How to Update Drivers for Plug-and-Play Devices
By Dustin Lamb
Plug-and-play devices include keyboards, external hard drives and other hardware that can simply be plugged into your computer and will work without manually installing software. You can update the driver used for a plug-and-play device to fix issues that you are experiencing with the device or if you want to use the newest version of the software. Device Manager can be used to search for a newer version or you can select the driver from a list or a location on your computer.
Click "Start," right-click "Computer" and click "Manage." Click "Device Manager" in the list on the left.
Click the arrow to the left of the device group for the device that you are updating. This could be "Disk Drives," "Keyboards" or another group.
Right-click the name of the device and click "Update Driver Software." Click "Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software" to have your computer search for a newer driver than the one in use on the Internet.
Click "Browse My Computer for Driver Software" if you have downloaded a newer driver yourself and want to use it. Follow the steps on the screen to complete the update.
References
Tips
- Driver software can be downloaded with Windows Update and is found under the "Optional Updates" section.
Writer Bio
Dustin Lamb contributes to various online publications, specializing in computers and technology. Lamb has a bachelor's degree in computer information systems from Cleary University and also works as a technology consultant.