Why aren't all drivers available through Windows update?

Muel · 11 Jul 2010 at 08:20

Hello there,

Just a thought, but why can't you get all drivers through windows update? My motherboard came with a driver CD which everyone tells you not to use, and to go to their website and download the latest drivers. Well I went to the website, and there were about 20 different downloads, and I had no idea which drivers to download and which not to. It would have been so much easier if you could just download an .iso of the CD with all the latest drivers on!

In the end I gave up and just ran the CD because I was sick of it...

Wouldn't it be even better though, if all manufacturers could provide their latest drivers through windows update? Then to update, you only have to use one system to do it, and it checks all the drivers as well as updates for Windows and any other Microsoft software.

I'll be reinstalling Windows on a new hard drive soon, as it turns out my hard drive has been the source of all my problems lately, and I'll download all the latest motherboard drivers anyway. It'd just make life so much easier if I didn't have to spend all the time working which ones I need and which I don't...

Moeks · 11 Jul 2010 at 08:33

I can't see this benefiting me personally all that much, because I know where to go and what I am looking for with regards to drivers. But, it would save me a lot of headaches when it comes to trying to tell none tech savvy people where and how to find the drivers they need ...and then what they need isn't exactly where I said it would be because it's been moved or something has changed and then they are lost and I am trying to help without actually being able to see exactly what they are looking at ...yes that would be a headache saver.

Great for people who don't really know what they are looking at and a time saver for those of us that do.

However, Microsoft would never distribute drivers through their update if it didn't comply with all the MS driver signing requirements and such. I believe to get this off MS costs money. So not all hardware will have it, most but not all.

With regards to you specifically, well you have a new motherboard there, I just checked Gigabytes website, and the list of drivers is short and very straightforward so far.

All you need are, Chipset, Lan and Audio drivers really. Now you may very well need those USB 3 drivers too, I don't know for sure since I have never used anything with USB 3, I would imagine you need them to actually get USB 3 speeds but it'll probably run out of the box at USB 2.0 if I were to guess.

You do not need the raid drivers unless you are actually using software raid, nor do you need the VGA drivers unless you are using the onboard VGA, and I see you have an HD5830 ...so you would be using the latest AMD/ATI catalyst drivers for that I imagine. Easy

...so that's Chipset, LAN, Audio and USB 3 then ...+ your graphics card drivers from AMD/ATI and you're good to go.

Muel · 11 Jul 2010 at 08:55

I just looked through the Gigabyte site again, it seems I must have ended up at some older version of the site, because if you start at giga-byte.co.uk then it's actually very straightforward...

The other day, it was not.

PoD · 11 Jul 2010 at 09:44

I find searching for drivers to be a real pain and I do wish there was a single place where Manufacturers kept their latest drivers.

Sometimes you arent sure what the piece of hardware your search for drivers on is and it takes time and effort to locate the newest working set.

As for Microsoft update, well thats great, but it requires manufacturers upload them too.

Bint Box · 18 Jul 2010 at 12:16

I agree with the OP, it would be nice if known drivers for most things were included in the Service Packs or Installation disks.

If I do a clean reinstall of WinXP (SP3) to my Dell Latitude laptop it needs 7 drivers manually configuring after the install and this is for a very high sales volume machine from a main manufacturer. The machine was shipped with XP so its not a matter of the machine being built after XP ceased to have service packs.

Rgds
Binty

bledd · 18 Jul 2010 at 12:20

I only use the motherboard manufacturer's site to get the latest BIOS

I get chipset drivers from whoever makes them, same goes for network and sound (if using onboard)

VeNT · 18 Jul 2010 at 13:27

tbh only ever update when there is an issue. thought most people worked like that.
I'd not want windows update doing driver updates.

Muel · 18 Jul 2010 at 13:57

It does some already, but they're optional not critical updates.

Broken Hope · 18 Jul 2010 at 15:49

I only use the motherboard manufacturers site for BIOS updates, I get the rest of my drivers from www.station-drivers.com since it tends to have drivers that aren't even released on the official sites of the device manufacturers, e.g the Rapid Storage drivers on station-drivers are at least 3 versions newer than what is available on Intel's website and since they are WHQL drivers it's perfectly safe to use them.

SiriusB · 18 Jul 2010 at 15:58

How/Why do they have drivers "3 versions" newer than the manufacturer's website?

Makes no sense for the likes of Intel etc to hang about.

As for a central repository, that would be very good. I wouldn't necessarily want it part of Windows Update - in the very least it would have to be optional. Though to be honest I rarely update drivers once installed anyway - only if I am having issues or something brings my attention to it.

Broken Hope · 18 Jul 2010 at 16:12

SiriusB said:
How/Why do they have drivers "3 versions" newer than the manufacturer's website?

Makes no sense for the likes of Intel etc to hang about.

No idea, but these are the drivers I'm using currently

The drivers on Intel's website are from March and version 9.6.0.1014