Drivers for Windows 7 (again)

JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
I was just looking through all my old discs I had when I built my PC two years ago and I noticed there were ones for my monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. They didn't explicitly say they were driver discs, and I can't remember if I actually installed them or not.

Do things like that (monitor, mouse, etc.) need drivers? I know Win7 will probably install all the drivers I need for me, but I just want to be prepared. Obviously things like the graphics card and sound card need drivers, but I can't remember if the external hardware does as well.

Thanks.
 
I had no problems. My mouse/keyboard are wireless and worked straightaway. Same with graphics card and my onboard sound card. I installed nVidia drivers just in case but actually I was able to play games without them.
 
You wont need a keyboard driver disk or mouse, they will find it automatically... for the monitor tho, I downloaded my driver... havent really seen a difference but windows 7 is very good at finding a driver you may need.
 
Windows 7 finds damn near everything you need to run all your stuff..

The only things I've had to manually track down were internal Flash media controllers by Texas Instruments, and a Ricoh camera driver for a sony all-in-one.
 
speedyink said:
dont install the discs. If windows needs a driver for those it will appear in windows update.
Click to expand...

I don't plan to use the discs, since they are for XP/Vista anyway, but it's also not necessary to get all these drivers before reformatting? I just don't want to get stuck without them somehow.
 
It's always a good idea to get the drivers before you install.

Sometimes, your LAN drivers may not work, so you'd be
without internet after a fresh install...
 
Bodaggit23 said:
It's always a good idea to get the drivers before you install.

Sometimes, your LAN drivers may not work, so you'd be
without internet after a fresh install...
Click to expand...

Good call. I suppose that's the most important one, then I could just get anything else later.

Edit: In fact, isn't this necessary in order to even be able to connect to Windows Update? Or will Windows 7 somehow install the network driver as well?
 
Last edited:
^^ Yes Win7 automatically finds and connects to your network. Just make sure your ethernet cable is plugged in before installing.

Why does everyone get so paranoid about installing Win7? You literally have to do NOTHING. Just pop the disk in and start installing. When it restarts everything works even w/o the drivers from Windows Update. It's kinda like a Linux live cd. Everything just works. Once win7 is installed, set windows update and check for updates. It will automatically find the newest drivers.
 
One final thing about installing: I've used the Black Viper guide to installing XP, so I'm wondering if the Win7 installation process is similar. Does it ask about deleting partitions, etc. and all the same things as the XP installation? I don't want to get stuck on anything once I'm in the middle of it.

Thanks.
 
^^ Yes it lists the partitions and lets you delete, format, etc

If you are worried just burn gparted, boot from it, and reformat the whole disc before you run the install.
 
G25r8cer said:
^^ Yes it lists the partitions and lets you delete, format, etc

If you are worried just burn gparted, boot from it, and reformat the whole disc before you run the install.
Click to expand...

Not too worried, just like to be (overly) prepared. :)

I'll just delete my existing partition, create a new one and reformat. That would be the most thorough way to wipe it clean.
 
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