Installing drivers after a reformat

These days Windows does most of it for you. Only a handful need doing by hand, and that handful has an order. And if the network is not up, nothing else can start.

Last updated 2026-09-21

First: most of it happens by itself

Windows 10 and 11 ship with a large set of basic drivers, and once online, Windows Update fetches chipset, graphics, audio and network drivers from the vendors. Feeding in the motherboard CD and installing one by one is largely a thing of the past. A few yellow marks in Device Manager right after a reformat usually vanish after one round of updates and a reboot.

That leaves four places where you still act: when the wired or wireless network is not detected so there is no internet at all; when graphics need to be current (games, video editing); when laptop features such as function keys, touchpad gestures or power management are missing; and printers or multifunction devices.

When there is no internet

The most common snag right after a reformat. No network driver means no internet to download drivers with, and no internet means no drivers. There are four ways out.

1. 1

   Try a wired cable

   Wi-Fi may be missing while wired Ethernet works — Intel and Realtek wired adapters usually have a driver built into Windows. Even if it means moving the machine next to the router for a while, connect by cable and let Windows Update fetch the rest from there.

2. 2

   Tether your phone over USB

   On Android, connect the cable and turn on USB tethering under Settings → Connections → Tethering; it works with no extra driver. An iPhone with Personal Hotspot over USB needs Apple’s device support driver on the PC and may not connect — in that case join its Wi-Fi hotspot instead, if the Wi-Fi driver is alive.

3. 3

   Download on another PC and carry it over on a USB stick

   Search the vendor’s support page for the model, download the driver under "Network", "LAN" or "Wireless", and put it on a stick. A laptop’s model is on the underside sticker or the box; on a self-built PC, find the motherboard model on the boot screen or printed on the board.

4. 4

   For next time: put it aside in advance

   One network driver installer on a USB stick before you format lets you skip this whole section. You can also export every driver currently installed: from an administrator terminal, pnputil /export-driver * D:\drivers writes all of them into that folder. It is large, but complete.

The order

Only the first two steps genuinely need to come first. Devices sit on top of the chipset, so it needs to be in place; and one round of Windows Update shows you what is actually left. The rest can be reordered without much harm.

1. 1

   Chipset driver

   The "Chipset" entry on the motherboard (self-built) or laptop vendor’s support page. For AMD, the chipset driver from amd.com; for Intel, Windows Update is usually enough, but install the board vendor’s package first if one exists. USB, storage and power management hang off this, and without it other devices can be misdetected or sleep can misbehave.

2. 2

   One full round of Windows Update

   Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates. Reboot and check again, two or three times, until it says you are up to date. Under Advanced options → Optional updates there is sometimes a collapsed "Driver updates" group — expand it and install those too. By now the Device Manager warnings are usually gone.

3. 3

   Graphics driver

   The graphics driver Windows Update installs is stable but can be months behind. If you game or edit video, get the current one from the vendor — NVIDIA at nvidia.com/drivers (the NVIDIA app is optional), AMD Adrenalin, Intel integrated or Arc from intel.com. Laptops run integrated and discrete graphics together, and the laptop vendor’s driver sometimes fits better; if brightness control or sleep goes odd, fall back to the vendor’s version.

4. 4

   Audio, network, Bluetooth

   Usually done by step 2. Only go to the vendor site if there is no sound, the microphone is noisy, or you need a vendor app such as the Realtek Audio Console.

5. 5

   Laptop vendor utility

   Lenovo Vantage, Dell SupportAssist or Command Update, HP Support Assistant, ASUS MyASUS, MSI Center, Acer Care Center, Samsung Update, LG Update Center. Install the one for your brand and it finds the remaining drivers and firmware for your exact model. Function keys (brightness, volume, aeroplane mode), touchpad gestures and battery charge limits come back through this. If you do not need any of that, skip it.

6. 6

   Printers, multifunction devices, peripherals

   Last. A modern printer on the same network appears by itself under Settings → Printers & scanners; install the vendor’s software only when you need scanning or ink levels. Drawing tablets, capture cards and audio interfaces with dedicated drivers come from their vendor sites.

About automatic driver tools

Tools like 3DP Chip, which identify the hardware and find the download link, earn their keep on a second-hand or self-built PC whose model you do not know. Just being told what is plugged in is half the job. Chipset and graphics are still better fetched from the vendor directly.

How to check

Device Manager

Right-click the Start button → Device Manager. Items with a yellow mark have no working driver. If one shows as "Unknown device", open Properties → Details → Hardware Ids and search that value to find out what it is.

dxdiag

Run dxdiag from Start; the Display tab shows the graphics driver version and date. When a game misbehaves, this tells you whether the driver is current.

Roll Back Driver

If a new driver causes trouble: Device Manager → the device → Properties → Driver → Roll Back Driver. It returns to the previous version. Graphics drivers are the usual customer.

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