Windows 7 2 Identical Laptops - 1 missing a driver

serverguy · May 3, 2016

This is the situation.

I have to identical laptops bought at the same time. I was looking in the device manager today and one of my laptops is missing a driver but the other one has it.

Is there a quick and easy way to copy the driver from laptop1, put it on usb and then install it on laptop2?

i know the drivers are located in windows/system32, well i'm not sure, but i'm assuming

has anyone ever accomplished this?

Neemobeer · May 4, 2016

Actually you might be able to pull what you need as follows. This is after some digging, but I can't guarantee it will work, but this would include the inf file. The drivers are cached in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository. You can figure out which one you need as follows

Open a command prompt
Type pnputil -e
Locate the oem##.inf name for the driver you need
Open regedit and search for the oem##.inf, it should be in HKLM\DriverDatabase\DriverPackages
Look at the name for the (Default) value, this should be the folder you want to copy from FileRepository

Axel PC · May 3, 2016

You should be able to put that driver on your USB drive.
Then open Device Manager on the laptop that doesn't have it. Go to the device that needs it. Choose the option to manually search fro the drivers and install them from your USB drive.

serverguy · May 4, 2016

Actually i already know how to put them on laptop2.

My question is: How do i export them from laptop1

Axel PC · May 4, 2016

Laptop 1: Device Manager and open up the properties, as so. Open Driver Details. Then search for the drivers this way. I hope this helps. I could have been more specific if you had posted what device you needed the drivers for. And you could have gone to the manufacturers website, looked for the drivers that way. Or go to the laptop manufacture's website, put the laptop model number in and download the drivers that way as well. Hope this helps you out homie.

Neemobeer · May 4, 2016

There isn't any easy way to take the driver from one computer and put it on another unless you have the install on laptop1. The reason for this is you need the .inf file for the driver, this is how Windows knows how to install the driver. The simplest way is to just download the driver on to laptop2 and install.

Neemobeer · May 4, 2016

Actually you might be able to pull what you need as follows. This is after some digging, but I can't guarantee it will work, but this would include the inf file. The drivers are cached in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository. You can figure out which one you need as follows

Open a command prompt
Type pnputil -e
Locate the oem##.inf name for the driver you need
Open regedit and search for the oem##.inf, it should be in HKLM\DriverDatabase\DriverPackages
Look at the name for the (Default) value, this should be the folder you want to copy from FileRepository

Windows 7 2 Identical Laptops - 1 missing a driver

serverguy

Well-Known Member

Neemobeer

Axel PC

Honorable Member

serverguy

Well-Known Member

Axel PC

Honorable Member

Neemobeer

Cloud Security Engineer

Neemobeer

Cloud Security Engineer

Similar threads