Remove drivers for old devices. How to remove unused drivers in Windows

It happens that you stop using the device. But you should remember that a certain number of files that control it remain in the system. This is part of the driver program. The question arises: is the driver correct?

The easiest way is to use standard remedy all Windows operating systems - "Device Manager". Simply left-click the device you want to remove from the system, right-click, selecting the menu, and go to “Properties”. Go to the "Driver" tab and select the "Delete" button. After this, remove the device. This is the answer to the question of how to properly remove a driver, but there are also more advanced and convenient methods.

Now turn off the PC if required to remove the device. But, as already mentioned, that's not all existing options solving the problem, since after this procedure some files still remain in the system, which may result in problems in the future. Therefore, to clean the system from unnecessary drivers, it is advisable to use specialized programs, especially to people whose line of work this is related to - service engineers and system administrators, as well as specialists technical support.

This will slightly speed up the performance of the system where such software is used. We are talking about an automated mode, so how to completely remove a driver is a matter of the operation of the program algorithm, and it will no longer concern you. It should be noted that one should not expect miracles. Such programs are the same as the benefits that can be obtained by using them are calculated in best case scenario+1-5% to productivity. But still, many people who are interested in tuning the system like such “whistles”, which give the illusion of great benefits.

To be fair, we must add that many of these programs have much more useful features than from the system. But we will return to this issue later in the article. For now, let's list the most common ones paid programs- Driver Cleaner, Driver Sweeper,Drivertool. It should also be noted free solutions(although the above are also available with sufficient functionality in the shareware version). Acceptable freeware program options include: DriverPack Solution, Drivers Installer Assistant, Drivers Pack Unpacker & Installer, Guru3D Driver Sweeper.

Let's look at the functionality of the DriverPack Solution program, the code of which is distributed under an Opensource license that provides for publication source code and its modification and use. The developers of this most useful program did not stop at solving the problem of how to remove the driver. This software allows you not only to remove unnecessary drivers from the system on Windows XP/Vista/Seven, but also to find and install them, as well as perform an update by downloading it from the Internet, thus greatly facilitating the installer’s already difficult work.

Note that there are two versions of this software: Full and Lite. The first is distinguished by the size of the distribution kit, occupying 3 gigabytes. A very useful thing, as it solves problems with identifying and installing drivers in one fell swoop. Just insert the disc and the rest will be done in automatic mode. Drivers will be taken from an extensive database of packages and installed immediately. Let's note a huge number of laptop vendors for which drivers are especially compatible - Lenovo, Toshiba, Dell, Acer, Sony, HP, eMachines and so on. If you wish, you can make amendments to the database and remove a driver that is unnecessary in your opinion, thus changing the considerable size of the distribution kit.

But why do this if there is a need to constantly have a universal collection of drivers? Just write DriverPack Solution to external hard USB disk and take it with us. And now we don’t have the problem of how to remove or install the driver latest update. It should also be noted that there is Lite versions. If you are absolutely sure of the future presence of a high-quality Internet channel on all machines where you will install drivers, then take this version. All necessary drivers will be downloaded after identifying the equipment, and in the future will be updated automatically.

Specialized software that acts as an intermediate link in communication between the operating system and internal or peripheral hardware components is called a driver. Receiving a command from the OS, drivers convert it into understandable specific device a set of instructions, and having received an execution report, they broadcast it back. Changes in hardware configuration or incorrect operation may be the reason why you need to remove drivers. Let's consider the options provided to the user to perform this operation.

The manufacturer can update the device instructions, and the OS developer can introduce new features. As a result, the driver, like any software, becomes outdated over time. The user, receiving automatic updates, does not even notice how the replacement occurs. The ideal picture of interaction is spoiled due to the fact that the system “neatly” stores and does not remove unnecessary items. Microsoft has put the solution to this problem in the hands of the user.

Windows 7

There are no special tools for removing old drivers. However, the user has this option. Let's go to the control panel.

The item marked in the screenshot opens a menu for managing installed software and system components. Device drivers fall into the second category.

