Device Drivers

Device Drivers

. Configure devices. . Configure system recovery options

Cram Saver

1. What are the advantages of using signed drivers? (Choose all that apply.)

❍ A. You can verify where the driver came from. ❍ B. You can verify that the driver has not been tampered with. ❍ C. You can limit who has access to the driver. ❍ D. You can verify the driver has been thoroughly tested.

2. In Device Manager, how do you know if a device is disabled?

❍ A. There is a red X. ❍ B. There is an exclamation point. ❍ C. There is a down arrow. ❍ D. It is flashing.

3. You installed a new driver you got from the Internet for your sound card. Now the sound card does not work. What do you do to correct this problem?

❍ A. Enter Safe mode and remove the driver ❍ B. Rollback the driver ❍ C. Disable the device ❍ D. Uninstall the driver

Answers

1. A , B, and D are correct. It is always recommended that you use signed drivers because you can verify where the driver came from, that the driver has not been tampered with, and that the driver has been thoroughly test-

ed to be reliable. Answer C is incorrect because you cannot control who can access a specific driver.

2. C is correct. A down black arrow indicates a disabled device. A disabled device is a device that is physically present in the computer and is con- suming resources, but does not have a driver loaded. Answer A is incor- rect because a red X indicates a disabled device in Windows XP. Answer B is incorrect because problems with drivers are indicated by an exclamation point. Answer D is incorrect because if the device is having problems in the device manager, the device icon does not flash.

Device Drivers

3. B is correct. When a new device driver does not function properly, you should roll it back so you can revert to the previous driver. Answers A and

D are incorrect because uninstalling the driver means you still need to load the correct one. Answer C is incorrect because disabling the device caus- es the device not to function at all.

Device drivers are programs that control a device. They each act like a trans- lator between the device and programs that use the device. Each device has its own set of specialized commands that only its driver knows. Most programs access devices by using generic commands, and the driver accepts the generic commands from the program and translates them into specialized commands for the device.

Device drivers are needed for a device to work. These drivers can be retrieved from the following sources:

. Bundled with Windows 7 . Supplied with a device . Updated with Windows Update . Updated from the manufacturer’s Internet site

Sometimes, you might have to download an updated driver from Microsoft or the manufacturer’s website to fix problems with device functionality caused by poorly written drivers or by changing technology.

The driver store is an extensive library of device drivers. On 32-bit comput- ers, it is located in the \Window\System32\DriverStore folder. On a 64-bit computer, the 32-bit drivers are located in the \Windows\SysWOW64\ DriverStore folder and the 64-bit drivers store is in the \Windows\ System32\DriverStore folder. In the DriverStore folder, you find subfolders with located driver information, such as en-US for U.S. English, have thou- sands of different drivers. When you add a hardware device, Windows can check the Driver Store for the correct driver.