What is the correct order to install drivers after clean installation?

Hi,
What is the correct and recommended order to install the drivers after a clean Windows 10 installation.
I have always been told that it is Intel Chipset driver first, followed by all the other chipsets (Intel Management Interface etc) and then only after all the chipsets have been installed, the rest of the drivers can basically be installed in any order.
Ive just spoken to a guy on Technical Support who said SATA (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) drivers should be installed before the chipset drivers. Is that correct? This is his suggested order :-
1. BIOS
2. Intel Rapid Storage Technology-SATA driver
3. Intel Chipset driver
4. Then, All the other chipset drivers listed under the laptop service tag can then be installed in any order (Intel Management Interface, Card Reader, Intel Serial IO driver etc)
5. And finally..All the other drivers can then be installed in any order (Wi-Fi, Video, Audio, Ethernet Controller driver etc)

For the most part it doesn't really matter what order you install the drivers in. The main exception would be drivers for external buses - PCI, USB, TB, etc. since the driver for the controller must be installed before you can enumerate devices connected to them. Since it's hard for people to recognize these, it's simpler just to recommend "chipset" drivers get installed first.

1. It's good to update the BIOS first since a "BIOS" update, which may contain device firmware in addition to the UEFI image, may cause Windows to have to re-detect devices and may cause TPM changes that break Bitlocker/Hello. So it's best to do this before setting up anything else.

2. I don't see any specific reason for installing the RST driver first, unless you were setting up RAID and mess something up that renders the system unbootable.

3. The Intel chipset "driver" literally just makes some cosmetic changes to Device Manager (which is why Intel calls it the "INF update utility"). The actual drivers are already built-in to Windows. But in case Intel makes changes in the future, it's fine to install this before anything else.

Code:

; ************************************************************
; ************************************************************
; **  Filename: KabylakeSystem.inf                          **
; **  Abstract: Assigns the null driver to devices          **
; **            for yellow-bang removal and                 **
; **            brands Intel(R) devices                     ** 
; ************************************************************
; ************************************************************

PolarNettles said:

For the most part it doesn't really matter what order you install the drivers in. The main exception would be drivers for external buses - PCI, USB, TB, etc. since the driver for the controller must be installed before you can enumerate devices connected to them. Since it's hard for people to recognize these, it's simpler just to recommend "chipset" drivers get installed first.

1. It's good to update the BIOS first since a "BIOS" update, which may contain device firmware in addition to the UEFI image, may cause Windows to have to re-detect devices and may cause TPM changes that break Bitlocker/Hello. So it's best to do this before setting up anything else.

2. I don't see any specific reason for installing the RST driver first, unless you were setting up RAID and mess something up that renders the system unbootable.

3. The Intel chipset "driver" literally just makes some cosmetic changes to Device Manager (which is why Intel calls it the "INF update utility"). The actual drivers are already built-in to Windows. But in case Intel makes changes in the future, it's fine to install this before anything else.

Code:

; ************************************************************
; ************************************************************
; **  Filename: KabylakeSystem.inf                          **
; **  Abstract: Assigns the null driver to devices          **
; **            for yellow-bang removal and                 **
; **            brands Intel(R) devices                     ** 
; ************************************************************
; ************************************************************

Hi mate.
I thought it was a bit odd when he mentioned to install SATA drivers before chipset drivers. When I asked him why that was he just said because its related to the hard drive.
So would your advice be :-
1. BIOS
2. Intel chipset driver
3. Straight after that install all other chipset drivers but not in any particular order (Intel Management Interface, Card Reader, Intel Serial IO driver etc)
4. As for any other drivers..the installation order is irrelevant/not important. The Wi-Fi, Graphics, Audio, Ethernet Controller and also the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (SATA) drivers can be installed in any order

I have a Dell laptop (6yr old Vostro) and used to wonder over all of this... the good news is that Windows seems to do a good job and the only driver manually needing to be added is for the card reader. I also install Dell 'Quickset' for the illuminated keyboard options. I don't install any others and everything works perfectly such as USB3:0 ports and Intel Centrino WiFi.

From my perspective, clogging up the computer with unecessary drivers is not needed. Keeping it simple. After a clean install of Windows 10 I just install the latest GPU and audio drivers, and chipset & ME drivers. Everything else is academic to me. I don't care what order I'm doing this in either, I've never seen a computer not functioning correctly because I didn't install the chipset driver first or something. Rest is found and installed automagically during the boot/install process. I just check the device manager for any yellow markings, run latencymon, crystaldisk and benchmarking tests and that's about it.

The only thing I can add is that times I've had to do clean installs it has helped to use an Ethernet cable to the Router/Modem so Windows can find other drivers one needs such as for the Wireless or Wireless/Bluetooth adapter.

Thanks to Polarnettles, Try3, Mooly Spunk, Bastet, Faith and Berton for your help.