Solved Please advise about making sure Drivers are all fine after re-install.

I'm Clean-Installing Windows 11 on my Dell Latitude 7430 laptop. Up until now, for Driver maintenance, I've been simply getting the ordinary Windows updates, and then using the "Dell Command | Update" app to do the Dell Drivers, and then using the "Intel Driver and Support Assistant" to do the Intel ones; and that has all seemed to suffice so far.

I was worried that that wouldn't be enough with the Clean-Install though. So I set-about trying to get a list of all the Drivers that are installed currently on my PC, together with the version-details of those Drivers. Making such a list both before and after Clean-Installation, I could then compare the two lists and see if any Drivers had been missed.

But making such a list has proven to be almost as frustrating and difficult as trying to 100% the original Crash Bandicoot. After searching and searching and asking and asking all over the internet I have found FOUR different ways to get details of Drivers, besides manually looking at them in Device Manager. There is a Command Prompt that runs as "devicequery/v"; there is a Power Shell command that runs as "Get-WmiObject Win32_PnPSignedDriver | select devicename, driverversion"; there is ANOTHER Command Prompt that runs as "dism /online /export-driver /destination: "[INSERT A DIRECTORY OF YOUR CHOICE HERE TO PUT THE EXPORTED FILES IN]" "; and then there is a Command Prompt that produces on your desktop something called "hwdres.nfo" which seems to have information about Drivers in it also. All of these four methods produce completely different information: they all produce different numbers of entries for the Drivers—one of them about 500, another about 240, another about 200 etc.—and none of the names of the Drivers in those respective methods correspond with one another. It's a complete mess and there doesn't seem to be a single homo-sapiens on this planet who is able to answer me when I ask about it. No, Device Manager does not show all the Drivers on the PC, or else all those methods would have yielded exactly 194 entries, or whatever figure it was. So, whatever, nobody understands comprehensively Drivers except the handful of androids that make the OS who are beyond contact of mortals, so no-one can help me here. So f*** that list I was trying to make then. I don't have ten years to spare in studying the OS to gain that rare information for myself.

Please tell me how to "make Drivers good after re-installing Windows 11". I don't need to game on my computer. I don't need any fancy Drivers. I just need it all to work otherwise, as it has been doing.

Please help, this has been f***ing hell.

"and that has all seemed to suffice so far.

I was worried that that wouldn't be enough with the Clean-Install though"

Classic case of 'If it ain't broke, lets fix it anyway" !!!

Start again, clean install and DO NOT change drivers UNLESS you get issues.
Let Windows Update handle updates unless you have a specific reason to change a driver.

@cereberus lol yes. thanks. i was over-thinking things again i'm sure.

@_william Welcome to ElevenForum.

1. Device Manager will let you know if you have any driver issues.
2. As @cereberus said... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
3. As @Wisewiz showed... backing up (exporting) your drivers, will allow a before/after comparison.

Put your full Windows version in your computer specs.
You can type: winver in the Taskbar search box to find the version.
This will help people, help you if you have a problem.
<---- the Windows version will show up here.

This is... winver




Windows 10 and Windows 11 have just about every driver known to man.
Export your drivers to a storage drive or USB stick first.
Then, after a clean install... you'll have all the drivers handy, in the off chance that MS missed a few.





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Here's some stuff that may be useful....

Wisewiz said:

Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to back up and restore all 3rd party device drivers on your Windows 10 and Windows 11 PC. If you clean install Windows, you will need to install drivers for each device in the system. Some of these device drivers may no longer be available from the manufacturer...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

Thanks. Seems like yet another method to add to those I listed in the OP, which is fine in itself; but adding yet another method just confuses me further really—i.e., why would this method be any more valid than the other ones I listed? and so the endless rabbit-hole continues.

I think cereberus' advice is best and I'll just let the apps sort it all out for me. I'll take a screenshot of Device Manager before re-installing to compare with afterwards. That should be enough.

Never have been a Dell user but reading these forums doesn't Dell do these updates automatically via their own software?

@Fabler2 Yes, mostly; I do have to use an Intel update-app also to catch a few of them that Dell miss, or else W. Media Player crashes...

I just wanted to be sure.

Dell, HP and other computer manufacturers may offer their support assistant software which selects the best tested drivers and BIOS.

This can be followed by a Windows update.

Once the drivers are installed you can:
a) test them while in routine use
b) stress test them
c) export them for the next clean install


Intel Driver and Support Assistant was designed to install / update some Intel drivers.
There are some Intel drivers that it does not install / update.

_william said:

Please tell me how to "make Drivers good after re-installing Windows 11".

Click to expand...

Backing up your drivers before a clean install saves a lot of time, effort & aggravation.
Backup and Restore Device Drivers - ElevenForumTutorials
- Backup is a single operation.
- Restoring them after the clean install is a single operation.
Job done.

You do not need to go around making driver lists or comparing versions.
I do make several lists of drivers.
- Each list contains some of their properties.
- I have never found a method of getting all properties into a single list although there is considerable duplication across the lists.
- The one time I had to use these lists in anger was for a very poorly supported brand of computer.


Denis

One or more of these links may be useful (see post #9):

My $00.02 cents.......for the Dells I work on/possess I go to Dell Support then manually enter the Service Tag for the specific Dell and choose manual driver download. From there you can select Win11(or earlier) as the OS and up pops a list of drivers available to download. If one it techie enough it is trivially easy to download the needed drivers to prepare for a clean install of the OS. I create a folder for a specific model number with subfolders for each hardware driver like Audio, Chipset, Bios, etc. After a Clean install and before I go to Microsoft Update I manually install the Dell hardware drivers.
As an alternative instead of using the Dell Command utility I use the Dell Support Assistant utility instead. It will search your system and suggest any driver updates as needed. I too use the Intel utility as well on occasion.

@BamaInArk Cheers.

_william said:

@BamaInArk Cheers.

Click to expand...

But none of that is as quick, simple or straightforward as backing up then restoring your drivers.


All the best,
Denis