Windows – Customizing device installation settings

control-paneldriverswindowswindows 7windows update

Windows 7's Windows Update device driver update settings can be configured in Control Panel – Devices and Printers – Device installation settings:

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What are the differences between these settings? Especially, between the 'Yes, do this automatically' option and the 'No, let me choose what to do – Always install the best driver software from Windows Update' option.

Also, what is the difference between the first two 'No, let me choose what to do' options (will both settings install drivers from Windows Update, if Windows Update has a more updated version than the one found in the computer?).

Edit: The reason for these questions is: I'd like to set Windows Update to install and automatically update my integrated sound card drivers and LAN card/Network adapter drivers as I prefer Windows Update to my motherboard's driver update software, which doesn't update properly. (Windows Update drivers work fine with my integrated sound card and LAN Card/Network adapter.) I am looking for the best option for this, hence, I would like to know the differences between these settings.

Best Answer

The "always install the best driver software..." option under the let me choose options probably is there to allow automatic driver downloads but to disable the enhanced driver icons.

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Windows – Installing wireless drivers on Dell Inspiron 6400

First, get the card's device ID from Device Manager:

Click start, then Run.
Type devmgmt.msc, then Enter.
Right-click your wireless device (probably listed as a Network Controller), then click Properties.
Click the Details tab, then select Hardware Ids from the drop-down.

Usually, you want everything before the ampersand (&). For example, my NIC's device ID is PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10F5&SUBSYS_024D1028&REV_03, but most drivers will only reference PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10F5 or PCI\VEN_8086. Do a Google search on that to get the wireless chip or wireless device, then take it from there.

Good luck!

Windows – How to automate driver update from a folder for all devices on Windows

It depends on how the drivers are packaged.

However, in general, you can right-click on the .inf files in the driver folder and install them that way instead of going through the device manager. It should be noted that this doesn't always work due to the way the drivers are packaged but it will normally work.

To go further than this would require a fair bit more work and wouldn't be worth it unless you are doing a lot of updates (e.g. updating them all each month or more often or updating many computers). If you are, update your question and I will expand the answer.

UPDATE: To install using a batch script, the following command format is used:

rundll32 syssetup,SetupInfObjectInstallAction DefaultInstall 128 .\<file>.inf

Just replace <file> with the appropriate file name. You can do a number of these or even create a loop to walk through all of the .inf files in a folder though I don't really recommend this as there may be plenty of occasions when you don't want to or indeed shouldn't install all of the available drivers. So if you automate too far, you would need to remember to remove or rename inf files before running. Given the use case, it is better to copy/paste the appropriate lines.

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