You can make your search easier by sorting by publisher. When you know the manufacturer of a device you no longer need, you can find it and mark it in the drop-down list. The system will only leave the software released by it in the window.

Once you have decided on the components, you can begin removing drivers from Windows systems 7. By using the indicated button, you will receive a warning about the consequences of your actions.

Confirming our decision, we pass the “last line of defense.” The selected component will be deleted and the corresponding device will no longer be available for use.

Windows 10

In the latest version of the OS, Microsoft has taken a step towards users and provided special tools that allow you to remove unnecessary drivers in Windows 10. They are located in the disk cleanup menu.

Having opened it, select the marked item that allows you to work with system files.

After the components are checked for relevance, we will receive the following window. As you can see, the system is unable to remove unnecessary drivers itself, but it can determine outdated versions and offer the user to get rid of them.

Removing devices

We have dealt with unnecessary and outdated software. However, the situation may develop such that, if there is current versions software the device fails hopelessly. In some cases, to ensure correct operation new, the old must be completely removed from the system. Let's go back to the control panel.

Select the marked item and go to the PC device management menu.

Here everything is grouped by application area. Accordingly, you can find and remove the driver for a device that is no longer needed or does not work correctly. Let's choose a “victim” and see what needs to be done in this case. Let's try, for example, to remove the sound card driver.

Expand the device group and select the one to be deactivated. Calling context menu and find the item that allows you to delete it. The system will display a warning dialog box.

We put a tick in the indicated place and confirm our choice. As a result, the device will be completely removed from the list of used equipment, and the system will clear the software that controls it.

Command line

In particularly advanced cases, you can remove the driver from a computer running Windows 7 or 10 using command line. For example, when the device is no longer there, and the described methods fail to get rid of the components that control it. This method is officially documented by Microsoft and is allowed for use by users with administrative rights. Using it, you can completely remove the driver from the system.

Windows, taking care of users, saves “memory” of all devices connected to the computer. Drivers are placed in a special storage and wait in the wings, which will come when they are used again. First, let's create a list of components sent for storage that is easy to study.

Using the above command, we will force the PnP service to save the list of drivers in text file and place it on the user's desktop. The user can now view it in Notepad to find the component to remove.

Let's continue to fight the PC audio system and look at how to remove sound driver, found in the list. Now that we know his name published in the system, we will again use the command line in administrator mode.

The screenshot shows what to do if the OS refuses to uninstall, citing device usage. We add the “-f” parameter, which means forced execution of the command and achieve the desired result.

Third party software

When Microsoft does not want or forgets to give the user a tool to perform any actions, this niche is immediately occupied by third-party software manufacturers. In our case, we are talking about programs for removing drivers or their automatic update. There are many of them released, so we’ll focus on three that are quite popular among users.

Driver Sweeper

It is distributed free of charge and supports one and a half dozen languages, including Russian.

As you can see in the screenshot, latest version released in 2011. It’s not even worth talking about the relevance of the device database. After launching Driver Sweeper, select known to the program manufacturers and launch a system analysis.

As a result of a short search, we get a list of drivers suggested for removal.

When you try to run an update for which a notification appears in top line, we get to home page the next “candidate” is Treexy Driver Fusion.

Treexy Driver Fusion

This interesting behavior that we encountered forces us to check the version and license agreement after installing the program.

The version is new, but the “Okay” button is confusing. Let's see what this software offers us by examining the settings.

Almost all the checked search points for “drivers” lead nowhere. At the same time, they openly and intrusively point out to us the limitations of the free version.

The painful impression of the capabilities of this program leads to the idea that the experience that the developers are talking about will be directly related to installing Windows.

Driver Genius

The manufacturer Driver Genius does not spoil us with the Russian language. The interface in the latest version of the software is entirely in English.

Suggestions for cleaning the disk from “incorrect” drivers boil down to scanning the storage. We created a list of its contents on the command line.

As a result of the program’s actions, we are asked to free up “as much as” nine megabytes of disk space.

