No you don't need to manually download and apply drivers to install Windows as it comes with generic drivers to allow the booting of most systems
The deviation from this is the Intel Optane RST circus, these drivers need to be installed before set up will see the target drive. Most OEM drivers will be updated ones from those on offer from WU so yeah will be fine. On initial install I let WU download whatever the hell it wants driver wise, I will then disable driver updates and install the most recent network and graphics and anything else I want bang up to date. Hope this makes sense
Yep - the key problem area on some modern pcs is the more modern nvme based drives.
For years, the generic windows drivers for hard drives was ok even for modern SATA SSDs. I also used to have issues with a hard drive in a dvd caddy as that needed a special driver not in standard MS iso.
On rare occasions, graphic drivers have been an issue but mostly the MS generic drivers are adequate to get past installation stage, and then are probably the main ones, along with network drivers to get updated after installation.
On some rare cases, keyboard drivers can also be an issue.
So most systems will not have an issue, but it is always a good plan to have a good set of OEM drivers available BEFORE re-installing Windows.
So as a minimum, export them from a working version of Windows on device if possible. If you are clean installing on a device that does not have windows on it (i.e. never had it or been wiped), then getting key drivers from web is a good plan.
The key drivers I always try to have upfront are
1) hard drive drivers (can be essential for modern IRST drives)
2) network drivers (ethernet / wifi). If only 1 pc, you can get caught in Catch 22 i.e. you need drivers to download drivers.
3) graphics drivers (not essential but does save time when setting up pc)
Everything else is usually less critical e.g. camera drivers.
Also touchscreen drivers may be an issue, as you may only be able to use mouse and keyboard until these are sorted.
In the end, the more you have easily available upfront, the easier it is to get up to date.
