Update drivers in Windows 10

Before you begin

Driver updates for Windows 10, along with many devices, such as network adapters, monitors, printers, and video cards, are automatically downloaded and installed through Windows Update. You probably already have the most recent drivers, but if you’d like to manually update or reinstall a driver, here’s how:

Update the device driver

In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager.

Select a category to see names of devices, then right-click (or press and hold) the one you’d like to update.

Select Search automatically for updated driver software.

Select Update Driver.

If Windows doesn’t find a new driver, you can try looking for one on the device manufacturer’s website and follow their instructions.

Reinstall the device driver

In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager.

Right-click (or press and hold) the name of the device, and select Uninstall.

Restart your PC.

Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver.

More help

If you can’t see the desktop and instead see a blue, black, or blank screen, see Troubleshoot blue screen errors or Troubleshoot black or blank screen errors.

How to download updates that include drivers and hotfixes from the Windows Update Catalog

This article discusses how to download updates from the Windows Update Catalog.

Original product version: В Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10 — all editions
Original KB number: В 323166

Introduction

The Windows Update Catalog offers updates for all operating systems that we currently support. These updates include the following:

• Device drivers
• Hotfixes
• Updated system files
• New Windows features

We guide you through the steps to search the Windows Update Catalog to find the updates that you want. Then, you can download the updates to install them across your home or corporate network of Microsoft Windows-based computers.

We also discuss how IT Professionals can use Software Update Services, such as Windows Update and Automatic Updates.

This content is designed for an advanced computer user. We recommend that only advanced users and administrators download updates from the Windows Update Catalog. If you are not an advanced user or an administrator, visit the following Microsoft Web site to download updates directly:
Windows Update: FAQ

Steps to download updates from the Windows Update Catalog

To download updates from the Windows Update Catalog, follow these steps:

Step 1: Access the Windows Update Catalog

To access the Windows Update Catalog, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Windows Update Catalog

To view a list of frequently asked questions about Windows Update Catalog, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Microsoft Update Catalog Frequently Asked Questions

Step 2: Search for updates from the Windows Update Catalog

To search for updates from the Windows Update Catalog, follow these steps:

1. In the Search text box, type your search terms. For example, you might type Windows Vista Security.
2. Click Search, or press Enter.
3. Browse the list that is displayed to select the updates that you want to download.
4. Click Download to download the updates.
5. To search for additional updates to download, repeat steps 2a through 2d.

Step 3: Download updates

To download updates from the Windows Update Catalog, follow these steps:

Click the Download button under Search box.

Click the updates link on the pop-up page and Save to the default path, or right-click the link and select Save target as to the specified path. You can either type the full path of the folder, or you can click Browse to locate the folder.

Close the Download and the Windows Update Catalog Window.

Find the location that you specified in step 3b.

If you have downloaded device drivers for installation, go to «Installing Drivers.»

Double-click each update, and then follow the instructions to install the update. If the updates are intended for another computer, copy the updates to that computer, and then double-click the updates to install them.

If all the items that you added to the download list are installed successfully, you are finished.

If you want to learn about additional update services, please see the «Software Update Services for IT Professionals» section.

Installing drivers

Open a command prompt from the Start menu.

To extract the driver files, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press Enter:

To stage the driver for plug and play installation or for the Add Printer Wizard, use PnPutil Software Update Services for IT Professionals.

To install a cross-architecture print driver, you must already have installed the local architecture driver, and you will still need the cross-architecture copy of Ntprint.inf from another system.

Software Update Services for IT Professionals

For general information about Software Update Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Overview of Windows as a service

Windows Update

IT Professionals can use the Windows Update service to configure a server on their corporate network to provide updates to corporate servers and clients. This functionality can be useful in environments where some clients and servers do not have access to the Internet. This functionality can also be useful where the environment is highly managed, and the corporate administrator must test the updates before they are deployed.

For information about using Windows Update, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Windows Update: FAQ

Automatic Updates

IT Professionals can use the Automatic Updates service to keep computers up to date with the latest critical updates from a corporate server that is running Software Update Services.

