Welcome again to Technology Sage and today we are looking at How to install drivers on windows 10 PC/Laptop. Previously we had made an article about How to Solve Driver Signature Problem and Install Drivers on Windows 10. So, if you had previously had a problem with installing drivers because of this problem, then that article is a remedy for your problem. If you haven’t read it, then find it in our recent articles. It will be able to help you. Now, in this article, we are going to be very specific about How to install drivers on windows 10 PC/ and not about driver signature issue. If you find issues with digital driver signature, read our article which I have mentioned above.
Let us now start. But before we move further, I want us to understand the significance of drivers and what they are. Drivers are like digital plug-in for computers that links your computers software program with the hardware peripherals. For instance, if you just connect a printer to a computer and try to send a print command, your printer will not start printing. This is because there is no communication link between it and your windows software. But a printer driver well installed will initiate a printing command by sending it to your hardware which in this case is your portable printer. In another words, drivers are like mediators. They make communication between software and hardware possible. Some hardware comes with their drivers on CDs, some, install their own drivers automatically the moment you connect them to your computer. But others need drivers to be installed by users manually. You can find many of these drivers online. Having put you in the limelight on what drivers are, let us now look at How to install drivers for windows 10 PC/Laptop.
Steps On How To Install Drivers On Windows 10 PC/Laptop.
The first step is, downloading the particular drivers you want to install. If you have your drivers on CD, or you have them somewhere on your computer, make sure you save them in a location where you can easily remember. Now, follow the steps bellow:
- On your keyboard, press the windows key and in the search bar, type in Device manager.
- In the search results, click on Device manager. THE Device manager panel will open. Click on the first item on the list, usually your device name as shown in the picture bellow.
- Now, Click on Action then Add legacy hardware. The Add hardware wizard will come up with Add Hardware wizard. Click Next to continue.
- On the next screen, you will be asked if the Add Hardware wizard should automatically search for drivers on your computer and install them (Recommended), or you should manually choose the drivers (Advanced). Click on the manual installation. The second option (Advanced). Then click Next.
- In the next screen, don’t select anything, just click Next to continue.
- Now on the next screen as shown below where you are asked to select the manufacturer of your hardware or select if you have a disk, click on Have Disk then click Next
- Now, we are on the right course. In the next window, choose the location where you have saved your drivers. If it is on the CD, just go to where you have saved it on the disk. Click on Browse and then browse the location of your folder or drive that contains the drivers. Usually with .INF* format.
- After locating where you saved your drivers by opening the specific folder you saved your drivers and opening it, you will see your drivers in inf* format. Click on the inf* file and click Open. The click OK on the Install from Disk panel.
- Until this step, you are as good as done. All you have to do is now follow the installation steps by clicking Next. Your drivers will start installing and all you have to do is wait for your computer to install your drivers. In the process, you will see warnings in red about installing digitally unsigned drivers. Ignore the warning by clicking install anyway until your drivers are fully installed.
- After your drivers finish installing as shown in the screenshot above, Just click on the Finish button to complete installation. Ignore the warnings about the device may not able to work. This is because of drivers digitally not being signed. But they will just work fine. It is advisable that you restart your computer so that the system can integrate the installed drivers properly into the system for you to be able to use them.