Overview
Driver Easy exists for one situation and handles it well. A fresh Windows install, or an old machine nobody has maintained, where half the devices in the manager have a yellow mark and nobody knows what the hardware actually is. It reads the hardware id off every device, matches it against a driver database, and installs the right package without you having to identify a chipset from a model number that is printed on nothing.
The Professional tier is what makes it worth having, since the free version deliberately throttles downloads to the point of uselessness and installs one driver at a time. This build has that tier applied, so downloads run at full speed, everything installs in one pass, and the restore point and backup features are available.
How the identification works
Every device on a machine reports a hardware id, a vendor and device code pair that uniquely identifies what the silicon actually is regardless of what the laptop is branded as. The scan reads those ids, including for devices Windows has failed to name at all, and matches them against the database. That is why it can find a driver for an unnamed controller when a manufacturer support page has nothing.
The results list shows the current driver version next to the available one, so you can see what is genuinely out of date rather than being told everything needs updating. Devices already running a current driver are marked as such and can be left alone, which is the correct thing to do with them.
Backup, restore and safety
Before installing anything it can create a restore point, and it takes a backup of the drivers currently installed. That backup can be restored as a set or per device, which is the safety net that makes bulk driver updating a reasonable thing to do rather than a gamble. Take the backup. It costs a minute and it has saved a lot of machines.
Where a new driver causes a problem, the rollback is done from within the program rather than through the device manager, which matters when the problem is with a display driver and the desktop is unusable. The offline scan feature produces an identification file on a machine with no network at all, which is then used on a connected machine to fetch the right packages, including the network driver itself.
What to update and what to leave
Chipset, storage controller, network and audio drivers are the ones worth keeping current, since they affect stability more than anything else. Update those first and restart before touching anything else. Graphics drivers are better taken from the card vendor directly, and the program will tell you when a device falls into that category.
Anything working correctly and not causing a problem can be left where it is. The temptation with a tool like this is to update everything because the list is there, and the machines that end up with problems afterwards are usually the ones where somebody did exactly that in a single pass with no backup.
What you get
- Hardware id based identification including devices Windows cannot name
- Full speed downloads with no queue or throttling
- Bulk installation of every outstanding driver in one pass
- Automatic restore point creation before installing
- Driver backup and per device restore
- Rollback from inside the program rather than the device manager
- Offline scan for machines with no network driver at all
- Current and available version shown side by side
- Scheduled scanning
Inside the archive
- Driver Easy Professional installer, 32 and 64 bit
- Professional tier applied during install
- Offline scan component
- Language packs for the interface list shown above
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 7 or newer, 32 or 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Any current x86 or x64 processor |
| Memory | 1 GB |
| Storage | 500 MB plus space for downloaded drivers |
| Display | 1024 by 768 or higher |
| Other | Administrator rights and a network connection for the driver database |
Installing it
- Run the installer as administrator.
- Apply the tier step from the archive before the first scan.
- Open the program and let the first scan complete before doing anything else.
- Take the driver backup it offers and let it create a restore point.
- Install chipset, storage and network drivers first, then restart before continuing.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Not needed at this size | Online |
Release history
- Database refreshed with current chipset and network packages
- Fixed the restore point step being skipped on some systems
- Offline scan file format updated
- Bulk install no longer stops on a single failed package
- Backup restore made selectable per device
- Scan speed improved on machines with many attached devices
Questions about this release
Are the downloads throttled?
No. The Professional tier is applied, so downloads run at full speed and everything installs in one pass.
Should I update every driver it lists?
No. Do chipset, storage, network and audio, restart, then decide about the rest. Take the graphics driver from the card vendor.
What if a driver breaks something?
Restore it from the backup inside the program, or roll back per device. Both work even when the display driver is the problem.
Can it help a machine with no network at all?
Yes. The offline scan writes an identification file that you take to a connected machine to fetch the packages, network driver included.
Comments
Offline scan is the killer feature. Machine had no network driver at all, this got it going.
Take the backup. Learned that the hard way on a different machine, not this one.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Nine unknown devices after a clean Windows install, all nine identified and driven in about ten minutes.