Backup and Restore Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11

namitutonka · Oct 15, 2024

glasskuter said:
Hey Brink, for years I have used a tiny portable app called Double Driver Backup and Restore that backs up all drivers and any software packages associated with them. It's great for powershell deficient people like me because it does it all with one click of the mouse. What I like most about it is its ease of use and the way it lays out my devices in structured folders so I can make sense of it if I want to restore only a single driver. It's an old app but still works perfectly in 10 & 11. For anyone who wants to use it, the dd.exe file has to be run as administrator.

@glasskuter Thanks! I need to bring up that old SATA spinner from the basement. I think I saved that utility years ago. If not, @Brink has provided a great solution for a clean Win11 install. Thinking again, using DISM, which I just did, and then using devmgmt.msc to restore the drivers sounds easier.

spacecon · Nov 17, 2024

Hello. I have a question about driver backups. If I image my disk (such as using Macrium Reflect), if I re-install that image, or transfer it to a new larger NVme on the same computer, aren't all the drivers already contained in the image backup, so they will automatically be there when the image is restored? I am thinking the only hardware difference will be the new NVme drive. I am confused by this as there are mentions in some of the above posts about having to install the drivers after changing disks. Sorry for my ignnorance on this. I plan to install a new Nvme drive tomorrow as my old one says health is 3%, plus it is too small. So if I also have to back up drivers as well as have the disk imaged, then I need to do it before I install the new one. Thanks.

Brink · Nov 17, 2024

spacecon said:
Hello. I have a question about driver backups. If I image my disk (such as using Macrium Reflect), if I re-install that image, or transfer it to a new larger NVme on the same computer, aren't all the drivers already contained in the image backup, so they will automatically be there when the image is restored? I am thinking the only hardware difference will be the new NVme drive. I am confused by this as there are mentions in some of the above posts about having to install the drivers after changing disks. Sorry for my ignnorance on this. I plan to install a new Nvme drive tomorrow as my old one says health is 3%, plus it is too small. So if I also have to back up drivers as well as have the disk imaged, then I need to do it before I install the new one. Thanks.

Hello, and welcome.

Correct. Any current drivers will be included in the system image created by Macrium Reflect, and will be restored along with the image.

Hazel123 · Jan 20, 2025

Will this back up things like Intel or HP firmware as well? Or is that not actually a driver? Those are the things I can never find to install.

Brink · Jan 20, 2025

Hazel123 said:
Will this back up things like Intel or HP firmware as well? Or is that not actually a driver? Those are the things I can never find to install.

Hello,

I'm afraid it doesn't include firmware. Only drivers.

Usually, you can find firmware downloads at the manufacturer's site for your motherboard or OEM PC.

Hazel123 · Jan 20, 2025

Thank you.

Brink · Jan 20, 2025

Hazel123 said:
Thank you.

Transcendence72 · Jan 19, 2026

Thanks @Brink for the great write up. A few additional questions please

Firstly are the commands

Powershell:

pnputil /export-driver * "full path of folder"

and

Powershell:

dism /online /export-driver /destination:"full path of folder"

, do the same thing? Are they equal? Should one, for example pnputil be preferred over there other, for example dism?

Secondly sometimes drivers have catalog files, i.e. .cat, cabinet files, i.e. .cab, and system files, i.e. .sys. Do both of these tools, i.e. pnputil and dism back them up too?

pseymour · Jan 19, 2026

Transcendence72 said:
Firstly are the commands

Powershell:

pnputil /export-driver * "full path of folder"

and

Powershell:

dism /online /export-driver /destination:"full path of folder"

, do the same thing? Are they equal? Should one, for example pnputil be preferred over there other, for example dism?

The DISM command includes the .pnf files, if they exist, but the pnputil command does not. You don't need these files to install the drivers though.

Transcendence72 said:
Secondly sometimes drivers have catalog files, i.e. .cat, cabinet files, i.e. .cab, and system files, i.e. .sys. Do both of these tools, i.e. pnputil and dism back them up too?

Those files and more.

You can run either one, or both, and see what gets copied for your system.

Transcendence72 · Jan 19, 2026

pseymour said:
The DISM command includes the .pnf files, if they exist, but the pnputil command does not. You don't need these files to install the drivers though.

Those files and more.

You can run either one, or both, and see what gets copied for your system.

So yes I ran both of these commands. dism does copy more files which pnputil seem to miss out. Including .pnf files. Also some inf files were missed out too by pnputil command.

So if we can backup our drivers with dism then does it simply eliminate the need to have System Restore? System Restore does seem to have a vulnerability that it can be infected by Malware. That is why Recover drives, MCT and System images are so crucial, especially those which are kept in a disconnected state.

Brink · Jan 19, 2026

Transcendence72 said:
So yes I ran both of these commands. dism does copy more files which pnputil seem to miss out. Including .pnf files. Also some inf files were missed out too by pnputil command.

So if we can backup our drivers with dism then does it simply eliminate the need to have System Restore? System Restore does seem to have a vulnerability that it can be infected by Malware. That is why Recover drives, MCT and System images are so crucial, especially those which are kept in a disconnected state.

Personally, I find keeping updated installation files for the drivers saved to another drive as a backup the safest and easiest way. This way you can just reinstall them as needed.

Otherwise, either the DISM and/or pnputil command is good for backing up drivers you don't have installation files for.

RH247a · Mar 13, 2026

Thanks for this Thread. I have this question:
For a scenario of a new computer in Smode or a Computer that wouldn't boot.
If wanted to back up drivers before doing a clean install.
I assume one could do that by booting to a bootable WinPE USB and exporting drivers from the offline image with Powershell,
PS C:\> Export-WindowsDriver -Path c:\offline-image -Destination d:\WhateverPC\Drivers

What would be the "-Path" of the-> c:\offline image (?)
Would that be one of these,
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\
C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\

garlin · Mar 14, 2026

1. Normally if there's a readable Windows volume on the primary disk, WinPE will mount it as C: drive.

But you have to be careful that your WinPE (boot.wim) has the correct storage drivers, ie. Intel RST. Otherwise the drive order (and numbering) could be different than expected, resulting in a different drive letter than C:

2. WinPE doesn't include PowerShell by default, it's a separate set of optional packages (from the Windows ADK PE Add-ons). You can use DISM instead.

Code:

dism.exe /Image:C:\ /Export-Driver /Destination:D:\Drivers

RH247a · Mar 14, 2026

Thanks for the reply garlin.
So if Powershell on USB then use it like this,

Code:

Export-WindowsDriver -Path c:\ -Destination D:\Whatever\Drivers

If No Powershell on USB then cmd.exe like this,

Code:

Dism /Image:C:\ /Export-Driver /Destination:D:\Whatever\Drivers

Thanks for the heads up.
As for the Intel RST drivers and drive confusion issue. This new computer only has one drive (an SSD). So I think I can look in Diskpart and decipher the size, partitions etc before I type the drive letter in the command. Thanks again for the Heads up on that facet.

EricJH · Jun 11, 2026

I just found this topic and it is a bit of an eye opener. I had no idea Windows was capable of this. It had me check out Driver Store Explorer and found it is capable of exporting all or separate drivers to a folder.

Has anybody used Driver Store Explorer to export drivers and was afterwards able to succesfully import them f.e. by using Device Manager?

Ghot · Jun 11, 2026

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EricJH · Jun 11, 2026

Thank you. I updated the computer specs to my current system while at it.

Aurih · Jun 14, 2026

Thank you so much for this information..
I've given the terminal method a try and the Double Driver backup method one as well.. Both worked admirably.
Namaste.

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