Backing up drivers in the Windows 10 operating system must be done before reinstalling the system, or before making changes to the computer's hardware. This is the easiest way to reinstall your drivers.
The user can back up the drivers installed on the computer in order to restore all drivers after reinstalling the system, or in case of a system failure, restore the required driver from the archive. Sometimes, it is difficult to find the necessary drivers, especially for laptops, since manufacturers often equip the same model with hardware from different manufacturers.
Backup of drivers is performed by specialized programs for working with drivers. You can back up the drivers installed on your computer directly in Windows 10.
In this article, we will look at four ways to back up drivers in Windows 10: two methods using the command line and two methods using Windows PowerShell.
Before creating backup copies of drivers, first create a folder in the root of the disk (directly on the disk itself) where you want to save the backups. Give the folder a friendly name in English, in this example I named the folder "DriverBackup".
Backing up drivers using the command line
Run. Enter the following command into the command prompt window (you can copy it from here):
Pnputil / export-driver * D: \ DriverBackup
Please note that you can only have the "C" drive, not the "D" drive like mine, as well as a different folder name. Replace the "D: \ DriverBackup" part of the code with your data. In the following codes from this article, also change some of the code to your location to save the drivers.
Wait until the drivers are copied, which will take some time. After the completion of the process, the result of this operation will be shown in the command line interpreter window.
You can then open the folder to make sure the drivers are backed up on your computer.
Backing up drivers using DISM
The second method for saving a backup copy of the drivers will also be done in the command line using the DISM.exe utility.
Run Command Prompt as Administrator. In a command prompt window, enter the following command (note the drive name and your folder name):
Dism / online / export-driver / destination: D: \ DriverBackup
Then press the Enter key on your keyboard.
After that, the process of exporting copies of drivers to the folder selected for saving will start.
When finished, close the command prompt.
Saving a backup copy of drivers in Windows PowerShell (1 way)
Run Windows PowerShell as administrator. Next, enter the following code into the Windows PowerShell window:
Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination D: \ DriverBackup
Then press the "Enter" button.
Wait until the drivers are exported to the backup folder.
Everything, copies of the drivers are saved.
Creating a backup copy of drivers in Windows PowerShell (method 2)
The second method differs from the previous one in that a text file with a description of the saved drivers will be created in the save folder.
Run Windows PowerShell as administrator. Enter the following commands (copy from here):
$ drivers = Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination D: \ DriverBackup $ drivers | ft ProviderName, ClassName, Date, Version -auto | Out-File D: \ DriverBackup \ drivers.txt
The process of saving the backups will take some time.
After the export is complete, open the folder you selected to save the backup. There you will find the “drivers.txt” file, which contains detailed information about the copied drivers.
Restoring drivers from a backup in Windows 10
To install the drivers from the backup after reinstalling Windows, copy the backup drivers from the permanent storage location to the hard disk of the computer.
In the "Update drivers" window, to answer the question: "How do you want to search for drivers?", Select the option "Search for drivers on this computer".
In the next window, select the folder on your computer where the drivers are saved, and then click on the "Next" button.
Then install the required driver from the list provided.
Conclusions of the article
In the Windows 10 operating system, you can back up drivers without using third-party programs by means of the system. Drivers are backed up using the command line and Windows PowerShell.