Windows 7 How to use Vista Drivers in W7

jimbo45

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Hi guys -- this might not always work as not every Vista driver can be guaranteed to work with W7 (such as some possible Printer drivers).

However if you ARE looking for a driver - especially if you are planning on doing a complete / fresh install then on your OLD VISTA system down load a little program called DRIVER MAGICIAN LITE (it's the free one). Save the driver(s) into a file. The "Paid for" version also has an IMPORT function which reloads these but you can do this in "bog standard Windows" manually anyway.

Now on the W7 system you can load these drivers just use ADD HARDWARE and specify the file as your location for the driver. Otherwise go into Device manager and against the device just click against Update Driver and follow the instructions.

Program is located at Driver Magician Lite

Note not every driver from Vista will work but around 90% do so if you are having trouble finding your W7 driver you could try this
Worked for me for various Video and Sound cards cards.

Cheers
jimbo
 
Other alternatives:

Belarc Advisor:
Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

Although Belarc Advisor works on Windows 7, it does not look for updated drivers nor software, it only gives some details about your system and what software is installed. When you click on a software title, it opens the directory where the software is located. I'd give this program a 2 out of 10

Radarsync:
Drivers Update Software by RadarSync

Radar Sync asks you to download all kinds of extra crap, just click the decline button and install the main program, then double-click on the icon on the desktop. It tells me there are updates for my Microsft P/S2 mouse, my grahics card , my SATA controller, and one software update. I'm creating a restore point and will let you know thre results. DO NOT use this program untill I see what happens after installing these "new" updates. I'll post back again after I see what happens

Here's what happened:
Installing the network controller, i received this message...Stop 3052: Uninitialized variable, undefined function, or unquoted string
If (OSLangDec=="1028" || OSLangDec=="2052" || OSLangDec=="3076") Then
Winbatch 32 2007C
WIL version:5.14cen

Either rely on Windows Update or you can always visit the manufacturer's site and see if there are new drivers making sure they are compatible with Windows 7. Hell shoot them off an email as ask.
 
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Hi guys -- this might not always work as not every Vista driver can be guaranteed to work with W7 (such as some possible Printer drivers).

However if you ARE looking for a driver - especially if you are planning on doing a complete / fresh install then on your OLD VISTA system down load a little program called DRIVER MAGICIAN LITE (it's the free one). Save the driver(s) into a file. The \"Paid for\" version also has an IMPORT function which reloads these but you can do this in \"bog standard Windows\" manually anyway.

Now on the W7 system you can load these drivers just use ADD HARDWARE and specify the file as your location for the driver. Otherwise go into Device manager and against the device just click against Update Driver and follow the instructions.

Program is located at Driver Magician Lite

Note not every driver from Vista will work but around 90% do so if you are having trouble finding your W7 driver you could try this
Worked for me for various Video and Sound cards cards.

Cheers
jimbo


I tried this, it didn't offer any printer drivers, and didn't copy any inf files, so I couldn't import any drivers.
 
Hi there -- did you run this on your VISTA / XP system.
You should get something like this. Enc Screen dump.
I don't have access to my Vista system at the moment but you can see plenty of drivers on the W7 which I got working --the one's in RED are the Non microsoft. Click the box against the drivers you want copied for example if I select the Realtek HD Audio I'll get the following file

Driver files have been backed up to "D:\Drivers Backup" successfully.
you should see an .inf file in the directory against the driver you want.

For USB Printers you need to have the Printer online and copy also USB Printing services.

Don't use those programs that ask you to download something and then offer to scan your computer for "the correct driver"

1) You can get all sorts of nasty spyware (and worse) that way.
2) the computer you are using for the Internet might not be the one you want to fix -- usually the case if you are looking for a Network Card / Wireless driver.
3) Invariably you are prompted sooner or later to "Buy something" even if it's cheap or sign up so you can receive even more SPAM / Junk e-mail.

Cheers
jimbo
 
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Yes, Vista. I ran it again, this time selecting a couple of other drivers also (drivers not included with Windows, like the Audigy drivers). The other two ended up with an inf file, but not the Audigy. I guess it's just my luck, the one driver I'd really like to bring over doesn't work. I don't have my printer connected via USB, but I'll try it. Thank you.
 
Don't use those programs that ask you to download something and then offer to scan your computer for "the correct driver"

1) You can get all sorts of nasty spyware (and worse) that way.
2) the computer you are using for the Internet might not be the one you want to fix -- usually the case if you are looking for a Network Card / Wireless driver.
3) Invariably you are prompted sooner or later to "Buy something" even if it's cheap or sign up so you can receive even more SPAM / Junk e-mail.

You're exactly right and websites try to fool you into thinking your downloading an actual valid program.

In my previous post I sated that people should only rely on Windows Update. Actually, that's slightly inaccurate. You can always visit the manufacturer's site and see if there are new drivers making sure they are compatible with Windows 7. Hell shoot them off an email as ask.
 
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