Click on a link below to access help topics:
Installation Instructions
Getting started
How to back up my current drivers
How to restore drivers from the backup
How to update my drivers
How to install a driver
How to uninstall drivers from my computer
How to know if my driver is working correctly
How to update the drivers database
Troubleshooting
Where to purchase Driver Utility
Installation instructions
Installing Driver Utility
Double-click the setup.exe and follow the installation wizard.
Uninstalling Driver Utility
To remove the program, click the 'Start' menu button and select 'All Programs', then find Driver Utility. Click the 'Uninstall Driver Utility' submenu. You can also uninstall the program from Control panel by clicking the 'Add or Remove Programs' icon > Locate and single-click 'Driver Utility'> Click the 'Remove' button to uninstall it.
Getting Started: What is a driver?
Drivers are programs that allow your operating system to communicate with hardware devices. They tell the operating system which devices have been installed as well as their function.
Windows has already installed a driver for a device, should I update it?
Drivers provided by Windows only offer basic device performance. To get optimal performance, you must install the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer. The most important thing to note is that the drivers provided by Windows do not contain a control panel for hardware configuration. For example, if you don't install the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer for video cards, you cannot configure the video card's OpenGL and Direct3D options. This can noticeably lowers the quality and FPS of 3D images in games. Similarly with sound cards, Windows drivers cannot offer EAX sound effects, 3D sound effects, or Dolby multi-channel surround stereo. Installing a suitable driver enhances device performance.
Loading and preparing to use Driver Utility
After installing the program, click the Windows 'Start' button and select 'All Programs', and find Driver Utility. Click the 'Driver Utility' submenu to load the main program. It will first ask you to scan for driver problems and updates. Please click 'Start Scan' button to scan for driver updates.
Backing up your drivers
You should back up your drivers before reinstalling the operating system or updating drivers. To back up your drivers:
1. Click the 'Backup Drivers' icon. The program searches for all drivers installed in current system.
2. A list of installed drivers appears in the right window pane. To view details of a device driver, click the device in the list. The details are displayed in the window.
Current used Drivers
These drivers are currently being used on your computer. They need to be backed up.
Windows Original Drivers
These drivers are included in the Windows installation CD and are installed automatically during the Windows installation procedure. They normally do not need to be backed up.
Disconnected Devices Drivers
These drivers belong to devices which are not currently connected to your computer. If you want to use these devices in the future, their drivers must be installed on your PC. Therefore, you need to back them up. This is very important when installing drivers on a clean, newly-installed operating system.
3. Select the drivers that you want to back up and click 'Next'. By default all drivers will be backed up. This will take more time and disk space, so you may want to back up only the currently used drivers.
4. Select the Backup type. Driver Utility can back up drivers to a ZIP file, a self-extractor, or an Auto-Installer. Click the drop down menu -> Select the Backup type. Choose from the 4 options available. If you want to install drivers on multiple computers with the same configuration, we strongly recommend you should back up the drivers to an auto-installer. You can use the Auto-Installer to install drivers on a new system very quickly without Driver Utility, and thereby save lots of time.
5. Choose a location to save your driver backup files and click 'Next' to start the backup process.
Warning! Do not save the backup files in the partition where you install Windows. All data in that partition will be lost during the Windows installation process.
Using the command line to back up drivers
Driver Utility allows you to back up your drivers in command line mode.
Usage: DriverUtilityPro.exe [/B|?] [/T|A] [/D|Z|E|I] Backup location
First parameter - Specifies the action
/? - Show help
/B - Backup drivers
Second parameter - Specifies which drivers you want to back up
/T - Third-Party drivers (Recommended)
/A - All drivers
Third parameter - Specifies the backup type
/D - Default backup type: backs up selected drivers to the specified folder.
/Z - Backs up selected drivers and sends them to a ZIP file.
/E - Backs up selected drivers and sends them to a self-extracting file.
/I - Backs up selected drivers and sends them to an Auto-Installer.
