Windows 7: Show and remove old drivers
Related Videos: How to Remove Old Device Drivers from Vista & Windows 7 (May 2024).
With a small configuration, old drivers can be displayed and removed in Device Manager under Windows 7. You can find out how this works here.
Step 1: Show inactive drivers
- Click the Windows icon at the bottom left of the screen and enter "Environment" in the search bar. Select the search result "Manage environment variables for this account".
- Click on the "New" button above and enter "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices" in the first line and "1" in the second line.
- Then click "OK" and "OK" again.
Step 2: delete old Windows 7 drivers
Warning: Only uninstall drivers from devices where you are absolutely sure that they are no longer needed! If in doubt, you should leave the driver installed. Otherwise, massive problems can occur in your system.
- Click the Windows icon again and enter "Devices" in the search line. Now select the "Device Manager".
- At the top of the menu bar under "View" select the item "Show hidden devices".
- Now you can search for outdated and unused drivers. Windows 7 shows this somewhat faded. With a right click on the device, the associated drivers can then be uninstalled.
In the next practical tip we will show you how to reset Windows 7 to CD without a CD.