The first of them consists of specifying a string from the clipboard directly into the search engine. But when the search engine responds, an alternative to choosing a driver will again arise - not all sites provide their users with such attributes, for example, the type of OS, its bit capacity, etc. And besides, they may still require payment. It is better to use the site www.devid.info. This is a huge database containing drivers for more than 15 million hardware models, and it’s also free. You should go to this site; at the very top of the window there is an invitation to enter the device code. You need to paste a line from the clipboard into it and click “Search”.
Salute, readers.
So let's start from the beginning. When you purchase a computer, along with the kit, you are provided with disks with drivers for your equipment (video card, sound card, etc.).
If you decide to reinstall the system, then naturally all the drivers will be lost and you will need to reinstall them. But what if you don’t have these disks left, or are simply lost? In this case, we need to download the driver from the Internet, but first we need to determine the code of that device.
Procedure
If you are using Windows XP, the Details tab will be Device Instance ID.
- There, in the details, the information we need will appear, namely the equipment ID.
- Now we copy this value and go to the site https://devid.info.
- In the search field we insert the found code (ID) of the device and click “OK”. Within a short period of time you will be provided with a list of drivers that are suitable for your device.
That's all.
See you soon, friends.
Most owners of Windows operating systems have encountered the problem of finding drivers for unidentified devices. Yes, drivers for many modern branded computer components are usually included with purchased equipment or are freely available on the manufacturer’s website. But what if copies of the driver are lost or it is difficult to quickly determine the full name of an unknown device?
There is a convenient and universal way to search for drivers that does not require any information or additional applications. It is enough to know only one important parameter - Equipment ID.
What is equipment ID
Equipment ID is a unique symbolic identifier that the device reports to the Windows operating system when connected. The ID contains encoded information about the manufacturer and a specific piece of equipment. This information is used to determine which driver the connected device needs.
If the required driver is on the system, it is automatically installed. If not, then you can see the familiar inscription “ Unknown device" V " Device Manager" In this case, the user has to search for additional software independently.
Let's consider the entire process of searching for a driver by hardware ID and installing it using the example of a Wi-Fi network card (Wi-Fi adapter).
How to find outID equipment
Device Instance ID(another name for the parameter in question) can be found in “ Device Manager».
Algorithm of actions:
1. Go to “ Start", in the search bar type " device Manager" and select it from the search results.
2. Find the device entry in the list marked with an exclamation mark. It could be " Unknown device"or, as in our case, " Network Controller"when the operating system understands that it is dealing with a network card, but does not have a driver to work with it.
3. Open the properties of the Wi-Fi adapter (double-click with the left mouse button) and go to the “ tab Intelligence».
4. Select “ Property» element « Equipment ID».
5. Copy one of the identifiers into the “ Meaning"(right-click on the identifier and select " Copy"). For us it is: “PCIVEN_168C&DEV_002B&SUBSYS_10891A3B&REV_01”.
How to search for drivers
There are many suitable sites for searching for a driver by device ID. We will tell you about one of the simplest and most convenient - david.info.
Algorithm of actions after going to the site:
1. Paste the copied Wi-Fi adapter ID into the search bar on devid.info and click “ Search».
2. Select the type of operating system for which the driver is needed. And click on the floppy disk to the right of the top one in the list (this will be the latest version).
3. Download the driver. We recommend downloading from a mirror. Usually this is a self-extracting archive created on the site itself (a file with devid.info in the name). Just run the downloaded file and the driver will install itself. In addition, it is much smaller in size - everything unnecessary has been removed.
Note. If 1 item does not produce results, then use another equipment ID from the list or remove some of the characters from the existing one to expand the search results.
Example. Abbreviation of ID used in the previous section of the article:
- We remove the last component of the record: “ PCIVEN_168C&DEV_002B&SUBSYS_10891A3B”.
- Minus two components: “ PCIVEN_168C&DEV_002B”.
Alternative search option. If you can't find the driver on the website david.info, then use any search engine. Just paste the ID into the search bar Google or Yandex. There are many high-quality and useful sites of a similar focus that can help with solving this issue.
Installing the original driver
For some devices, there is no self-extracting archive on the site, but only the original driver. In this case, the following installation algorithm is used:
1. Unpack files from the downloaded archive.
2. Run the driver installer (file with extension EXE), if there is one and follow the simple instructions.
3. If it is not available, you will have to install the driver manually. To do this, go again to “ Properties» unknown equipment in « Device Manager"(repeat steps 1-3 from the algorithm "How to find out the equipment ID").
4. Go to the tab " Driver", press " Update" and select " Search for drivers on this computer».
5. Using the " Review» find the folder with the driver. It can contain either one single file with a driver, or several folders with drivers for different systems. In our case, this is a separate folder, which contains folders with drivers for different types of OS. Select the appropriate one and click " OK" and in the next window " Further».
6. Wait for the installation to complete and click “ Complete».
Note. If the installer did not find the driver file in the specified folder, then the location of the driver in step 5 is incorrect. In this case, try specifying a different folder with the driver (this happens when the archive has a complex folder structure).