Fourth parameter - Specifies the backup location
Example:
C:\Driver-Soft\DriverUtilityPro\DriverUtilityPro.exe /B/T/I D:\DriversBackup.exe
Restoring drivers to your computer
You need not install drivers one by one after reinstalling your operating system. Just one click is all you need to install all your backup drivers automatically. To restore a driver:
1. Click the 'Restore Drivers' icon.
2. Select the backup record you want restore from the record list, then click 'Next'.
3. You can also restore drivers from the appointed backup file. Click the 'Browse my computer for backup drivers' button and then select the source type. If your backup type is 'Default', select the 'Folder' option. If your backup type is 'ZIP file', or 'self-extracting file', please select the 'File' option.
4. Click the 'Browse' button to choose the location for the backup file, then click 'Next'.
4. Now your backup files and their details will appear in the list. Select the driver you want to restore and click 'Next' to start restoring.
Note: We suggest you close all applications before restoration to avoid conflicts. Do not perform any operations during the restoration process. You will be prompted to restart your computer after restoration is complete. All your drivers will be installed and will then work correctly after the system reboot.
Restoring by the Auto-Installer
If you have backed up your drivers to an auto-installer, all you need to do is launch the .exe file, and select drivers in the list. Then click the 'Start Restore' button to start their installation. You can also perform an unattended installation by using the command line mode. Using Auto-Installer, you can also reinstall drivers on multiple computers that have the same configuration at one time. This is another time-saving feature of Driver Utility.
Command line usage: DriverBackup.exe /S/R
/S: Silent mode: restores all drivers automatically in silent mode. (No prompt dialog box appears.)
/R: Reboots the computer after the installation has completed.
Note: With the trial version, you can only restore drivers for video cards and network cards. This limitation will be removed after you register your software.
Updating your drivers
Driver Utility can recognize over 30,000 devices and offer their latest driver versions. It can recognize devices even when you don't know their type. To update drivers:
1. Click the 'Update drivers' icon. The program will display all supported operating systems. Your current operating system is selected by default. You can also select other target operating systems to update drivers. This function can help you to prepare drivers before installing a different operating system version. It is very useful for some network cards whose drivers are lost or not included in target operating system.
2. Click 'Next' to search automatically for suitable drivers for your system.
Out-of-date drivers - These drivers are out of date or installed incorrectly and they will affect system stability. They need to be updated.
Up-to-date drivers - These drivers are up to date.
We suggest you should choose all of out-of-date drivers, then click the 'Next' button to update them. To view a driver's provider, date, version, digital signer and other details, right-click the driver and choose 'View Details'.
3. Your selections are added to the Drivers Download Manager's task list. Click the 'Download' button or double click the driver name to download driver updates.
4. After a driver has been downloaded, it will be marked with a green check. To install a driver, right-click the driver and select the 'Install' option, or double-click the driver. Driver Utility will prompt you to back up current drivers before installing new one. We suggest you do this to prevent any risk. Windows will always ask you to reboot the machine after installing a driver. In fact you can wait until you have completely installed all drivers before rebooting.
Resuming a download
If a download procedure failed because of a network problem or because it was stopped, you can resume the download where it left off. Just choose the 'Tools' menu --'Driver Download Manager' or click 'My Downloads'.
Hiding driver updates
In previous versions of Driver Utility, a driver will appear in the update list even if you have installed the latest drivers for the device. This problem is caused by large driver packages containing multiple device drivers. Driver Utility determines whether a driver should be updated by comparing the driver date and driver version in our current drivers database. Some large driver installation packages released by hardware manufacturers contain more than one driver. For example, the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility and VIA Hyperion Pro Driver include an AGP controller, IDE controller and USB controller driver, etc. In this situation, Driver Utility is unable to determine whether the drivers are installed correctly.
To prevent repeated downloads, we now hide those drivers after you have install them by clicking the 'Install' button in the Drivers Download Manager. The program will not prompt you to update those drivers until a newer version is released. Of course, you can also restore them manually at any time by clicking the 'Tools' menu and selecting 'Restore Hidden Driver Updates'.
Installing new drivers to your computer
If you don't know how to install drivers, please see the steps below.
We strongly suggest you use Driver Utility to install drivers.
