Peripheral drivers storage in XP Pro

[BretMan]

Hello,

I just performed an XP Pro OS re-install and want to avoid having to do this again. Long story made short, corrupted drivers in my tablet PC wouldn't allow any interfacing/communication with the screen to make repairs and since drivers aren't part of windows restore, I have to start from scratch. So I'm preparing a restore strategy here.

XP Pro stores it's drivers in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers folder. There are several additional drivers needed (not include there) to make the PC work, like the LAN connection, flash drive, etc. plus any other drivers I may add with peripherals like printers etc. I've downloaded the basic drivers but don't know where they should go, although they will probably work wherever I put them as long as I point the wizard to them. Should I create a sub-folder in the XP drivers folder for these - is that the correct place for them and right way to do this?

Thanks.

Bret

[MANEMAN]

Hi Bret.

Yes, it can be a bit confusing at times.

Most drivers are supplied with an installer. There is no need to provide additional folders.

Here are a couple of links showing various ways to install drivers for your perusal:

/>http://www.rm.com/Support/TechnicalArticle.asp?cref=TEC14642

/>http://www.ehow.com/how_4592175_install-drivers-windows-xp.html

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So I'm preparing a restore strategy here.

Once all up and running, think about proper contingency plans for restore in the future.

Extracts from a previous post

Luckily these days with home computers we have "Time Machines" built in. Yep ! miraculously we can travel back to a place in time when our computer worked as well as it did before we messed it up.

System Restore is built in to the newer Windows OS's, but there are plenty more 3rd party applications to be had. - A lot of them free.

**ERUNT** is free - will backup your registry on a daily basis, allow you to optimize your registry, and will take you "Back in time" to the place you were before you messed up the registry.

*DriverMax* or *DoubleDriver* - both free will back up all of your system drivers, and will allow you to go "Back in time" to pick up and restore your original drivers should you need them, or any go corrupt.

**Acronis True Image Home** or **Macrium Reflect Free Edition** will allow you to make a disk image (i.e Snapshot, Copy) of your operating system, and if you really mess up big time, you can put your imaged operating system as a whole back on to the hard disk, and truly travel, - "Back in Time"

*Second Copy*and *an External Hard Drive* are going to give you a backup that is gonna stop you saying "I wish I was "Back in time" on the very first occassion of losing all of your Photos, MP3's, iTunes Downloads, and Word Documents.

John.