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Drivers

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If I make a backup of C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers
and my OS goes south calling for me to reinstall Windows can I call on this backup to install the drivers I had before the crash? Thanks.

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Reply To: Drivers

In reply to Drivers

Yes and No. your main system drivers and those that come with your version of Windows will be there. Many aftermarket graphics cards etc use the same folder but may have other parts of thier software (Nview fro NVIDEA graphics cards, ATI management console etc in thier own folder.)

Depending on your operating system, you may just be getting told to reinstall windows and not reformat. You can run Windows setup to restore the needed system files and it may resolve the problem. With 98 for eg. you can run System File Checker (sfc.exe at Run prompt) to restore lost Windows system files and sometimes save reinstalling the whole OS.

If you need more help, you just need to add more info. System specs, and OS to start.

OM

Reply To: Drivers

In reply to Drivers

The files in system\drivers are but a portion of the driver files that Windows needs.

Many drivers install to various folders on the hard drive, and within Windows.

DLL files are often added to various system folders along with registry keys.

In fact, without the registry keys, the files in System\Drivers may actually be useless.

What I would do, is run Belarc Advisor
http://www.belarc.com and from the hardware list, create a CD with the latest extracted drivers for each hardware device.

Alternately, there is the utility WinDrivers Backup available from:

http://www.jermar.com/wdrvbck.htm

I have not used it, so I do not know how effective it is.

Chas

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