How do you see which drivers are missing?
Open Device Manager: right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager. A device without a working driver has a yellow warning sign, and devices Windows could not recognise at all sit in a group called Other devices, often named Unknown device. If the graphics card appears as Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, its real driver is not installed yet. A list with no warning signs and no Other devices group means nothing is missing. The free Configurator app for Windows shows the same list of devices without a driver in one place.
- Yellow warning sign: the driver is missing or not working.
- Other devices or Unknown device: Windows does not know what the part is.
- Microsoft Basic Display Adapter: the graphics driver is missing.
Where do you get the right drivers?
From three places, and no others. Windows Update finds most of them by itself. The motherboard maker's support page for your exact model has the drivers for everything on the board. The graphics driver comes from the maker of the graphics chip: NVIDIA, AMD or Intel. In Windows 11 open Settings, then Windows Update, then Advanced options, then Optional updates. Driver updates that Windows found but did not install automatically are listed there.
- Windows Update, including the Optional updates list.
- The motherboard maker's support page: chipset, network, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sound.
- NVIDIA, AMD or Intel: the graphics driver.
In what order should you install them?
Start with the chipset driver, because it tells Windows how to talk to the motherboard itself and other devices depend on it. Then get the network working, so Windows Update can fetch the rest. Then install the graphics driver, and after that sound and anything still showing a warning sign. Restart when an installer asks for it, and look at Device Manager again at the end.
- Chipset.
- Network and Wi-Fi.
- Graphics card.
- Sound, Bluetooth and the rest.
What if there is no internet because the network driver is missing?
This is the most common problem on a new build. Windows has no driver for the network or Wi-Fi chip, so it cannot go online to download one. Use another computer or a phone to download the network driver from the motherboard maker's support page, copy it to a USB stick and install it on the new PC. Another way out: connect an Android phone with a USB cable and switch on USB tethering in the phone's settings. Windows usually accepts that as a network connection without any extra driver.
How do you identify an unknown device?
Every device carries a code that says who made it and what it is. In Device Manager right-click the unknown device, choose Properties, open the Details tab and select Hardware Ids in the list. The value contains a part that starts with VEN_ (the maker) and a part that starts with DEV_ (the device). Searching for these two codes tells you what the device is. In most cases it turns out to be something on the motherboard, and the chipset driver from the motherboard maker's support page makes it disappear from the list.
Which sources should you avoid?
Avoid programs that promise to update all drivers with one click, and avoid download sites that are not the maker's own. They often install the wrong version, add unwanted software or ask for payment for something that is free. A driver only needs replacing when a device does not work, when a game or program asks for a newer version, or when the maker fixes a fault you actually have. The graphics driver is the one exception worth keeping up to date, because new games rely on it.
How do you install them safely?
Install one driver at a time and keep a way back. If a device works worse after an update, open it in Device Manager, go to the Driver tab and choose Roll Back Driver to return to the previous version. Download only from the sources named above. The Configurator app lists the devices without a driver and installs the drivers that Microsoft's own catalogue offers for them, so nothing comes from an unknown source. What the catalogue does not have, you still get from the motherboard or graphics chip maker.