How to remove old drivers and install new ones. Removing old versions of drivers from the Windows storage

We continue to clean the system of accumulated garbage. Today we will touch on the topic of drivers. In the article, I only showed a little at the end how you can remove drivers. But in the article it was a matter of “firewood” and it was necessary to remove it. There I described in more detail.
Therefore, if you want to remove or roll back drivers, read one of the articles above. Or better yet, both.

Now closer to the point. The method described below will help you see and remove all drivers that are on the system and not in use. What kind of firewood is this? Yes, all kinds. These are also those that were installed when you “stuck” some other person’s flash drive once. This includes firewood that was installed along with some program for video or sound processing, as well as antiviruses, etc. software. Subsequently, you have already deleted these programs, but the tails in the form of drivers may remain. Also, this rubbish may remain after an incorrect reinstallation of Windows.

Now we will delete them in a standard way Windows system.

Opening Properties of the system. This can be done in three ways:

1) Win + Break/Pause

2) RMB on the icon My computer and in the context menu select Properties

3) Start -> Control Panel -> System

In Windows 7 and 8 you also need to select on the left Extra options systems

In this window, click the Create button in the “System variables” field

Now in this new small window we enter Variable name How devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices, A Meaning there will be 1

Then click OK everywhere until the System Properties window.

All that remains is to open this same Manager.
Or in this very System Properties window, select the tab Equipment:

Or call and enter Devmgmt.msc or start devmgmt.msc into it

All. Now you can open the lists and you will see that there are translucent or exclamation mark. That's what we need:

Right-click on them and delete:

You can also simplify all these actions (before opening the Manager) by entering command line Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
Then you can open the manager, show hidden ones and delete them.
The thing to keep in mind here is that after a reboot this option will disappear.

That's all. And as a conclusion I would like to give a few notes:

1) If it doesn’t work, try doing it as Administrator

2) If not displayed, click on the "Update hardware configuration" button or restart the Manager

3) Watch carefully what you delete. If something doesn’t start later, it’s not my fault.

4) The list does not always show unnecessary ones. Everything that was installed may be present there. Therefore, think again about whether you need to delete it and whether it will definitely no longer be used. Although the firewood will then be reinstalled again, but not for all devices.

Created based on

As you know, quite often many users computer systems are faced with the problem of removing old or unused device drivers. This can be due to many reasons, including hardware conflicts and malfunctioning devices. This also includes installing more recent versions of drivers. This is where a logical question arises: how to remove the driver of a particular device?

What is a driver

Before you begin the process of removing a driver or updating it, you need to know what it is. Essentially this is small program, which ensures communication between the hardware component and the operating system, without which the device itself will not only not work, but the system may not even recognize it.

In some cases (especially when automatic system updates are enabled), it becomes necessary to change the driver version to a newer one.

View information about driver versions and files

Now a few words about what needs to be done before proceeding with the removal operation. First, you need to find out the driver version (especially when it was downloaded from the official website of the equipment manufacturer). It is very likely that the system has the most latest version, and this is not the reason for the conflict or equipment malfunction. Then the problem of how to remove the driver will disappear by itself. There are several ways to do this.

For example, for Plug & Play devices or standard system components, you can use the DirectX dialog call (dxdiag command in the Run menu). True, here you can see the versions of the screen drivers, audio equipment and I/O devices (unless something else is installed).

However, in the question of how to view information and how to remove a driver, it is better to use standard Windows OS tools. In addition, this is the simplest and most proven method.

Removing drivers using standard Windows tools

IN in this case you must use the Control Panel menu, in which you select the “Device Manager” item. The name may change depending on the version of the installed operating system. Now just select the device you are interested in and call up the context menu, then use the “Properties” command. It will be there Full description driver version ("Driver" tab, "Properties" menu).

Now let's look at an example, say, how to remove an audio driver (or how to remove a printer driver). In principle, the formulation of the question does not matter, the scheme is the same. We carry out the procedures described above, but only instead of the “Properties” button we use the “Delete” button. The system will ask you to confirm the deletion, after which you can restart the computer.

If the printer drivers are standard and included in installation package Windows OS, after reboot they will be installed automatically. Otherwise you will have to install them either with original disc, or download from the manufacturer’s official website.

