How to install drivers properly for old laptop?

ntd252 · 11 Mar 2020

Hi community!
I am planing to have a clean Windows 10 installation after long time using Windows 7. My laptop is kind of old (Asus K55A from 2013, i5-3230M, intel HD 4000), and Asus's site doesn't have driver support for Windows 10. I heard a lot of people saying not to use third party software for installing/updating driver, but my personal pov sometimes find tool like Driver Easy, Snappy driver installer, Driver Pack Solution are quite useful in old laptop.
My questions are:

What is the best or optimal way to install or update drivers properly?
Can Windows get "intel chipset inf utility" by itself? Should I just let Windows do it automatically?
Which drivers can affect performance and stability? Do I really need all drivers the latest version? (because driver software like Driver Easy usually has newer version than current version for Realtek Audio, LAN, WLAN, Bluetooth, etc...)
Some laptops have Windows 10 support from manufactures, but after 2-3 years, the manufacture will stop releasing drivers update, specifically VGA driver, while vendor (intel, Nvidia) continue releasing newer version. That time, should I use manufacture's version (older) or vendor version (newer or latest)?

Thank you and hope to hear your answers and advice.

Golden · 11 Mar 2020

Windows 10 is very good and installing it's own quality drivers, and it does this much better than Windows 7 ever did.

Let Windows 10 find/install any/all drivers it can, then evaluate whether you need anything more.

ntd252 · 11 Mar 2020

Golden said:

Windows 10 is very good and installing it's own quality drivers, and it does this much better than Windows 7 ever did.

Let Windows 10 find/install any/all drivers it can, then evaluate whether you need anything more.

I read on intel's site that intel chipset inf utility is a list of drivers so that Windows can use and know which drivers are needed for each computer. Even new laptop models have that utility from the manufacture's website. Do I need to install intel chipset before letting Windows install the others?

spapakons · 11 Mar 2020

I would first visit the manufacturer's site to see which drivers are available there. Right-click on This PC icon and select Properties. Alternatively search for System Properties. See if you have Windows 10 32-bit or 64-bit. What drivers are available at manufacturer's site? Are 64-bit or only 32-bit? Assuming you can find both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers and you have 64-bit Windows, look at the maximum Windows version the manufacturer offers drivers. If it is not Windows 10, then go to 8 or 7 or at least Vista (in that order) and select 64-bit or 32-bit (whichever is yours). Download all the drivers and begin by installing the chipset, then the graphics driver etc. You can then use Windows Update to see if there is any newer driver. If the manufacturer only offers 32-bit drivers and you have 64-bit Windows, then you have to either manually download every driver from Intel, Realtek, whatever, or use Snappy Driver Installer to do it automatically. Careful, most old laptops have very old devices that not always have 64-bit drivers (such as old AMD graphics cards). In that case I would install Windows 10 32-bit instead to use old 32-bit drivers.

Kari · 11 Mar 2020

I would start with exporting the drivers from current Windows 7 installation, then add them to Windows 10 install media. See tutorial: DISM - Add or Remove Drivers on an Offline Image

Windows 10 installation will then keep the compatible drivers, and update those not compatible.

To check everything works, I would use some extra time and test the Windows 10 install media with added drivers first in dual boot scenario: Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8

If everything is OK, first then I would wipe the disk and clean install Windows 10 to replace Windows 7.

Kari

zbook · 11 Mar 2020

Windows upgrades from 7 to 10 are still free.

Had you tried upgrading or did you acquire a new Windows 10 license?

mrgeek · 11 Mar 2020

ntd252 said:

I read on intel's site that intel chipset inf utility is a list of drivers so that Windows can use and know which drivers are needed for each computer. Even new laptop models have that utility from the manufacture's website. Do I need to install intel chipset before letting Windows install the others?

