Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the VP and General Manager of hocketoanthue.edu.vn.
Bạn đang xem: Step by step guide to updating drivers in windows 7
UpdatingdriversinWindows 7isn"t something you do on a regular basis but you might find yourself needing to do so for any of several different reasons.
For example, you might need to install drivers in Windows 7 for a piece ofhardwareif you"re troubleshooting a problem with the device, if a driver isn"t automatically installed during aWindows 7 installation, or if a driver update enables new features you"d like to utilize.
Wecreated this step by step guide to to accompany ouroriginalHow to Update Drivers in Windowshow-to guide. Updating drivers can be a little complicated, so this visual tutorial should help clarify any confusion you might have had lookingover the how-to.
As of January 2020, Microsoft is no longer supporting Windows 7. We recommend upgrading to Windows 10 to continue receiving security updates and technical support.
In this tutorial, we"llbe updating the driver for the network card on computer running Windows 7 Ultimate. This tutorial will also serve perfectly well as a walkthrough for installing any kind of driver like avideo card,sound card, etc.
This walkthrough demonstrates the driver update process in Windows 7 Ultimate but all steps can be followed exactly in any edition of Windows 7, including Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Starter, etc.
Download the Latest Windows 7 Driver for the Hardware.
The first thing you need to do is to download the latest driver for the device from the hardware maker"s website. It"s important to download a driver directly from its source so you"re sure you"re getting the most valid, tested, and recent driver possible
See How to Find and Download Drivers From Manufacturer Websites if you need help.
As you can see in the screenshot above, we"ve visited Intel"s site to download the driver for an Intel-based network card. The download came in the form of a single, compressed file.
You must download either a 32-bit or 64-bit driver, corresponding to the type of Windows 7 you have installed. If you"re not sure, see Am I Running a 32-bit or 64-bit Version of Windows? for help.
Many drivers available today are packaged for automatic installation. This means that all you have to do is run the downloaded file, and the drivers will be updated automatically. The instructions given on the manufacturer"s website should tell you if the drivers you"re downloading are configured this way. If so, there"s no reason to continue with these steps - just run the program and follow any instructions.
02
of 20
Extract the Driver Files From the Compressed Download
Extract the Driver Files From the Compressed Download.
When you download a driver for a piece of hardware in your computer, you"re actually downloading a compressed file that contains the one or more actual driver files, plus various other auxiliary files necessary to get the driver installed in Windows 7.
So, before you can update the drivers for a specific piece of hardware, you have to extract the files from the download you completed in the previous step.
Windows 7 has built-in compression/decompression software but weprefer a dedicated program like the free 7-Zip, mainly because it supports so many more formats than Windows 7 does natively. There are plenty of free file extractor programs out there if you don"t care for 7-Zip.
Regardless of the program used, you can usually right-click on the downloaded file and choose to Extract the files to a folder. Be sure to create a new folder to extract the files to and make sure you choose to create the new folder somewhere you"ll remember.
03
of 20
Open Device Manager From the Control Panel in Windows 7
Open Device Manager From the Control Panel in Windows 7.
Now that the driver files are extracted ready to be used, open Device Manager from the Control Panel in Windows 7.
In Windows 7, hardware management, including updating drivers, is accomplished from within Device Manager.
04
of 20
Locate the Hardware Device You Want to Update the Drivers For
Locate the Hardware Device You Want to Update the Drivers For.
With Device Manager open, locate the hardware device you want to update the drivers for.
Navigate through the hardware device categories by using the > icon. Under each hardware category will be the one or more devices that belong to that category.
05
of 20
Open the Hardware Device's Properties
Open the Hardware Device's Properties.
After locating the hardware that you want to update the driver for, right-click on its name or icon and then click on Properties.
Make sure to right-click the actual device entry, not the category that the device is in. For example, in this example, you"d right-click the "Intel(R) Pro/1000" line like the screenshot shows, not the "Network adapters" category heading.
06
of 20
Start the Update Driver Software Wizard
Start the Update Driver Software Wizard.
Xem thêm: Top 6 Ứng Dụng Chơi Nhạc Trên Điện Thoại Android, 9 Ứng Dụng Nghe Nhạc Tốt Nhất Cho Android
Start the Update Driver Software wizard by first clicking on the Driver tab and then the Update Driver... button.
07
of 20
Choose to Locate and Install Driver Software Manually
Choose to Locate and Install Driver Software Manually.
The first question asked by the Update Driver Software wizard is "How do you want to search for driver software?"
Click on Browse my computer for driver software. This option will allow you to manually select the driver you want installed - the one you downloaded in the first step.
By manually selecting the driver to install, you can be sure that the best driver, the one directly from the manufacturer that you just downloaded, is the driver that will be installed.
08
of 20
Choose to Pick From a List of Device Drivers on Your Computer
Choose to Pick From a List of Device Drivers on Your Computer.
On the next screen where you"re told to Browse for driver software on your computer, instead click on Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer at the bottom of the window.
In some cases, simply browsing to the extracted folder location would be good enough here but the Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer option gives you more control in situations where there are multiple drivers available in the extracted folder, which is often the case.
09
of 20
Click the Have Disk Button
Click the Have Disk Button.
On the Select Network Adapter1 screen, click the Have Disk... button.
You don"t need to select a Network Adapter here. The zero, one, or more entries in that box don"t directly represent the actual device(s) you have installed but instead represent the available drivers that Windows 7 has for this particular piece of hardware. By clicking Have Disk... you"re skipping this existing driver selection process and telling Windows 7 that you have better drivers you"d like to install that it isn"t yet aware of.
<1> The name of this screen will be different depending on the kind of hardware you"re updating the drivers for. A more generic Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware is common.
10
of 20
Click the Browse Button
Click the Browse Button.
Click the Browse... button on the Install From Disk window.
11
of 20
Navigate to the Folder with the Extracted Driver Files
Navigate to the Folder with the Extracted Driver Files.
In the Locate File window, use the Look in: drop-down box at the top and/or the shortcuts on the left to navigate to the folder with the extracted driver files that you created in Step 2.
There may be multiple folders within the extracted folder, so be sure to work your way to the one for Windows 7 if it exists. Some downloads will also include both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of a driver with the 32-bit driver in one folder and the 64-bit version in another, sometimes nested under an operating system labeled folder as well.
Long story short: If nicely named folders exist, get your way to the one that makes the most sense based on your computer. If you"re not that lucky, don"t worry about it, just navigate to the folder with the extracted driver files.
12
of 20
Choose Any INF File in the Folder
Choose Any INF File in the Folder.
Click any INF file that displays in the file list and then click the Open button. The Update Driver Software wizard will read the information from all the INF files in this folder.
INF files are the only files that Device Manager accepts for driver setup information. So while you may know that a folder you"ve selected has all sorts of files in it, it"s an INF file that the Update Driver Software wizard is looking for.
Not sure which INF file to choose when there are several?
It really doesn"t matter which INF file you open since Windows 7 will only actually use the appropriate one from the folder.
Couldn"t find an INF file in the folder you selected from your driver download?
Try looking in another folder within the extracted drivers. Maybe you chose the wrong one.
Couldn"t find an INF file in any folder from the extracted driver files?
The driver download may have been damaged or you may not have extracted them properly. Try downloading and extracting the drivers again. See Steps 1 and 2 again if you need help.
