Identify missing or malfunctioning hardware drivers with Windows Device Manager in Windows 10 & 7

How to identify missing or malfunctioning drivers with Windows Device Manager

To see which of your devices have a missing or malfunctioning driver:

Step1: On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to invoke the Run box.
Step2: Type devmgmt.msc and click OK.

(There are other ways to open Device Manager; it changes depending on your version of Windows. But the above method works for all versions of Windows, including Windows 11, 10 and 7.)

Step3: Expand a category (e.g. Display Adapters) to see the devices in that category. If you see a yellow triangle or question mark next to a device, Windows has detected that it has a missing or malfunctioning driver.

Step4: If you see this yellow mark, you can try to update or reinstall the driver.

Why update your drivers in Windows 11, 10 & Windows 7?

Many computer issues are caused by outdated device drivers. Particularly in Windows 10/11.

So if your computer has slowed down, you should update your drivers. If it’s crashing or hanging, update your drivers. If you can’t connect to the internet, update your drivers. If your mouse, keyboard, monitor or speakers are acting up, update your drivers. In fact, no matter what your issue, there’s a good chance updating your drivers will fix it.

To understand why, you first have to understand what drivers actually are…

Try Driver Easy for free

If you want the certainty of knowing your device drivers are always up to date (and not just sometimes up to date, which is all you get from Windows Device Manager), and you don’t have the time, patience or computer skills to continually update them manually, give the free version of Driver Easy a try.

Download Free Version

The free version will identify all your outdated drivers, and allow you to download them all. But only one at a time and, once they’re downloaded, you have to manually install them using the standard Windows process. (To automatically update all your drivers with 1 click, you’ll need the Pro version of Driver Easy . Don’t worry, it comes with a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money back satisfaction guarantee.)

Why you can’t rely on Windows to keep your drivers up-to-date

Windows comes with an inbuilt tool, called ‘Windows Update’, that’s supposed to automatically keep your drivers up to date. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work very well.

There are two reasons why…

Device manufacturers often take a long time to get their drivers into a Windows Update – It’s a time-consuming and difficult process. Sometimes they just miss the deadline and have to wait ‘til the next Windows Update, and sometimes they just give up altogether. In fact, for older devices, this is the norm.
Windows Update ignores driver updates it considers ‘optional’ – It categorizes driver updates as either ‘critical’, ‘automatic’ or ‘optional’, and it doesn’t usually concern itself with the ‘optional’ ones – even when they’re actually important. You can install them manually by going to the ‘Optional updates’ screen but, even then, as described above, you’re unlikely to get all the latest drivers.

How to update all your drivers with just 1 click

The easiest way to automatically update your drivers is with our tool, Driver Easy Pro.

With Driver Easy Pro :

You can update all your drivers with just one click.
You don’t have to know anything about computers. Driver Easy will automatically recognize your system and all your devices, and install the latest correct drivers for you – direct from the manufacturer. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running, you don’t need to risk downloading and installing the wrong drivers, and you don’t need to worry about making a mistake when installing.
You get the latest version of every driver, direct from the manufacturer, certified safe and stable.
You get all driver updates, even the ones Microsoft considers ‘optional’ and wouldn’t provide.
You’re not relying on the device manufacturers getting their updated drivers into Windows Update on time (because we proactively source the latest drivers from them).

Here’s how Driver Easy works:

Step-by-step instructions

To automatically update to the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system:

Buy and download Driver Easy PRO. .

(To automatically update all your drivers with 1 click, you’ll need the Pro version of Driver Easy. Don’t worry, it comes with a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money back satisfaction guarantee.)

Run the downloaded executable file and follow the on-screen prompts.
Run Driver Easy and click UPGRADE.

Paste or type the software key you were emailed when you bought Driver Easy.

Click Scan Now. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any devices with missing or outdated drivers.

Click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system.
That’s it. You can go grab a coffee, while Driver Easy does all the work for you!

What happens if a driver is missing or outdated?

Every now and then, Microsoft will change the commands Windows sends to one of your devices (e.g. your network card). When this happens, the manufacturer of that device need to change the device driver too. They need to teach it the new Windows commands. Otherwise the drivers won’t be able to translate those commands for your devices, and your devices won’t work properly.

The same thing needs to happen when your device manufacturer changes the way your device talks, or the things it can do. They need to change the driver too. Otherwise Windows won’t be able to talk to the device, or take advantage of its new functionality, and your device won’t work properly.

Now when we say “your device won’t work properly”, sometimes this means simply that you miss out on new functionality or minor bug fixes. But it’s often a lot more serious than that. Your computer may even hang, crash or stop working completely. Remember, there’s a driver that controls your hard drive, for instance. If Windows can’t talk to your hard drive, it can’t access any of the data on your drive. Similarly, if Windows can’t talk to your network card, you won’t be able to access the internet, and if it can’t talk to your graphics card, you won’t be able to see anything on your monitor. These are just a few of the more serious issues outdated drivers can cause.

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