How to list all installed third-party drivers on Windows PCs
Drivers play an important part in Windows as they add certain capabilities or support for certain hardware devices to the operating system.
Windows operating systems come with a set of default drivers that ensure that things work reasonably well and don't require users to install numerous drivers manually before components like video or sound cards, wireless network adapters, or drives function properly.
It may not be necessary to install any third-party drivers on Windows PCs but sometimes, it is necessary or wanted. Administrators may need to install third-party drivers if the default drivers don't support certain hardware devices; sometimes, it is also beneficial to use third-party drivers to improve functionality or performance. Many security and low-level tools such as Sandboxie or VeraCrypt install drivers on the system; without these drivers, these programs would not function usually.
Drivers may cause issues on Windows PCs; a bad driver may cause crashes, data loss and other issues, or even prevent the system from booting up correctly.
Managing drivers with native Windows tools is not a pleasant experience for the most part. Third-party tools such as DriverStore Explorer or InstalledDriversList improve management significantly.
DriverView is a free 32-bit and 64-bit program for Microsoft Windows systems that administrators may use to list all third-party drivers installed loaded on the system (among other things). Windows users may use Nirsoft's ServiceWin program to display all installed drivers on the system.
The Nirsoft application is portable and compatible with all recent (and many not so recent) versions of the operating system. The program is offered as a 32-bit and 64-bit executable, and has a size of under 100 Kilobytes unpacked.
The interface lists installed drivers by default. These include native Windows drivers and third-party drivers. A click on the View menu item displays options to hide all Microsoft drivers; doing so lists all third-party installed drivers on the system.
Each driver is listed with its file name and type, path, modification and creation date, and many other parameters. Some have descriptions while others may not.
Tip: enable the digital signature option under Options > Read Digital Signature to display it in the table. Note that you need to refresh the driver listing after enabling the option as it is not added automatically when you enable the option.
Here are a couple of use scenarios for the app:
- List the drivers that were installed most recently.
- Verify installed driver versions.
- Sort drivers by company or installation path.
- Run a Google Search for specific drivers that you select in the application's interface.
- Create a HTML report that lists all installed third-party drivers.
- Upload some drivers to Virustotal for checking (manually only).
DriverView may be run from the command line. The parameters are limited as there is no export only non-Microsoft drivers to a file.
Closing Words
DriverView is a handy software program to analyze installed third-party drivers on Windows machines. It is portable, easy to use, and its export options allow admins to create snapshots of drivers installed on a system. The program could use a handful of options that make it more useful, e.g. an option to open the folder a driver is installed in on the local system or integrated Virustotal scanning.
Now You: do you install third-party drivers on your systems?
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277
I try to disable the Diagnostics Tracking Service (Connected Devices Platform User Services) but it wont let me disable it, any help will be greatly appreciated.
Tank you for your help