Automatic Updates works with the following computers:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
• Windows 2000 Server
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server (Service Pack 2 or later versions)
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home Edition computer

For more information about how to use Automatic Updates in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
306525 How to configure and use Automatic Updates in Windows XP

Troubleshooting

You may experience one or more of the following issues when you use Windows Update or Microsoft Update:

You may receive the following error message:

Software update incomplete, this Windows Update software did not update successfully.

You may receive the following error message:

Administrators Only (-2146828218) To install items from Windows Update, you must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 316524 You receive an «Administrators only» error message when you try to visit the Windows Update Web site or the Microsoft Update Web site

You may be unable to view the Windows Update site or the Microsoft Update site if you connect to the Web site through an authenticating Web proxy that uses integrated (NTLM) proxy authentication.

Similar problems and solutions

You can visit the Microsoft Web sites in the following sections for more information:
Windows Update troubleshooting

Installing multiple updates with only one restart

The hotfix installer that is included with Windows XP and with Windows 2000 post-Service Pack 3 (SP3) updates includes functionality to support multiple hotfix installations. For earlier versions of Windows 2000, the command-line tool that is named «QChain.exe» is available for download.

For more information about how to install multiple updates or multiple hotfixes without restarting the computer between each installation, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
296861 How to install multiple Windows updates or hotfixes with only one reboot

Microsoft security resources

For the latest Microsoft security resources such as security tools, security bulletins, virus alerts, and general security guidance, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Microsoft Docs

For more information about the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer tool (MBSA), visit the following Microsoft Web site:
What is Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and its uses?

The Microsoft Download Center

For more information about how to download files from the Microsoft Download Center, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

Product-specific download pages

Internet Explorer

For Internet Explorer downloads, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Internet Explorer Downloads

Windows Media Player

For Windows Media Player downloads, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Windows Media Player

Office Updates

For Office updates, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Install Office updates

Understanding Windows Update rules for driver distribution

This article describes how you can control when Windows Update distributes your driver.

When submitting a driver to Windows Update, the Driver Delivery Options section presents two radio buttons: Automatic and Manual

Under the Automatic option there are two checkboxes: Automatically delivered during Windows Upgrades and Automatically delivered to all applicable systems. Automatic is the default setting for all new shipping labels.

When the first checkbox is selected, the driver is classified as a Dynamic Update (a term that applies to upgrade scenarios). Windows automatically preloads drivers in this category when upgrading the OS.

When the second checkbox is selected, the driver is downloaded and installed automatically on all applicable systems once it is released. All Automatic drivers must first have been evaluated by Microsoft through Driver Flighting.

For more info about the Manual option, see Publish a driver to Windows Update.

User plugs in a device

When a device is connected to a Windows system:

Plug and Play (PnP) looks for a compatible driver already available on the computer. If one exists, Windows installs it on the device. Then, during the next daily scan of Windows Update, Windows searches for a more up-to-date version of the driver. This can take up to 24 hours from when the device is plugged in.

If there is no compatible driver on the computer, Windows searches Windows Update for the highest-ranking Automatic driver.

When searching Windows Update:

In Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier, if no Automatic driver is available for the device, Windows proceeds to the highest-ranking Manual driver.

Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, Windows does not search for a Manual driver when an Automatic driver is not available. For info on how to access Manual drivers, see the Windows Update section of this page.

Device Manager

In Device Manager, when a user selects Update driver:

• In Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier, Windows installs the highest-ranking driver from Windows Update, regardless of whether it is classified as Automatic or Manual.
• Starting in Windows 10 version 2004, Windows only searches the local computer.

When it fails to find a driver, Device Manager shows a button labeled Search for updated drivers on Windows Update, which opens the Settings app to the Windows Update page. To find this button, right-click a device and select Properties. On the Driver tab, select Update Driver and then Search automatically for drivers.

• Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, click Search for updated drivers on Windows Update and then select View optional updates->Driver updates to download Manual drivers.
• In earlier versions of Windows, Device Manager downloads Manual drivers on its own.

Windows Update

During a Windows Update scan (scheduled or user-initiated):

In Windows 10, version 1909 and earlier, Windows Update automatically distributes Manual drivers in either of the following scenarios:

• A device has no applicable drivers available in the Driver Store (raising a «driver not found» error), and there is no applicable Automatic driver
• A device has only a generic driver in the Driver Store, which provides only basic device functionality, and there is no applicable Automatic driver

Starting in Windows 10, version 2004, Windows Update distributes only Automatic drivers for a system’s devices. When Manual drivers are available for devices on the computer, the Windows Update page in the Settings app displays View optional updates .

