Find drivers, the 'easy' way

[Guest bigdady]

While its always good to know how to find hardware drivers by hand, it is sometimes nice to not have to lift much of a finger. While this method doesnt always work 100% of the time, when it does it is extremely effective.

First thing you'll need is to load up this page and download the portable version. Extract that on your desktop or something so you can easily remove it after you're done.

Now hit windows key+R and type "compmgmt.msc".

This should load up a windows with a lot of different options. (Services, WMI, other things.) All you need to do is click the device manager. This should give you a list of hardware that is missing drivers. (Usually a yellow question mark.) Lets pretend that I'm missing some drivers.

Next load up device doctor portable. If you're on windows XP, just double click and goto the next step. If you're on Vista or 7 you'll need to right click and allow it to be ran as an administrator.

Now click "Begin Scan" once it completes, you should see a few (if not all) of the items missing drivers from the compmgmt.msc window.

You should be able to click the download update button to open a page with a link to your driver on the right. I've underlined the place where your driver link will be with green. There will also be an ad for driver genius. DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT AT ALL OKAY.

*****AGAIN DO NOT CLICK TO DOWNLOAD DRIVER GENIUS*****

Before you go and install the drivers, I'd make a system restore point like the page says...you can never be TOO safe. In case you've already closed it:

for Windows XP and for Vista/7

If you're unable to get device doctor portable to work or find your hardware, I suggest you follow this guide HERE

If you have any questions, suggestions, corrections, or comments about this guide feel free to PM me. I'll do my best to help in anyway I can.