Using the method of installing drivers by hardware ID, you can make any device work.
The best part is that this is truly the optimal all-in-one solution. The main thing is to be able to apply it in practice.
And one of the mandatory items was installing drivers. Installing them is not difficult: just click Next - Next - Finish (as when installing any other program).
The easiest and most reliable way is to find installation drivers at the office. manufacturer's website. Let's say you have a Lenovo laptop.
- Go to the Lenovo website (the easiest way is to write “Lenovo laptop drivers” in Yandex or Google).
- Select the “Laptops” item and indicate its series and model.
- A new page will load. Find the Top Downloads item and click “View all”.
- Select the device for which you want to download the driver and indicate the version of your operating system.
- Click on the arrow in the “Download File” field and download the installation file.
- Repeat this procedure until all the necessary drivers (for sound, Internet, etc.) are loaded.
It is recommended that you save these files somewhere and store them carefully. And when reinstalling Windows, copy it to a USB flash drive in advance. In this case, you will not have to go to the manufacturer’s website every time and download drivers.
What to do if you don’t know the model of your video card, motherboard and other devices?
And you don’t even know which drivers are installed and which are not? As a rule, beginners find out about this only when they discover that there is no Internet on the computer, or an error pops up when starting the game. In this case, you need to go to the device manager. This is where you can determine which drivers need to be installed.
To open it, go to Start - Control Panel - Device Manager.
You can try updating it using Windows. The fact is that the Windows 7, 8 and 10 operating systems have a built-in driver database. And in some cases, they can find and install it themselves. True, they need to be pushed, otherwise they won’t figure it out on their own.
To do this, double-click the left mouse button on the device with the yellow exclamation mark, go to the “Driver” tab and click the “Update” button.
The Windows operating system will try to find and install it on its own, although there is no guarantee that it will succeed.
Search for drivers by hardware ID
If the attempt is unsuccessful, you can find it by the equipment ID. ID is a unique device code that can be used to identify it.
In the screenshot above, Google suggests that this device is responsible for sound, and even provided a link to download the driver for it. Pretty good, right?
Using a similar method, you can find drivers for an unknown device. That is, even if you don’t know what it’s called exactly. For example, you can use the same method.
You can also search for drivers on the DevID website. Just paste the device code you copied earlier and download the file.
How to find drivers using utilities
In this case, you can use the AIDA64 program (it is free, there is a 30-day trial period).
Launch it, select the desired device (for example, HD Audio) and look at the very bottom for the link to download the driver for it. Very simple and convenient.
Automatic search and installation of drivers
Best suited for beginners, as well as users who do not want to go to the manufacturer’s website and manually download them.
There are different programs for automatically searching and installing drivers on a computer or laptop. One of the most popular is the free DriverPack Solution (office site https://drp.su/).
There are 2 installers to choose from – Online and Offline. The first takes about 300 KB (after all, everything will be downloaded from the Internet), and the second – 11.3 GB (the program is periodically updated, so the size may increase).
In the second case, an ISO file will be downloaded, so if you don’t know how to open it, I recommend reading – ?
Which option is better to choose? If Windows is already installed and you have Internet access, then you can download the online installer. If you are just going to reinstall the operating system, then it is better to download the offline version and write it to a flash drive (in case there is no Internet).
After this, follow the following instructions:
- Launch the program.
- Wait for it to scan the system and identify installed and missing drivers.
- Click the “Update” button.
- A new window will appear where you can uncheck items that you do not need (browsers, archivers, etc.).
- You wait for the program to do its job.
- A window will appear asking you to restart your computer (or laptop). You agree.
Ready. After a reboot everything should work like clockwork.
P.S. If all this is too difficult for you, then I recommend reading -.
In modern computers, each device requires a driver for proper and full functioning. Unfortunately, manufacturers do not always include discs with drivers. In the end? The driver disk may simply be lost. In this article I will tell you how to search for drivers for a device by its code, and how to find out this code.
To search for a device driver, you need to know 2 things: the device code or id and the resource where the drivers can be searched. Let's start with the device id.
To find out the part code you need to:
1. Open Start, find the item Computer and left-click on it, select control.
2. in the left window select the item device Manager.
3. In the right window of Device Manager select a device which requires a driver, such devices are indicated by a yellow triangle. Select the device and right-click on it, open the item Properties.
4. In the window that opens, open the tab Intelligence and select from the drop-down menu Equipment ID(in Windows XP Device Instance Code).
5. This window will show device code, copy it using the Ctrl + C key combination or the mouse and go search for drivers by id on the network.
Now about where to look for drivers by code.
One of the most common driver search services is its analogue www.devid.info.
Having the device code you only need enter it in the search field and click search. After which you will be prompted some links with drivers that suit your device, download them and install them. After installing the drivers, you must reboot PC.
Now searching for a driver by id will not be a problem for you, your search will be easy.