By the way, this method of viewing information about drivers is also convenient because here you can even find out the location of the files themselves. If for some reason the system cannot remove such programs, you can begin to resolve the issue of how to completely remove the driver in manual mode. To do this, you just need to delete files from specified by the system locations, as well as the corresponding registry keys. However, this is highly discouraged for inexperienced users.

Third party software

Today there are quite a lot of programs that can solve the problem of how to remove old drivers, automatic mode. One of these is Driver Sweeper.

This software has a lot of customization options, for example, filtering by equipment manufacturer, etc. But it is better to check the names of all manufacturers when starting, and then begin the process of analysis and cleaning. It will take a few minutes and will provide a report about outdated or unused (unnecessary) drivers on the system. The latter, by the way, can cause conflicts in the operation of the equipment, since the system itself alternately accesses one or another driver.

Don't be surprised if the program even finds drivers for integrated video cards or sound chips. Next, you need to click the “Cleanup” button, after which everything that the application found will be deleted.

Of course, study inexperienced user You can do such things only at your own peril and risk, but, as practice shows, this program works absolutely correctly, does not cause crashes in the operating system and does not interfere with the operation of software and hardware components.

Automatic update

Among programs of this type we can highlight special utilities, designed to automatically update all drivers available in the system. The question of how to remove a driver does not arise here for one simple reason. The fact is that many programs are capable of removing old ones automatically before installing new versions of drivers. But most of them are like this software packages are paid. But the advantage of their work is that they apply directly to the equipment manufacturers’ websites for updates, so that absolutely all drivers will have the correct digital signatures upon completion of installation or update.

Good day, dear friends, acquaintances and other personalities.

The installation process is simple and straightforward. During the installation, do not forget to uncheck anything that is offered to you as an add-on (especially if you already have it).

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It is possible that you will need to supply separately .NET Framework . I already wrote more about what it is, how and why in the material “What is the Microsoft .NET Framework and why install it.”

As for use, when you launch the program, you first need to set the language to Russian. To do this, follow the link " Language" and from the drop-down list select the item " Russian", and then press the button " Apply":

After this process, the program language becomes Russian, and therefore we simply go to the "tab" Analysis and Purification", check off those items with drivers that we want to remove and the garbage from which we do not need in the system.

Next, decisively press the button " Cleaning" (if you suddenly doubt that something superfluous will be swept away, then it is better to press " Analysis" and see the list of files and registry keys that the program wants to remove).

Oh, and yes, of course, there is the possibility of restoring deleted data, for which there is a corresponding tab " Recovery".

With this, the whole process actually ends, and therefore we can move on to the afterword.

Afterword

How permanent tool It’s not really necessary (fortunately, driver versions do not change so often), but keep it in mind and keep it on hand as a broom to avoid possible problems, it’s quite possible. For example, I sometimes encountered the fact that the driver is not “swept out” entirely during normal uninstallation, which makes it difficult to install another (no matter new or old) version, and therefore either causes blue screens death, or does not allow them to be eliminated normally (if they are caused by the current driver).

Something like this, short and useful. Use it for your health, maybe it will come in handy on the farm;)

As always, if you suddenly have any questions, thoughts or additions, then comments are at your service.

For modern Windows operating systems, there is often no need to separately install video card drivers, since they are already included in the system. This is especially true for users who do not want to install numerous additional components supplied with the driver.

If you are an avid gamer or just need some auxiliary utilities, it is recommended to install updated versions NVIDIA drivers, AMD or Intel to get performance improvements, stability and new features.

Sometimes you may encounter problems after installing drivers. There's always a chance that a new version may conflict with installed game or any application using the driver will begin to behave incorrectly.

This is why very often you may need to completely remove the driver from the system. In most cases, deletion helps. standard means system, however, in some cases, the driver removal process may not be completed or may be interrupted due to a failure, the cause of which is difficult to resolve on your own. To do this, you can use our separate instructions.

In these cases it will be useful third party application Display Driver Uninstaller to remove drivers NVIDIA video cards, AMD and Intel. The program is compatible with all the latest Windows versions. The developer suggests running the utility in safe mode, but this is not a necessary condition. The user is asked whether to boot in Safe Mode or not. If you answer yes, then make sure to save the progress of all changes, because the computer will immediately begin to automatically reboot.

