Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 10  

Jaguwaar20 said:

No. I haven't created a backup of the Driver Store yet or ever, for that matter. I was only reading your tutorial, not actually performing any backup. So I just really haven't paid attention that closely in File Explorer to even notice it. It's been there for quite a while if the date/time stamp is true.

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I think I should look further in the Driver store (I have Rapr.exe from GitHub)... just to compare what files match up there with the files located in this "C:\Drivers" folder

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Ok. It's a Dell PC. This is pretty common with this manufacturer to create a default folder called C:\Drivers. When driver installation packages are extracted, they're unpacked here.
These drivers stored elsewhere may come in handy. I just have to try a few commands maybe just using MS-DOS xcopy or robocopy and store them on USB/DVD. There probably isn't a way to know for certain if its just a temporary folder, or if the folder/files actually becomes used, but I'm going to run diskcleanup tool to see if it will delete many of these files.

In that case, it wouldn't hurt to include a copy of the "C:\Drivers" with the others.

Damun said:

I have a question:

Can you use this method to extract/backup device drivers from a PC that is not connected to the internet?

Hello Damun,

Yes, you sure can. An Internet connection is not required to backup and restore drivers using any of the options in the tutorial.

Damun said:

Thanks for the answer @Brink.
I thought that "dism /online /export-driver /destination..." maybe required the system to check with a online service/image or something.

It looks like that command would be used to add them to an offline image instead from the Microsoft article below.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ne-options-s14

Exports all third-party driver packages from a Windows image to a destination path. The exported drivers can then be injected to an offline image by running the DISM Add-Driver command.

The driver servicing command supports only .inf files. Windows Installer or other driver package types (such as .exe files) are not supported.

@Brink

Probably the most useful post I've ever seen, concerning Windows.

Snugglebugs said:

I ran the powershell version without any problem and now have a full backup ready for later stages of configuring a new PC.
Just one question - all the folders having the inf file are labelled amd64, as in your screenshots. Does that matter, as my new chipset is Intel?

Tony

Hey Tony,

No worries. "amd64" is just generic for "64-bit".