How To Update Your Drivers Windows 8

Has your figurer'due south hardware started freaking out, freezing upwardly or behaving in weird ways since you've made the jump to Windows 8? Don't lay blame at the feet of a mischievous gremlin. Instead, it's much more probable that your devices simply aren't rocking the most up-to-date Windows eight-compatible drivers.

Yes, a simple commuter update might just prepare your Windows 8 hardware woes.

The Windows 8 Upgrade Banana does a decent job of identifying which parts and software in your rig demand an update prior to installing Windows eight—and Microsoft's Windows Compatibility Centre website offers the aforementioned feature for DIY types who prefer to search for specific programs and hardware—only many devices withal fall through the cracks, and you'll demand to manually update any drivers Microsoft can't snag itself. (Notation that the procedure outlined below works for Windows vii, as well.)

How to update Windows 8 drivers

Before you get your hands muddy, however, you should meet if Windows Update has automatically checked for driver updates. Not all drivers are available through Windows Update, but many are and information technology'south the easiest way to proceed.

To check, open the Charms bar and select Settings. And so, choose Alter PC Settings and navigate to the Windows Update settings menu. The just thing y'all can practice here is click the Check for Updates At present button and see if it finds whatever. By default, Windows volition install updates during your adjacent scheduled maintenance—usually in the middle of the night—but you can strength the updates to install post-haste by clicking on the link that tells you how many updates are set to install.

Windows Update can exist found in your PC settings.

If that doesn't work, you will need to manually update the driver for your choosy hardware. To exercise that, yous'll have to use the trusty Device Manager. You lot'd be excused for thinking that the Device Manager would be establish in the Devices tab of the Windows 8 settings bill of fare, merely it's not quite that elementary. Instead, you'll have to launch it manually by returning to the Domicile screen and typing "Device Director" and so clicking on the Settings tab in the search menu. At that place yous'll see the Device Manager, which will launch in desktop mode. Y'all tin also scrounge for the Device Manager in Control Panel > Hardware and Audio > Device Managing director.

Finding the device manager is as easy as searching for "Device Manager."

Actually updating a driver is unproblematic. Only detect the device you would like to update, correct-click on information technology, and select Update Driver Software. You'll have the selection to take Windows search for drivers for y'all, but if yous've come this far it'southward likely that y'all'll want to choose the second choice, which allows you lot to manually select a location where you've downloaded drivers for your misbehaving device.

Pointing Windows 8 towards a specific commuter.

What's that? Y'all want to know where to snag a specific driver? In general, you'll find them at the manufacturer for your detail device. Hither'southward an alphabetize of download locations for common hardware, arranged by product type—laptops, motherboards, peripherals, et cetera—for your convenience. Not every manufacturer offers drivers that are specifically chosen out every bit being made for Windows 8, simply if a given slice of hardware is giving your troubles afterward upgrading, it'southward a proficient idea to make certain you're running the nearly up-to-date drivers available.

Utilize some common sense when it comes to driver updates, though. If your keyboard is working just fine, for instance, there'south actually no demand to spend the time tracking down and updated your driver and exposing yourself to the (small) adventure that updating the driver volition actually crusade a problem.

Laptops

If y'all're using a laptop, and your problem isn't with an external device such as a mouse or external hard disk, your beginning stop should exist at the website of your laptop's manufacturer. Laptop hardware is often specialized, and drivers for specific drill-down components (such as the difficult drive) typically aren't bachelor on the component manufacturer'southward site. If drivers aren't available at the laptop manufacturer's page, they should at least have the exact model number for each component in the system, which will make your search go faster.

Acer: http://support.acer.com/product/default.aspx
Asus: http://support.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1
Dell: http://www.dell.com/back up/drivers/u.s./en/04/ProductSelector/Select/FamilySelection?CategoryPath=all-products%2Fesuprt_laptop&DisplayCrumbs=Product%2BType%40%2CNotebooks&rquery=na
Gateway: http://support.gateway.com/product/default.aspx
HP: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers.html
Lenovo: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/default.page?selector=aggrandize
MSi: http://www.msi.com/service/download/
Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/SGH-i907
Sony: http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/select-system.pl?model_type_group_id=10
Toshiba: http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/back up/jsp/home.jsp

Motherboards

If you have a desktop PC, your motherboard manufacturer'southward site is an important finish. The motherboard's chipset drivers may need to exist updated, as might the drivers for integrated components such equally the network interface, integrated sound or graphics, Bluetooth, or any pretty much anything else that's listed as a "feature" of your motherboard. You lot can see the motherboard's brand and model number by physically opening upwardly your figurer and looking at it with your own two eyes, or by using a gratuitous software utility like CPU-Z.

