Driver Store Explorer (RAPR)

Wow, I was going to post a warning to be careful when using selecting unused drivers and deleting them

DriverStore Explorer v1.0.36​

Release DriverStore Explorer v1.0.36 · lostindark/DriverStoreExplorer

🌟 Release Highlights This release adds warnings before unused-driver selection, fixes startup and driver-operation failures, and improves translations. ✨ What's New Unused-driver warnings — Warn b...

github.com

Release Highlights​

This release adds warnings before unused-driver selection, fixes startup and driver-operation failures, and improves translations.

What's New​

• Unused-driver warnings — Warn before selecting unused drivers and keep review reminders visible. ( by @lostindark)

Bug Fixes & Improvements​

• Startup and driver operations — Fix two startup crashes and failures when deleting or exporting drivers. ( by @indep-arg)
• Export folders — Never write an export into a folder that already exists. ( by @amnesiaof)

Localization​

• Unused-driver selection — Complete selection labels, safety warnings, and backup reminders across all 21 locales. ( by @lostindark)
• French — Update French translations. ( by @t3chnob0y)
• Polish — Update Polish translations. ( by @Matthaiks)
• Traditional Chinese — Update Traditional Chinese translations. ( by @love80312)
• Simplified Chinese — Update Simplified Chinese translations. ( by @nkh0472)
• Russian — Fix two Russian strings. ( by @amnesiaof)

Full Changelog: v1.0.28...v1.0.36

PerpetualCycle said:

Export folders — Never write an export into a folder that already exists.

Click to expand...

And, the "Export All Drivers" function is a great backup option...especially before doing clean installs.

PerpetualCycle said:

• Unused-driver warnings — Warn before selecting unused drivers and keep review reminders visible. ( by @lostindark)

Click to expand...

I'm a bit worried about the 2nd line: "Essential (...) drivers may also be selected". Tread carefully!

I want to say that this is my point of view and I don't want to criticize the ones that use the software in other ways.
I always use Driver Store Explorer to identify and delete outdated drivers and export drivers when i do a clean install, I've never used it to find the not used ones; honestly if everything works I don't see any reason to find and eventually delete them, as I think there will not be any kind of benefit. As I said this is my point of view.

Chestnut said:

View attachment 186218

I'm a bit worried about the 2nd line: "Essential (...) drivers may also be selected". Tread carefully!

Click to expand...

Yes, and it does, for example. select unused Microsoft printer drivers that it cannot remove and they will fail to be removed (even with force). There also are some drivers that are not in use that may be needed later at some time.

If you export and save all the drivers before deleting any, it is a simple to recover any one of them.

erpster4 said:

edit: as for me, I'll stay with using the 0.12.64 version since is the last one that allows me to pick a specific/individual INF file to add/install; newer releases from 0.12.82 on ward only allow picking a folder where the INF files are stored

Click to expand...

and I'm still using the old 0.12.64 release as it's the last one that allows me to pick a specific/individual INF file, unlike newer versions after it

erpster4 said:

and I'm still using the old 0.12.64 release as it's the last one that allows me to pick a specific/individual INF file, unlike newer versions after it

Click to expand...

? What folder has more than one inf? There is one per folder - the folder is the inf. Not sure I follow.

Chestnut said:

View attachment 186218

I'm a bit worried about the 2nd line: "Essential (...) drivers may also be selected". Tread carefully!

Click to expand...

I had put in the request for this functionality months ago. I'm not trying to take credit for it, I'm sure others have also suggested this, but the point is that I was using this functionality for at least a year and it never caused any problems for me.

The way I did it previously was to export all drivers making sure to use the option to use the Native Driver Store. When it saves the drivers, it categorizes them and one of those categories is listed as "Drivers without existing device". I would then delete those drivers by manually selecting them all in Driver Store Explorer and then deleting them.

So, bottom line is that I was effectively doing the same thing that this new feature does, it is now just made much easier. My take is that it is always best to be safe by saving those drivers before deletion, but negative effects should be rare.

I have 3 drivers that do not have a device but I know exactly what and why they are present. They are all USB devices for interfering with car / motorcycle / marine outboard engine ecus. That is an example of why the warning is there. The 2 in the pic are for a USB to OBD2 to Suzuki Outboard diagnostic socket that is not present for most of the time. There is a similar 3rd one but it serves no purpose to display that one as well because you have already got the idea by now....

jajk said:

I have 3 drivers that do not have a device but I know exactly what and why they are present. They are all USB devices for interfering with car / motorcycle / marine outboard engine ecus. That is an example of why the warning is there. The 2 in the pic are for a USB to OBD2 to Suzuki Outboard diagnostic socket that is not present for most of the time. There is a similar 3rd one but it serves no purpose to display that one as well because you have already got the idea by now....
View attachment 186325

Click to expand...

The nice thing about Driver Store Explorer though is that you can save off those drivers first and then delete them from the system (assuming you didn't know what they were). If you encounter a problem later you can add those drivers back again in mere seconds.

In my case, I like to delete drivers that are not currently installed when I make a master image backup of a system. For example, I'll get a system working just how I like it with all my software installed and all my drivers updated to the latest versions, etc. Then I will do a cleanup of unused drivers right after which I create my master backup. The end result is that I have a master backup with excess stuff.

However, I do agree that this is a feature probably best left to those who know what they are doing. The warning is a good addition to maybe prevent some people who are just poking around from getting themselves into trouble.