This was a post I wrote a while back, as a prospective guest-post on another tech-site. The owner of that site went on a trip just after I submitted it, and they delegated it to their staff to prepare it for publication. Six weeks or so later I asked the staff member concerned what had happened to the post. All I got was a dismissive “No idea” initially; but after pursuing the enquiry it became apparrent that this person hadn’t even bothered with it.

In the light of that; having retained a copy of it, I’ll post it on my own blog. Even though it may be a bit late to post any more XP advice, I’ll publish it nevertheless.

If you’re updating your computer running Windows XP with a new device, maybe a graphics card or something, and you don’t have a driver for that piece of hardware; there is a way that you can actually get the operating system to help you find a driver for the device.

If you connect a new device in Windows, the first thing that the operating system will do, after detecting the new installation, is scan all of the relevant files and folders on the disc to see if it can find a compatible driver for the new device. Sometimes it’ll find an older driver that works, from the operating system’s files; but a driver written in 2001 or thereabouts might not exactly be up to scratch for more modern equipment. If it does install a driver, it’s always best to check in Device Manager to find out how old the installed driver is.

How do I do that?

First, open Device Manager. There are a number of ways of doing this:

The easiest two ways to do it are; either to right-click the “My Computer” icon, click “Properties” and select the “Hardware” tab, then click the “Device Manager” button in the top section of the dialog box. Alternatively you can actually create a Device Manger icon on your desktop; which will open Device Manager when you click it. To find out how to do this, click this link.

When you’re in Device Manager, click the + signs in the boxes until the hardware device that you’ve just installed appears. Right-click the name of the device and click “Properties”. Click the “Driver” tab and look at the line that starts “Driver date:” If that date is more than a year ago I would suggest going to the devices’ manufacturer’s website and seeing if a newer driver version has been released.

(There are a number of drivers in Windows XP that don’t have a later version than 2001: These are mainly some of the system drivers, which appear in the System section of Device Manager. The reason for this is that they were written at the same time as XP was, and they’re XP specific. Microsoft didn’t re-release XP itself, and therefore those drivers were never updated – and they probably have no need to be either. A number of updated system drivers were added with the release of any of the three service packs; but yet others still bear the original 2001 date. Don’t worry about these. – there is nothing you can do about it; nothing legal anyway.)

What now?

If Windows can’t find a suitable driver then the next thing it does depends upon how you have the Windows Update setting set.

To discover how you have it set in Windows XP, right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties”. Click the “Hardware” tab, and click the “Windows Update” button on the right in the second section down of the dialog box.

In the smaller dialog box that appears you’ll see that there are 3 radio-buttons. If you put a . in the top one then Windows will connect straight to Windows Update to look for a driver if it can’t find one on the disc(s). If you put a . in the middle one then Windows will ask for permission before it looks in Windows Update. If you put a . in the bottom one then Windows won’t bother looking for a driver in Windows Update.

I’m not saying that it’ll find a driver that is compatible every time it looks in Windows Update; but it’ll increase the chances of doing so if you let it look. If it finds and installs a driver, then I suggest that you check in Device Manager to find out how old the installed driver is. If you don’t know how to do that then see the section “How do I do that” above. Windows Update doesn’t always offer you the latest driver for a device. In fact I’ve had one as old as three years offered for an nVidia graphics card, so it’s always best to check.

Why use the latest driver in preference to any driver that works?

As time goes by, manufacturers may update their technology’s performance by rewriting some of the routines performed by the driver to enhance performance of their product in any number of ways; perhaps even to prevent it causing a BSOD. Also there may have been security problems identified in a driver which therefore called for the writers to issue a new version with the security problems patched.

If you use an old driver the chances are that it’ll work 9 times out of 10, but maybe not quite as well as a newer version, and/or it may have a dodgy security flaw in it too.

Have you ever had to call on Windows Update for a driver using this method  herein? Did you get the driver you needed? Did you get an older driver from Windows Update and have to go to the manufacturer’s website?