Drivers 101

miata54 · 15 Nov 2017

I.m in search of some basic driver info, trying to look ahead when someday, I might have to do a Recovery. Current specs are these:

PC is an HP Win 7 CTO built in 2011. HP no longer provides support for the drivers. I recently upgraded to Win 10. All went well. Question: with the upgrade, did MS replace/upgrade the Win 7 drivers for the Motherboard and other devices with new Win 10 drivers or is the PC still operating with the old Win 7 drivers?

I have the OEM recovery disks that came with the PC but do not want to use them (incredibly time consuming) as I desire to recover to the state I am now in, which is Win 10, not Win 7 I have made a System Image of my C drive using Macrium Free Reflect 7, which of course has the OS and all current drivers. From what I understand, to restore the Image to my PC is also a time intensive process. The Image contains a lot of apps that I do not need. Does Macrium allow you to selectively pick just the OS and needed drivers from the Image? My main concern is that I have the proper drivers for Win 10 to do a Recovery.

Thanks

topgundcp · 15 Nov 2017

Download this portable program and save the required drivers or all to a folder. It has a little nice GUI.
Double Driver 4.1 Download - TechSpot

Else mount C drive from Macrium Backup Image, put a check mark to "Enable access to restricted folder on the bottom"
Navigate to: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository
That's where all the drivers are stored.

Barman58 · 15 Nov 2017

I will answer your last question First - you need to ensure that you have created a boot recovery drive/disk to allow you to restore your image file to a totally empty system - Instructions/options are provided in the Reflect program.

The image file that macrium reflect creates is a snapshot of the complete system that you have set it up to image. you cannot pick what you wish to recover from an image What you could do is to create several images in your case create an image that is as it stands at this time with all the apps including those that you no longer need, and then remove the apps you do not use and take an image at that point when you have to perform a recovery a full restore as it is at present or a smaller setup that only contains your required items.

I suggest you keep the current version so that if you in future recover your system to the smaller version, and then find you need something that you have now you have the option to recover to the fuller set-up

You should if possible create a new image regularly as Windows 10 Developes so that you can recover quickly- the recovery process will take a certain time depending on how much data is on the image but as this is a basic write operation it is relatively quick.

As for the drivers, Microsoft will not have written them as they are not responsible for the development, just for distribution of those they have tested and approved.

What has likely happened with your upgrade to Windows 10 is that various manufacturers have developed drivers for equipment they make, microsoft has certified them and included them in the ones on the install media. these subcomponents were used by HP to build the laptop so you have support for the drivers

miata54 · 15 Nov 2017

Thanks Topgundcp and Barman58. Just the info I was looking for, particularly the Double Driver app. Have already created a file of my drivers.

One more question. I created a Win 10 ISO, which when opened in File Explorer, shows several folders, one of which says "boot". Would this contain the necessary info to enable a boot from a formatted disk? Also on the disk are folders efi, sources, support, autorun, bootmgr and setup.

Thanks

Helmut · 15 Nov 2017

"I have the OEM recovery disks that came with the PC "
So do I, for Windows 8.1, however those become less and less useful as time goes by, obviously.

You can download the install file and make a Windows 10 install disk or USB drive(bootable). That brings you forward somewhat.

My manufacturer has never supplied Windows 10 drivers they have all come via Windows updates, often in those major updates.

An Image contains everything on your drive(s), including drivers.
Again, obviously, make your image after removing any Apps you don't need.

I make another image roughly monthly, and delete older ones, keeping about 3 of the latest.

You don't need Double Driver, it's superfluous.

The ISO - You have to burn bootable DVD(s) with this, or make a bootable USB drive. It won't Boot as is, it's just a file (which you have been looking at).

topgundcp · 16 Nov 2017

One more question. I created a Win 10 ISO, which when opened in File Explorer, shows several folders, one of which says "boot". Would this contain the necessary info to enable a boot from a formatted disk? Also on the disk are folders efi, sources, support, autorun, bootmgr and setup

When the ISO is opened in File Explorer, It actually is mounted to a virtual CD/DVD under This PC and assigned a letter to it.

To answer your question, the answer is yes. Just create a partition large enough to store these Files/Folders, format as FAT32 and set it "Active". Copy everything you see in file explorer to the Root folder of the partition. You can either change the boot priority&order to this HD in the BIOS or via one time boot from the BOOT menu to boot.

MrHudson · 16 Nov 2017

miata, when you upgraded, Microsoft used their drivers unless there are drivers available. If drivers aren't available, Microsoft will use their compatible drivers.