Summary

The following table summarizes the information above. Windows Update is abbreviated WU.

Обновление драйвера для оборудования, работающего неправильно

Поддержка Windows 7 закончилась 14 января 2020 г.

Чтобы продолжить получать обновления системы безопасности от Майкрософт, мы рекомендуем перейти на Windows 10.

В любое время можно проверить Центр обновления Windows, чтобы увидеть, найдены ли обновленные драйверы для имеющегося оборудования, особенно если недавно было установлено новое устройство. Затем можно установить эти обновленные драйверы. Для этого выполните следующие действия.

Откройте Обновление Windows, нажав кнопку «Начните «. В поле поиска введите Центр обновления, а затем в списке результатов выберите Центр обновления Windows.‌

На левой панели выберите Проверить наличие обновлений. Если имеются доступные обновления, щелкните соответствующие ссылки, чтобы получить дополнительную информацию о каждом обновлении. Центр обновления Windows сообщает, является ли обновление важным, рекомендуемым или необязательным. Каждый тип обновления может включать драйверы.

На странице «Выберитеобновления, которые вы хотите установить», найдите обновления для своих аппаратных устройств, установите квадраты для каждого драйвера, который вы хотите установить, и нажмите кнопку «ОК». Доступных обновлений для драйверов может и не быть.

На странице «Обновление Windows» нажмите кнопку «Установить обновления . Если требуется ввести пароль администратора или подтвердить действие, введите пароль или предоставьте подтверждение. При успешной установке обновлений Центр обновления Windows сообщит вам об этом.

После установки некоторых обновлений необходимо перезапустить компьютер.

Чтобы автоматически получать доступные обновления драйверов для имеющегося оборудования, следует настроить Windows на установку рекомендуемых обновлений. Можно настроить Windows на автоматическую установку важных и рекомендуемых обновлений или только важных обновлений. Необязательные обновления не скачиваются и не устанавливаются автоматически. Чтобы получить все доступные обновления для ваших устройств, периодически проверяйте Центр обновления Windows на наличие дополнительных обновлений.

Откройте Обновление Windows, нажав кнопку «Начните «. В поле поиска введите Центр обновления, а затем в списке результатов выберите Центр обновления Windows.‌

На левой панели нажмите Изменить параметры.

В разделе Важные обновления выберите элемент из списка. Можно решить, какие обновления должны автоматически скачиваться и устанавливаться.

В области «Рекомендуемыеобновления» щелкните «Предоставить мне рекомендуемые обновления так же, как я получаю важные обновления» и нажмите кнопку «ОК «. Если требуется ввести пароль администратора или подтвердить действие, введите пароль или предоставьте подтверждение. Можно также разрешить установку обновлений всем пользователям, установив флажок Разрешить всем пользователям устанавливать обновления на этот компьютер.

Рекомендуем разрешить Windows устанавливать драйверы автоматически. Однако если Windows не удается найти драйвер для устройства, перейдите на веб-сайт изготовителя устройства. На таких веб-сайтах обновления драйверов зачастую доступны в разделе технической поддержки.

Если найден обновленный драйвер, следуйте инструкциям по его установке на веб-сайте. Большинство драйверов устанавливается автоматически: после загрузки достаточно дважды щелкнуть файл, после чего драйвер установится.

Драйверы некоторых устройств необходимо устанавливать самостоятельно. Если скачан драйвер, который не устанавливается автоматически: Для выполнения этих шагов вам необходимо войти в систему от имени администратора.

Откройте диспетчер устройств, нажав кнопку «Начните», на панели управления выберите «Система и безопасность», а затем в группе «Система» щелкните «Диспетчер устройств». Если вам будет предложено ввести пароль администратора или подтверждение, введите его или подскакийте.

В списке категорий оборудования выберите устройство, для которого необходимо обновить драйвер, и дважды щелкните его.

Перейдите на вкладку Драйвер, нажмите Обновить драйвер и следуйте инструкциям. Если вам будет предложено ввести пароль администратора или подтверждение, введите его или подскакийте.