Making an original drivers disc?

[DrBob812]

Hey guys,

I am going to reformat my old laptop, I have the original XP OS disc, but I am missing the drivers & applications disc that came with the system. Is there any way to make a disc of the originals from my computer now before I reformat?

I did also find this site from gateway with all my original drivers, but they're zipped and I don't know how to put them on a cd/dvd so that they all automatically load when prompted to put the cd in after XP is installed.

Thanks for any help!

[AdvancedSetup]

Hello DrBob812 and Welcome to Malwarebytes.

Hopefully this gives you a bit more information on what you're trying to do.

• Short answer - yes it can be done.
  
• Long answer - if you're not comfortable using zip files and editing files then creating said disk will be a very difficult task.
  
• Best answer - Send off and try to obtain the original recovery disks from Gateway if possible. Normally there is a nominal charge for them (if they're still available) but then recovery is very easily done even if you replace the hard drive.
  
• Learning answer - visit this site to read, experiment, and learn more about how your computer operates and how to really take charge and be more in control of the computer.

[Firefox]

Excellent advice from Ron above....

Just to add, there are software out there that you can use as well. Granted you would have to buy the software, one such program is called Driver Genius Professional, if you like you can read about it => HERE

If you go with this one make sure to only use the paid version, I can not vouche for other free ones you may find, some free ones out there may just be fake ones that will not do what they promise and only force you to pay for something.

[DrBob812]

Thanks guys!

What about Double Driver?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-useful-software-to-backup-your-hardware-drivers-in-windows/

I downloaded it and tried it out, it found all my drivers no problem. So would the next step be to reinstall windows, then put this program back on it and hit restore? Something tells me it can't be that easy.

[AdvancedSetup]

I'll let Firefox answer that one as I personally don't approve of those type of driver updates. They're a kludge or a crutch to me that will bring good/bad/invalid entries from your current setup and place them on your brand new install of Windows. I always get official drivers from the MFG and personally install them so I know what's going on but it can be very difficult if you don't document exactly what you do have and you've never done it before in which case these driver software programs can help out I suppose but I would personally never do that on my own computer.

[Firefox]

I am in full agreement with AdvancedSetup, I also prefer to do the updates from the manufacture. I usually go to the manufacture website first, download all drivers that I am going to need before I wipe the computer clean and start over. This way, once its been formatted and windows re-installed you already have the drivers handy to install.

That being said, I have never heard of the program Double Driver so I can not vouch for it, nor can I state what the steps would be. The only reason I mentioned the program Driver Genius is cause I have used it to make a backup of the drivers and created one executable that was used to reinstall the drivers on the computer once it was re-done (which worked well on that computer). The computer in question I was working on at that time, it was very hard to find drivers for it and that is the only reason I went about it in this way.

With that, by looking at the link you provided, the screenshot looks similiar to the Driver Genius program I mentioned.