In conclusion

The capabilities that Windows provides for working with drivers should be sufficient for the user to perform the operations he has planned. Using third-party software is unlikely to give you more than judicious use of the command line. Therefore, if you do not want to “improve the experience,” you should not interfere with the operation of the OS in radical ways with unpredictable results.

Good day, dear friends, acquaintances and other personalities.

The installation process is simple and straightforward. During the installation, do not forget to uncheck anything that is offered to you as an add-on (especially if you already have it).

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It is possible that you will need to supply separately .NET Framework . I already wrote more about what it is, how and why in the material “What is the Microsoft .NET Framework and why install it.”

As for use, when you launch the program, you first need to set the Russian language. To do this, follow the link " Language" and from the drop-down list select the item " Russian", and then press the button " Apply":

After this process, the program language becomes Russian, and therefore we simply go to the "tab" Analysis and Purification", check off those items with drivers that we want to remove and the garbage from which we do not need in the system.

Next, decisively press the button " Cleaning" (if you suddenly doubt that something superfluous will be swept away, then it is better to press " Analysis" and see the list of files and registry keys that the program wants to remove).

Oh, and yes, of course, there is the possibility of restoring deleted data, for which there is a corresponding tab " Recovery".

With this, the whole process actually ends, and therefore we can move on to the afterword.

Afterword

As a permanent tool, it’s not really necessary (fortunately driver versions don’t change that often), but keep it in mind and keep it on hand as a broom to avoid possible problems, it’s quite possible. For example, I sometimes encountered the fact that the driver is not “swept out” entirely during normal uninstallation, which makes it difficult to install another (no matter new or old) version, and therefore either causes blue screens death, or does not allow them to be eliminated normally (if they are caused by the current driver).

Something like this, short and useful. Use it for your health, maybe it will come in handy on the farm;)

As always, if you suddenly have any questions, thoughts or additions, then comments are at your service.

One fine (or sad, depending on who you choose) day, I was tired of periodically running out of space on my laptop. Yes, I'm aware that hard drives now they are cheap, but this is not an option for me, because:

• I have an SSD, but it will still be more expensive than regular HDDs(the volume of my current SSD is 120 gigs)
• The laptop is working, so the data on it must also be encrypted and all that, so you shouldn’t plug in a home-made device that isn’t approved by your employer.
• I'm greedy :)

If this folder takes up a lot of space for you, and you don’t feel like reading the entire post, please go to the very end, there are links to github, where you can take the finished result of my research and try to squeeze (or squeeze out) a little space from Windows.

Introduction to the problem - what kind of folder is this, why is it needed, who is to blame, what to do

Let me give you a little theory from that same MSDN:

Starting with Windows Vista, the driver store is a trusted collection of inbox and third-party driver packages. The operating system maintains this collection in a secure location on the local hard disk. Only the driver packages in the driver store can be installed for a device.

When a driver package is copied to the driver store, all of its files are copied. This includes the INF file and all files that are referenced by the INF file. All files that are in the driver package are considered critical to the device installation. The INF file must reference all of the required files for device installation so that they are present in the driver store. If the INF file references a file that is not included in the driver package, the driver package is not copied to the store.

The process of copying a driver package to the driver store is called staging. A driver package must be staged to the driver store before the package can be used to install any devices. As a result, driver staging and device installation are separate operations.

A driver package is staged to the driver store by being verified and validated

In my loose translation it would be something like:

In Windows Vista and later, the Driver Store is used as a collection of trusted pre-installed and third-party drivers. operating system maintains this collection in a safe place on local disk. Only those drivers that are in the repository can be installed.

When a driver is copied to the repository, all its files go there, including the .INF file and all the files that that .INF refers to. All files that make up the driver are considered necessary for the operation of the device. The INF file must reference all the files necessary for the device to operate in order for them to all end up in storage. If the .INF file references a file that is not included in the driver, that driver is not copied to the store.

