View, Backup, And Restore Installed Drivers In Windows 8 / Windows 7

So you bought a laptop or a desktop computer but later found out that it does not come with drivers? Maybe this is because you bought a used computer or the manufacturer forgot to put it in the box you purchased. But mostly manufacturers now put drivers in the local hard disk. Now suppose you want to make a fresh new installation, how would you do so when you don’t have the drivers?

One way is to visit the device’s official website to find the drivers, but what if there are none or the site is down? The best way would be to make a backup of your existing installed drivers and then restore them later when you have installed a fresh copy of Windows.

So far I have found Double Driver to be the best. Ofcourse it is not a new app, but the latest version adds some interesting new features, such as, Ability to build Double Driver Portable, Compressed (zipped) folder output option, and Single file self extract (executable) output option. Just run the app and click Scan. It will list both Microsoft and non-Microsoft drivers, but only the non-Microsoft drivers will be checked by default.

To make a backup, click Backup, choose the destination, select backup options, the type of output, and some additional tasks, such as, Include Double Driver Portable & Open Explorer window when finished, and click OK.

Note: This Compressed(Zip) Folder & Single File Self-Extract(Executable) options and Include Double Driver Portable option are new and were not included in previous versions.

Later to Restore all drivers, click Restore and select the Double Drivers Backup file. To create a portable version manually, go to Tools and select Build Double Drivers Portable, select the destination where you would like to save it, and click OK.

Download Double Drivers

It works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. We successfully tested it on both Windows 7  and Windows 8. Enjoy!

This post has been updated to let you know that Double Driver also supports Windows 8. The article was updated on April 2, 2012.