I have supported several laptops of 2012-2014 vintage and use Driver Easy too. Mfr driver support usually only last couple years. My take would be to back up your working drivers from current install. Use this tool - https://github.com/lostindark/Driver...r.v0.10.54.zip and export the results to an excel spreadsheet. Reason for this, is that it CLEARLY shows you which oem driver package goes with which driver in Device Manager.
Next, do your clean install and let Windows use it's own drivers. If all works, fine, if you're of the "if it's not broken ..." school.
If you want to go further, use Driver Easy and compare the Details drop down to compare proposed updates. Do these one, at a time to test, so any failures can be attributed to a single update.
Beware: new drivers may not be compatible. EG; I found that after a Driver Easy update of display driver, I lost Sleep function. So I rolled back to old driver and all was fixed, then blocked D.E. from further updates of that. On the other hand, all Realtek audio drivers are compatible with older laptops but be patient and test each before moving on to next.
Hope my experiences help. Good Luck on your Upgrade.

ntd252 · 12 Mar 2020

zbook said:

Windows upgrades from 7 to 10 are still free.
Had you tried upgrading or did you acquire a new Windows 10 license?

I plan to have clean install, because I already have license.

Kari said:

I would start with exporting the drivers from current Windows 7 installation, then add them to Windows 10 install media. See tutorial: DISM - Add or Remove Drivers on an Offline Image
Windows 10 installation will then keep the compatible drivers, and update those not compatible.
To check everything works, I would use some extra time and test the Windows 10 install media with added drivers first in dual boot scenario: Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8Kari

I actually do have Windows 7/10 dual boot, and I should say currently, my 10 works fine, except some silly bugs (pretty sure those bugs are not driver related). I just don't remember exactly how I install driver, because sometimes I did try to update something with driver easy or googling the new version. Everything is just personal experience, so I really want to hear how more professional people in tenforums.

Basically after few replies, I can say letting Windows 10 handle by itself is the most effective way, except for every old laptops. Manually updating some drivers should be okay, using third party tool needs more attention.

Can you tell me more about which driver can affect performance and should be updated when it has newer version?
I usually see intel management engine interface and intel rapid storage often have newer update than version Windows installs by itself, but not sure is it good to update.
And things like VGA is more complicated. Manufacture usually just provides update for around 2 years, after that, if I want to update, I have to uninstall the old one and download the newer from intel, Nvidia site. From your experience, do you keep using the older version from manufacture, or replace it with latest one from vendors?

spapakons · 12 Mar 2020

Exporting the drivers like suggested copies all the drivers to folders containing the driver files. I tried it once and if I remember correctly, there is no setup you can run. You have to manually install any driver by browsing to the appropriate folder in Device Manager. This is not really convenient, especially for a novice user. That's why I always create a folder Drivers in my hard disk and keep it updated with any driver for my hardware. So if I ever need to reinstall a driver I have it readily available. I can then check if there is any newer driver, but if I cannot find I can use the backup driver I have. I do not store all drivers for all my customers, just my closest friends, but this can save my day if I ever have to reinstall Windows or any driver is missing. As long as I have spent some time to find them in the first place, it is a good idea to store them to a folder inside the computer, just in case.

ntd252 · 12 Mar 2020

spapakons said:

Exporting the drivers like suggested copies all the drivers to folders containing the driver files. I tried it once and if I remember correctly, there is no setup you can run. You have to manually install any driver by browsing to the appropriate folder in Device Manager. This is not really convenient, especially for a novice user. That's why I always create a folder Drivers in my hard disk and keep it updated with any driver for my hardware. So if I ever need to reinstall a driver I have it readily available. I can then check if there is any newer driver, but if I cannot find I can use the backup driver I have. I do not store all drivers for all my customers, just my closest friends, but this can save my day if I ever have to reinstall Windows or any driver is missing. As long as I have spent some time to find them in the first place, it is a good idea to store them to a folder inside the computer, just in case.

I should do it this time of new installation. Last time it was kind of experimental so I don't store things I installed, just remember intel VGA from intel's download site.Which source do you go for checking and finding newer version of your driver, or you just google?