Click the 'My Downloads' icon on the home screen of program. To install a driver, select it and click the 'Install' button, or double click the driver name. Driver Utility will prompt you to back up current drivers before installing new ones. We suggest you do so to prevent any risk.
Note: Windows will always ask you to reboot your machine after installing an new driver. In fact you can wait until you have completely installed all drivers before rebooting.
Some drivers do not include a setup program, so you must install them manually.
For example, with the Broadcom 57xx series network controller drivers, the folder where the driver was extracted to does not contain a setup executable file. Therefore you must install it manually.
Click the 'Install' button. Drivers will be extracted to the following path: My document\DriverUtility\Temp\[driver name]
1. Right-click the 'My computer' icon on your Desktop and select 'Properties'.
2. Click the 'Hardware' tab and then click 'Device Manager'.
3. Find and double-click the network adapter.
4. Click the 'Driver' tab and then click the 'Update driver? button to open the 'Hardware Update' Wizard.
5. Click 'No, not this time' and then click 'Next'.
6. Click 'Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)' and then click 'Next'.
7. Click 'Include this location in the search'.
8. Click the 'Browse' button and select the folder containing the extracted drivers file (see the location below), then click 'Next'. Windows automatically finds a suitable drivers file to install.
Windows 2000 & Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\current account\My Documents\DriverUtility\Temp\[driver name]
Windows Vista & Windows 7
C:\Users\current account\Documents\DriverUtility\Temp\[driver name]
Uninstalling drivers from your computer
To uninstall drivers using Driver Utility:
1. Click the 'Uninstall Drivers' icon. The program will search for all drivers installed in the system.
Loaded drivers
Drivers that have been loaded by the system and are working properly.
Stopped Drivers
Drivers that have been stopped by system. Drivers will not automatically be uninstalled just by removing the device hardware. These leftover drivers will stay in your system and slow down system performance.
Invalid Drivers
Drivers that have not been installed correctly. You should uninstall them first, then install the correct drivers.
2. Select the drivers you want to uninstall and click 'Next' to uninstall them.
Warning: Never uninstall IDE Controller drivers or System device drivers. This will cause your system to crash.
Device Diagnostics
Device Diagnostics help you locate a device which is not working properly or efficiently and suggest an effective solution.
Click the 'Tools' menu ---> 'Device Diagnostics'. The program searches for and lists all the devices in your system.
Right-click the device to display the submenu.
Troubleshoot
Displays the device status. If the device is not working correctly, Driver Utility will offer an effective solution.
Update Driver
Searches for a new version of the driver.
Disable
Stops the device.
Enable
Enables a device that is currently disabled.
Uninstall
Removes the device from the system.
Scan for hardware changes
Scans for hardware changes to update the device list.
Save all information
Saves the hardware information to a text file. This can help you when sending hardware information to support
teams. It provides them with useful information when trying to resolve your computer-related issues.
Properties
Displays the properties of the device.
Keeping Driver Utility up to date
You can easily download the latest version driver database and software update from our website using LiveUpdate. Driver Utility will recognize more hardware and offer the newest version drivers after the update finishes. To start the update, click the 'LiveUpdate' icon.
LiveUpdate Configuration
Internet connection configuration for LiveUpdate.
LiveUpdate log
View the LiveUpdate log.
Privacy Statement
LiveUpdate will not gather or send any information from your computer.
Troubleshooting
Q: Driver Utility does not start correctly.
A: If you are using Windows 2000 or XP or Vista, please check that you are running under an Administrator account.
Q: When I restore drivers in Windows 98, Windows prompts me to insert the installation CD.
A: When Windows 98 installs certain drivers, it will also install some other system components. For example, it will install TCP/IP protocol when installing the driver for a network card and it will install Volume Control when it installs a sound card. When you get the message prompt, simply insert the Windows 98 installation CD and follow the instructions in the installation procedure. We suggest you keep the Windows 98 installation CD in the CD-ROM drive when restoring drivers under Windows 98.
Purchasing Driver Utility online
Click the 'Help' menu, then choose 'Purchase'. The purchase process takes just a few minutes using the Internet. |
