- #HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT HOW TO#
- #HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT INSTALL#
- #HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT VERIFICATION#
- #HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT DOWNLOAD#
#HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT INSTALL#
Previous driver versionsĪs we already mentioned, when we install a driver update on our system, Windows doesn't remove the previous versions.
#HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT HOW TO#
How to delete old driversĭepending on the old drivers we want to remove, there are two methods we can use to get rid of them. Always take a backupīefore we proceed, we should mention that a backup is always necessary before we "mess" with Windows files.įull Windows Backup Image with AOMEI BackupperĪlthough the process is safe, a restore point will be an extra safety net, just in case something goes wrong. For more than 3GB, you definitely want to start deleting old drivers. If it's between 2 and 3GB, it is a good idea to proceed with the cleaning process below. If it is close to 1GB, it shouldn't concern us yet. and take a look at the size of the folder. The best way to check if your old drivers take up a lot of your space is to navigate to your Driver Store and right-click on the folder. However, all systems are different, and some users may not install new drivers very often. Deleting old drivers is even more critical in SSDs, where the space is somewhat limited, compared to HDDs. In such cases, it is advised to get rid of old drivers and free up that space.
And since they are regularly updated, it is very easy to end up with 1GB or 2GB of disk space with old GPU drivers alone. These old drivers will occupy some valuable space, sometimes more than 4GB.Įspecially for graphics cards, the drivers often consume more than 200MB of disk space. Thus, the Driver Store will end up with plenty of unnecessary drivers after some time. When do we need to delete old drivers?ĭuring the update and installation of new drivers, Windows doesn't delete the old drivers. From now on, Windows can use the driver package to automatically install any new device we may plug in our machine. Once the package passes all the above processes, it is copied to the Driver Store. After that, it validates that the INF file is syntactically correct and that all the files it references are present in the package. The operating system checks if the user has permission to install the driver package.
During the first process, Windows verifies that the digital signature of the driver is correct.
#HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT VERIFICATION#
The driver staging involves the verification and validation of the driver package. We say that a driver package must be staged to the Driver Store before we can use it to install any devices.Īs you may realize, when we mention driver staging and device installation, we are talking about two completely separate operations. That means that if a file is missing, the package won't be copied in the Driver Store.Īs we mentioned, when a driver package is copied to the Driver Store, Windows checks the INF file and copies the package only if all its files are present. In other words, Windows installs drivers using the INF files.Īll the files in a driver package are critical for a device installation. More specifically, we can find it in the following directory: %SystemRoot%\System32\DriverStoreĪll driver packages consist of several files, including an INF file that contains all the information for a device installation.
The Driver Store is more like a folder on our hard drive that contains all the driver packages that can be used to install a device in our system.
#HOW TO UNINSTALL OLD DRIVERS WITH COMMAND PRMPT DOWNLOAD#
It has nothing to do with Windows Store or any other online store, where we can download programs and apps. Driver Store is nothing more than a trusted collection of driver packages, which contains drivers from Microsoft or third-party vendors. Driver Storeįrom Windows Vista and onwards, Microsoft has incorporated the Driver Store in Windows.
Before we explain how we can delete old drivers from our Windows installation, it is worth to have a closer look at how the operating system handles the drivers.
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