The program can also enable/disable automatic update drivers through the Center Windows updates. You will receive information about this when you start the program.

All main functions of the program are displayed on one screen. At the top the user can select graphics driver, which you want to delete. This function comes in handy when you change your video card and want to remove all driver components installed on the system.

Display Driver Uninstaller supports three operating modes:

• Uninstall and reboot (highly recommended)
• Uninstall without rebooting (may lead to black screen issue)
• Remove and turn off (to install a new video card)

Several additional operations are also available: remove NVIDIA GeForce Experience and enable driver installation via Windows Update default. In the “Options” window you can enable the removal of 3DTV and Physx, as well as the removal of temporary folders C:\NVIDIA And C:\AMD, which are used when installing drivers

Before you select any of the options, make sure you have downloaded the graphics card driver package from the manufacturer's website, you will need it after you have completed uninstalling the existing drivers.

If you select the “Uninstall and reboot” option, you will notice that the system automatically reboots after a short period of uninstallation. If you haven't chosen automatic installation drivers, Windows will use common driver video card that can run at lower resolutions.

Note: source The Display Driver Uninstaller application is available for inspection on the GitHub service.

Conclusion

Display Driver Uninstaller - useful applications for reliable and complete removal drivers in cases where you encounter problems with their operation. The utility effectively performs its task, even if the driver does not work correctly or is not updated.

The program ensures that all traces of NVIDIA, AMD or Intel drivers are completely removed from the system.

Found a typo? Highlight and press Ctrl + Enter

The free Driver Sweeper utility will help you completely remove unnecessary drivers or their remnants from operating system Windows. Moreover, in case of system failures due to the removal of any driver, it will help restore it in a matter of seconds.

It often happens that after installing new drivers on the system, it stops working normally. This happens especially often among beginners who are just beginning to learn the basics. computer literacy. The reason for system failure is most often the remaining traces after removing the drivers, or a conflict between the new version and the old one.

It is not at all easy to correct this situation by removing the remnants of drivers, especially if unofficial or very “ancient” versions of specialized software were installed. In addition, when changing a video card, for example, from NVIDIA to ATI, incompatibility problems may also arise; not only can they, but they will arise in 90% of cases. When replacing a graphics video adapter, you must install the appropriate drivers for it. If you do not remove drivers, they will clog Windows, possibly conflict with it and slow down its operation. Decide this problem will help free program to remove Driver Sweeper drivers. Today we will talk about no, and how to remove Windows drivers using it.

Completely remove drivers using Driver Sweeper

The Driver Sweeper program is distributed by the developer completely free of charge. You can download the driver removal program from our website using the link above, or from the official website of the utility, the address of which is indicated in the table. When installing the utility, please note that along with it you are asked to download and install another program; it is paid, so if you do not need it, then do not download it. This is done like this: In the program installation wizard, carefully review each step and, where necessary, uncheck the “I accept” checkbox License agreement with the end user and Privacy Policy and I want to install Mobogenie for free.”

After you download and install the program, you can begin removing drivers from the system. By default Driver Sweeper has English language interface, to make it more convenient to work with it, it needs to be changed to Russian. To do this, click in the “Options” section of the “Navigation” menu on the “Language” item and then select Russian from the drop-down list (see the figure below). Click the “Apply” button to localize the program interface.

To detect all remnants of previously installed Windows drivers, click on the “Analysis and Cleaning” link, tick the driver checkboxes according to their developers. We recommend checking all checkboxes. Click the “Analyze” button.

The utility will find all specials. programs and their traces, and displays them as a list in the next window. Mark the ones you don't need. If the program has found a lot of garbage and you decide to delete everything, then for easier selection, click on the button with an asterisk located at the very bottom of the list and select “All”. To begin the driver removal procedure in Window, click on the “Cleanup” button.

The program will ask you Security Question– “Are you sure you want to continue?” click “Ok” in the dialog box that opens to confirm your intentions. After the utility completes the process of removing drivers from the system, you will need to restart your computer.

If after uninstalling the drivers and rebooting Windows computer will malfunction, then you will be able to recover all deleted files. This is done simply. Run again Driver program Sweeper and in the “Navigation” menu, click on the “Recovery” item in the “Tasks” section. On the list deleted files, which the utility will display, select the ones you need and click “Restore”.

That's all. Good luck!

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