ASRock: http://www.asrock.com/support/download.asp
Asus: http://back up.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1
ECS: http://world wide web.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Downloads/Downloads_list.aspx?MenuID=61&LanID=0
Gigabyte: http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/download-center.aspx?ck=2
Intel: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/
MSi: http://world wide web.msi.com/service/download/
Zotac: http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_docman_2&view=docman&Itemid=218&lang=em

Graphics

When it comes to graphics cards the most important thing to accept is the latest commuter from AMD or Nvidia, which controls the actual graphics functioning of the cards.

AMD: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
Nvidia: http://world wide web.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

For features specific to your graphics card model—GPU monitors, overclocking utilities, and so on—check the website of your card's manufacturer.

Asus: http://support.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1
EVGA: http://www.evga.com/support/download/
Gigabyte: http://world wide web.gigabyte.com/back up-downloads/download-center.aspx?ck=2
HIS: http://www.hisdigital.com/un/download.shtml
MSi: http://www.msi.com/service/download/
Sapphire: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/downloads/download_index.aspx
XFX: http://xfxforce.com/en-united states/aid/support.aspx
Zotac: http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_docman_2&view=docman&Itemid=218&lang=em

Sound Cards

Asus: http://support.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1
Artistic: http://back up.creative.com/Products/Products.aspx?catid=i

Hard Drives

You won't often demand to manually install a drive for an internal hard drive or SSD, as they're managed by the motherboard'southward SATA controller. If yous're having issues with your bulldoze, or are looking for an update for any pack-in utilities that came with information technology, you can find them here:

Buffalo: http://www.buffalotech.com/support-and-downloads/downloads
HGST: http://www.hgst.com/support/downloads/
Lacie: http://www.lacie.com/support/drivers/
Toshiba: http://storage.toshiba.com/storage-services-back up
Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/u.s.a./support/
Seagate: http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/
WD: http://back up.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en

SSDs

Crucial: http://world wide web.crucial.com/back up/
Corsair: http://www.corsair.com/en/ssd.html
Intel: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/
Kingston: http://world wide web.kingston.com/us/support
OCZ: http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers/
Samsung: http://world wide web.samsung.com/us/support/
SanDisk: http://kb.sandisk.com/

Optical drives

Like hard drives, optical drives mostly won't need a driver update except for bundled applications and utilities.

ASUS: http://support.asus.com/download/options.aspx?SLanguage=en&blazon=1
LG: http://world wide web.lg.com/us/support
LiteOn: http://us.liteonit.com/united states of america/service-support/download
MSi: http://www.msi.com/service/download/
Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/
Sony: http://sony.storagesupport.com/models/21

Network Cards

Notation that networking is commonly handled by the motherboard network interface controller (or NIC), and in those cases the driver volition be establish on the motherboard manufacturer'southward site. If you've installed a networking add-on card, however, you lot'll find the drivers here.

Realtek: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/
Trendnet Drivers: http://www.trendnet.com/downloads/
Linksys: http://homesupport.cisco.com/en-us/back up
Netgear: http://support.netgear.com/for_home/default.aspx
Intel: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/

Peripherals (Keyboard, Mice, Headsets)

Cooler Master: http://world wide web.cmstorm.com/en/back up/downloads/
Corsair: http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance-gaming.html
Creative: http://support.creative.com/Products/Products.aspx?catid=437
Cyborg: http://www.cyborggaming.com/download.htm
Gigabyte: http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx
HP: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers.html
Logitech: http://www.logitech.com/support
Plantronics: http://www.plantronics.com/us/support/software-downloads/
Roccat: http://www.roccat.org/Support/
Razer: http://www.razersupport.com/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=view
SteelSeries: http://steelseries.com/support/downloads
TTEsports (ThermalTake): http://usa.ttesports.com/download_FAQ.aspx
Turtle Beach: http://www.turtlebeach.com/back up/alphabetize.php?View=files&CategoryID=391