How many find all the drivers in the device manager?

[TomStanley]

Hi everyone,

 

Slightly OT, but we are having a debate about whether or not you should find every single driver in Device Manager. I say as long as it works, theres no need to find all the Unknown Devices, and SM Bus, etc as all it does it wastes time and effort.

 

But on the other hand, my colleagues are saying it annoys them when there are loads of unknown devices.

 

What do you lot think?

 

Tom.

Edited April 12, 2010 by TomStanley

[Guest TheLibrarian]

The only time I would not install drivers is if I didn't want a particular piece of the hardware to work correctly.

 

For instance if a laptop user must not have any wireless access - no wireless NIC drivers.

 

I hate that yellow question mark.

[srochford]

I would definitely get every driver installed (with the exception of devices such as those mentioned by @TheLibrarian) - it's too easy to have device X missing which actually stops something else working properly.

 

As an example, before XP SP3 you had to install the UAA stuff before high def audio would work (think that's right - it's a while ago!) - the missing device looked unimportant but without it you get no sound. Now that's pretty obvious but there are others which are less obvious but could cause problems.

 

if it's a new machine, don't buy it if the vendor doesn't provide the drivers on their web site. If it's an old machine then surely the drivers are all on your install server :-)

[elsiegee40]

Like the others... no yellow question marks unless it's for the dial-up modem!

[pete]

Your colleagues are right..........Install the drivers.

[TomStanley]

Hi everyone,

 

Well it's certainly clear that the majority of you insist on installing the drivers.

 

What I have always said is the drivers that are already in-built into Windows (bar those that are user-required but not pre-installed - i.e. Graphics and sound) are perfectly adequate for users.

 

They are signed, stable and most importantly thoroughly tested. On the other hand, the manufacturers drivers that they insist on you installing are often unstable. Many times I have had to revert back to the stock drivers because of either system unstability, or the fact that they simply refuse to work. Only the other day I had to revert an Atheros driver on my laptop because it kept disconnecting.

 

I am sure many users have had to downgrade drivers becuase of instability and lack of testing.

 

Computers are a progressive technology. A few decades ago, or even in Windows 2000, there may have been a need to install the drivers due to the so-few generic and in-built drivers. But, as time has gone on, Microsoft and manufacturers have worked more closely, and thanks to that the drivers that Windows has are sufficent for the operating of the computer.

 

Tom.

[BatchFile]

If there is a windows driver, there's no yellow !, and usually it's fine. What I don't want is users being prompted to install hardware or reduced system performance, and I find the easiest way to avoid both is to get rid of all the unknown stuff.

[TomStanley]

Remember that I am not saying do not install any drivers. I am saying that we dismiss any drivers that won't affect the user experience - i.e. SMBus, etc. The stock Windows drivers are more than adequete (and tested) to allow the operating system to be usable.

 

So I am saying we install graphics, sound, network, wireless, etc, but not the additional Unknown devices, SMBus, etc.

[sidewinder]

Yes but if Windows finds its own driver for the SM Bus or anything else, it wont show as a yellow ? in DM

If the ? is there then there is no driver, Windows or otherwise, installed for that device. I see your point that not everything is vital, but chipset components like that usually increase peroformance (and I havent had any problems with drivers for things like that for years)

[adamchapman]

Don't be slack! - Get the drivers installed!!

[Dos_Box]

Don't be slack! - Get the drivers installed!!

 

Agreed. Whilst Windows does have some defualt drivers, manufacturers such as Dell, HP and Lenovo often 'tweak' hardware so that only their drivers work correctly, and as is the case with stock Nvidia drivers they are well below the standard of the latest versions from Nvidia themselves. Don't be lazy, after all, once setup it's all imaged anyway, isn't it?

Edited April 12, 2010 by Dos_Box

[Ex-MGSTech]

I agree , all the drivers. I'm the opposite on windows drivers, I've seen may a windows driver from MS screw up the NIC or video card working!

 

On some of the newer machines you HAVE to install the ICH9 (HDD Controller) before you can install a Volume license copy of XP for example.

 

On some of our Toshiba Tablets there is a note that says the security chip cant be installed under XP and drivers are only available for Vista and above. leaving you with the option to disable the chip in the bios as the only way of getting a clear DM

 

Steve

[link470]

I say as long as it works, theres no need to find all the Unknown Devices, and SM Bus, etc as all it does it wastes time and effort.

 

I find these some of the more important devices to install. Try installing the chipset driver [using the full executable as it usually installs some components that just installing INF's through device manager won't pick up] and any card reader drivers.

 

I never like seeing an unknown device before deploying an image, I always make sure an up to date driver for anything is sent out first. A lot of the time I like going straight to the manufacturer of the individual component, not even the manufacturer of the computer, such as HP or Acer. I'll install, say, Windows XP, and all drivers from the computer manufacturer website or from Microsoft Update, and I'll find that some drivers are dated 2003, 2004, etc. I'll go to the manufacturer's website of the actual individual component and find that a new driver for 2008 was released and is much better. I see what you're saying though about some drivers not being good and tested for the machine, but in my experience I haven't had any issues.