Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Toni H., reguarding your Windrivers Backup program. . .

by Coryphaeus Jul 18, 2007 8:02AM PDT

Have you ever used it? My home built web server is running XP Home SP-2 and all the updates. I've gotten my hands on a full copy of Pro SP-2 and want to format the drive and install Pro. I've backed up all non-MS drivers to a slave drive (and CD just in case) and wonder how to use the backups. When I install Pro I know I'm going to have basic screen colors (I have the video card CD also) and no sound or motherboard drivers (sound, NIC, USB, etc.). I have the original motherboard drivers CD and the video card CD, I just thought it might be faster. Or should I just run the motherboard and video card drivers CDs? Any words of wisdom?

Thanks,

Wayne

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Maybe a stupid answer
by PudgyOne Jul 18, 2007 7:23PM PDT

If you went to Device manager adn told it to search for a better driver, wouldn't it find it, if you have the drivers copied to your hard drive?


Rick

- Collapse -
(NT) Good thought, thanks.
by Coryphaeus Jul 18, 2007 10:22PM PDT
- Collapse -
But it didn't work. . .
by Coryphaeus Jul 21, 2007 1:24AM PDT

Installed Pro, format and all. Tried to install the sound drivers, pointed to the backed up folder, XP said no go. Went ahead and ran the motherboard drivers (integrated sound) CD. Done. But the backup program didn't work.

- Collapse -
Wayne, what was the name of the driver backup utility?
by Edward ODaniel Jul 21, 2007 5:54AM PDT

If it was Driverguide Toolkit did you look at the site itself for instructions?
http://www.driverguidetoolkit.com/

The menu down the left side offers tutorial videos and I am pretty sutre that this is the one Toni mentioned. It was freeware for a while.

- Collapse -
Not that one. . .
by Coryphaeus Jul 21, 2007 7:29AM PDT

It was from Toni's site, WindriversBackup.

- Collapse -
OK, should have ...
by Edward ODaniel Jul 21, 2007 8:46AM PDT

read your subject title more closely, but WinDriversBackup became DriverGuideToolkit. This link tells you about the utility and if you click the link to "Visit homepage of WinDriversBackup" it takes you to the DriverGuide. The process of restoring/installing the backed up drivers is the same although because of the older interface vs. newer interface the manual method of making use of Device Manager tends to be better.

In her post here:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6138_102-0.html?forumID=31&threadID=226615&messageID=2371443#2371443
she mentions the process to install from the backup:

I install that program on every computer I do a repair or rebuild on, and then burn the entire folder of drivers it creates to a cd. Once that is done, you can install Windows again, and for any drivers that need to be updated or installed because Windows can't locate them, you can just use Device Mgr, Drivers, Update Drivers and browse to the particular folder on the cd to install them directly. Each folder is individually named for what it represents so it's pretty easy to find the correct one, and each one also contains the .inf file required by Windows to do the install.

It does work Wayne but sorry about the naming confusion.

- Collapse -
Well, it didn't for me. . .
by Coryphaeus Jul 21, 2007 8:56AM PDT

After I installed Pro I had no sound, naturally. I went to Device manager and clicked on the Exclamation point by Media/sound device. I went to Update Driver, navigated to the folder that contained the backed up drivers for the AC'97 Codec, clicked ok, XP searched and finally said the correct drivers could not be found. Did it twice.

So I popped in the motherboard drivers CD and installed them. Don't know why it failed. I'd made the backup yesterday in prep for this move. Maybe it just wasn't my day.

Back to Computer Help forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info