Backup existing drivers

[Nick_White]

What do you use for backing up existing (installed) drivers?

Af far as I know, drivers' files are mentioned in a .INF file, so backing up those files mentioned should be an easy task by reading the .INF. This is how software like Driver Magician, Driver Genius, DriverMax, Smart Driver Backup etc. work.

I used those programs to backup drivers for two computers, but when restoring them, some files are always missing.

So what solution can I find for backing up ALL necessary driver files for a correct restoration?

[IcemanND]

The only guaranteed way to get them all is to either back them up manually, run multiple programs and merge the directories or use the original drivers.

I wrote a driver backup utility which is available here in the forums and it is a real pain in the a** to deal with all of the different possible ways that a manufacturer can decide to install there drivers.

[fbnewtz]

There are a few different utilities out there for backing up your drivers. I have just found a few of them and used them the other day.

I used DriverMax to extract all of the drivers for my EeePc 1000 machine. I was able to use nlite and added the drivers in there and everything seemed to work. I had a problem with the sound for some reason though. I think it had more to do with the fact that I had install the UAA driver first and then installed the real drivers for the sound card afterwords. I had a yellow exclamation point on PCI Device in the device manager and just reinstalled driver on it and it picked up the right one and installed everything with out putting in a disc or anything else. So I don't know how much of the problem was created by me or if for some reason DriverMax didn't do something right. (I put the blame on me first)

Then last night I used Double Driver to download the drivers for a Dell machine I have. I have extracted them, added them to my nlite image but I have yet to install the new system. I will do that tonight and let you know how it goes. One note is that it did not extract my nVidia drivers. I had to download them from Dell. Which wasn't a big deal, but I don't know why it didn't pick the nVidia drivers up at all.

They are both free, but you have to register DriverMax. I used the program with out the install code, but I think you have 30 days or something to get a FREE install code. The Double Driver is just freeware and I found it on www.winaddons.com.

Thanks,

Fred

[fbnewtz]

I installed my Dell ISO just now and there is one exclamation point in there. I used Double Driver to retrieve all of the drivers on this machine. Everything is working just fine, but I have no idea what that exclamation point is though.

Thanks,

Fred