How to Find Device Drivers for Unidentified Devices – Complete Guide
If you have recently installed a new Windows Operating System, then finding the drivers is going to be a tough task for you. In fact, accessing an unknown device can also lead you to this same problematic situation. However, it is very important to know the position of system drivers to perform various tasks. Now, the question is how to check system drivers in Windows OS? If you have landed on this page while finding the solution for the same. Then this blog is certainly going to help you out. Here, we will learn a simplified and innovative application i.e. Driver Viewer, in order to identify the view system drivers. Before that, let us learn some more information about the difficulty, a user may face, while trying to find device drivers in Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, etc.
Why is it Difficult to Check System Drivers?
In both scenarios, whether you are installing a new copy of Windows on the recently built rig or only upgrading the PC to a fresh version of Windows OS. The Operating System fails in the identification of hardware connected to the system properly, more often. In order to find system drivers, most of the users download drivers for all major or chief components in a machine, before the installation of the OS. However, unavoidably the motherboard will have an incomprehensible controller onboard/the system will have an add-in card, which cannot be recognized by Windows.
Method when Users Face the Device Driver Issues
In such situations, users deal with the driver’s issues in various manners. Some of them hit the website of motherboard manufacturer’s website and then search for the motherboard. This is because they want to identify a component by examining the manual or spec sheet of the motherboard. Some users choose the option to pull the rig separately and probe the web for some part numbers on chips/cards, which they do not recognize. It is possible that by using these methods, you get success while you find system drivers. However, there is another easy way to do this and you do not have to take out any tool in doing this.
Trick 1: Investigate the Unidentified
This is not obvious, but Windows provide all information that you require for the identification of unknown & unrecognized devices in the Device Manager. However, it is important for you to know where to look. In case, you have installed Windows recently and Device Manager is loaded as “Unknown Devices” or “Other devices”, which are in an error state, do not be worried. As you only, need to do some clicks to get all information that you need for the recognition of the device & download its drivers. Windows generally brand all unrecognized devices in the Device Manager with an exclamation sign (!) in black. If you are fortunate, then the name of the device will be stated and you may search for its associated system drivers. If not, then it is possible that the device is labelled as “Unknown Device” which is not helpful.
Trick 2: Use Detective Approach
Each piece of the hardware in Windows OS has an exclusive hardware identifier. They cannot be seen in Device Manager. Nevertheless, they can be found by putting in some extra effort. Now, to find system drivers in Windows OS, you need to perform these steps:
- First, open Device Manager.
- Then, right-click on the listing for Unknown Device.
- Choose Properties from the context menu.
- Then, hit on Details, which is at the top of the appeared window.
- Once you do this, on the Details tab, a drop-down menu is shown as “Property”.
- All the listed items in this drop-down can help in finding a useful solution.
- You need to choose Hardware Ids from the drop-down list.
- Then, select “Value”, which has a list of the values that can help you in finding the values stated in Windows.
Trick 3: Search for a Particular ID
The IDs of hardware contain a long string of characters.
- To find drivers for a specific Hardware ID, make right-click on the top-most value.
- Select Copy from the menu and paste the value into one of your favourite search engines.
Now, if you still have a query that how to check system drivers on your or unknown machine, then you can opt for a third-party tool as mentioned at the beginning of the blog i.e. Driver Viewer. It is a globally accepted utility, which allows you to scan and load a complete list of the device drivers which are installed on your machine. Moreover, unlike manual solutions, it is very easy to achieve. The software has a very simple interface that even a novice can access. It is a stand-alone tool and accessible in any version of Windows OS.
Sum It Up
After keeping the need to check system drivers in mind, we have discussed some manual tricks that users may opt for. Apart from this, there is an automated solution to find device drivers in Windows 10, 8, 7, etc. Which can be used for completing the procedure easily and quickly as mentioned in this blog.