The process of copying a driver to storage is called staging ( didn’t try to invent a term, left the English word - approx.). In order for a driver to be used for a device, it must go through a staging process, so installing the device and staging the driver are separate operations.

Before entering the storage, the driver is checked for the validity of the signature and the integrity of the files.

Is it really that bad and no one will help?

• List drivers that are in staging (but not included in the standard distribution of your Windows, i.e. not integrated into the installation distribution)
• Add a driver to the repository
• Remove driver from storage

It should be mentioned here that I’m not the first smart person to think about this problem; on codeplex there is a project for the GUI application DriverStore Explorer, but it is actually only a graphical wrapper around pnputil and does not analyze drivers in any way, giving complete freedom to its user.
Firstly, I didn’t really want to manually search for outdated versions of drivers, and secondly, I wanted to understand what I would gain from removing a particular driver (in terms of disk space). So there was a full blown syndrome here.
So I picked up Python and away we go.

Hurray, let's build our own bike!

Now all that was left to do was to wrap it all in scripts for easy execution.
Along the way, however, there was a setup in the form of UAC - pnputil only worked with administrator rights, which means it was necessary to increase privileges from Python. A quick google yielded several recipes that said something like “you can do it this way, but there will be no output (let alone input), I have no idea how you will debug it,” and that didn’t suit me, so I modified it a little examples.
True, my implementation is currently not ideal - it will crash when trying to redirect stdout or stderr, because internally I use the Windows console concept, and this does not work for redirected streams...
But I turned a blind eye to this for now, because to fix it you need to install a slightly more complex mechanism than calling FreeConsole/AttachConsole, i.e. manually redirect all flows.

Let’s try what’s written in practice

I personally tested this on two computers with Windows 7, in theory it should work on Vista and 8. On WinXP it should be (sort of) useless.
The script will analyze the driver storage, try to find outdated driver versions (i.e. those for which a newer version is simultaneously in staging) and offer to delete them, giving an estimate of the space occupied by the drivers (and an estimate of the winnings, of course, too).

Result on my laptop

Both laptops have lived since then life to the fullest, in the sense that I did not notice any problems from cleaning.

If you have read this far, thank you for your attention!

Afterword

It arises from the system quite rarely. For example, such a need may arise in case of replacement of components or for installation new version drivers from scratch. In this material we will look at several ways to remove old drivers.

Method No. 1. Uninstalling the driver through the Control Panel.

Some drivers can be removed through the Control Panel. To do this, open Control Panel and go to the “Uninstall programs” section.

After this, a list will open in front of you installed programs. Some drivers may also appear in this list. For example, here you can find AMD. In order to remove a found driver, select it in the list and click on the “Change” button (in some cases this button may be called “Delete”).

After this, the installer will launch, with which you can remove old driver from the system.

note that this method works, but not for all drivers. Therefore, if the driver you need is not in the list of installed programs, then you should use another uninstallation method.

Method number 2. Removing old drivers through Device Manager.

The second way to remove drivers is through Device Manager. To do this, you need to find there the device whose driver you want to remove and open its properties.

After this, a window with the properties of this device will open in front of you.

Here you need to go to the “Drivers” tab and click on the “Delete” button.

Method number 3. Removing old drivers using the Driver Sweeper program.

If the previous methods of removing drivers do not suit you, then you can use the Driver Sweeper program. This program allows you to perform complete removal drivers from the system. This removes not only the drivers themselves, but also all traces of their operation. Keys in , temporary files, etc.

After starting the program, it is better to immediately turn on the Russian language. To do this, click on “Language”, select “Russian” and click on the “Apply” button.

After this, go to the “Analysis and Cleaning” section. A list of drivers that have been detected will be displayed here. Driver program Sweeper. In order to remove a driver, you must check the box next to it and click on the “Cleanup” button.

You can also select the driver and click on the “Analyze” button. In this case, the program will show a list of files that are related to the selected driver.

From this list you can choose which files you want to delete and which you don’t. Then click on the “Cleanup” button to delete the selected files.