How to find unknown device drivers

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Here is a guide on how to find unknown device drivers on Windows 10 and prevent it from using generic drivers.

With the introduction of plug and play peripherals, Windows has been provided with powerful generic drivers with the ability to automatically download the necessary drivers from the Internet. However, sometimes it happens that Windows 10 does not recognize the new device and for this reason it cannot find the drivers suitable for its operation. Hence the famous error: Unknown device .

If you have had to deal with this issue, let’s see together how to fix it.

Index

  • How to find unknown device drivers
    • Install drivers manually
  • Missing driver software
    • Unknown Device Identifier
    • Snappy Driver Installer
  • Other missing driver software

How to find unknown device drivers

Usually it is always good not to have unknown devices in Windows 10, otherwise the Microsoft operating system is forced to use, as for the motherboard or video card, generic drivers ensuring significantly lower performance with the risk of malfunctions.

There are two methods to solve the problem:

  1. Use the system tool.
  2. Use third-party programs that can identify and install unknown device drivers.

Install drivers manually

The procedure to search for the device driver manually on Windows 10 is very simple:

  • Open the Runcommand ( Windows key + R ), and type the command msc . Hit enter .
  • In the Device Managerwindow, identify the unknown device (the one with the yellow exclamation mark icon ).
  • Right-click on it and select Properties.
  • Click on Details.
  • In the Propertiesdrop-down menu , select Hardware ID .
  • You will see a value that uniquely identifies hardware not identified by the system.

Now go to Google and in the search bar, type driver + Hardware ID . In our case “ driver + ACPI \ VEN_INT & DEV_33A0 “.

You will find several sites that provide the driver you need. After identifying it, download and install it by clicking on it twice and that’s it.

Missing driver software

Unknown Device Identifier

A valid alternative to the above process is Unknown Device Identifier , also called UDI . You can download it from the download page of the official site . It is an application compatible with Windows 10 and earlier versions.

After downloading it, start the installation, follow the required procedure and start it to start the process of detecting devices not recognized by Windows 10.

The program will highlight unrecognized devices in red . To find the suitable driver you will have to click on the + next to the name, then on the Detail item and then on PnpID . Right-click on it and select Find Driver .

Your default browser will open a page on the search engine with the best query to find the driver you need. All you have to do is download and install it to solve the problem.

Snappy Driver Installer

Snappy Driver Installer is another free program for finding unknown device drivers. It allows you to install unknown device drivers but also to update existing ones automatically.

It is available in two versions:

  • SDI Full: Includes all device drivers the software can find. You can keep it on a USB stick , as it takes up 20GB and is downloadable via torrent . To have it available you will need to have a torrent client. I recommend you read this guide on: How uTorrent works .
  • SDI Lite: It is a lighter version, as it only takes up 5 MB . It does not include any drivers and is downloaded from the Internet . Once started you can choose whether to download all the drivers , download only the drivers necessary to identify network cards and Wi-Fi, or download only the indexes to detect only the missing drivers.

For both files that you will download from the download page of the official site , you will need to unzip them and then run the SDI_auto.bat file . The latter will automatically detect the type of operating system installed and run the compatible version of the program.

SDI will display the list of devices for which it has detected the availability of drivers to be downloaded. Just select the devices for which you want to install or update the drivers and press Install to complete.

Other missing driver software

There are other free missing driver programs that can help you identify your computer’s hardware components and download the necessary drivers.

  • Driver Identifier: is a program for Windows whose purpose is to identify missing drivers, allowing you to update your system and improve its performance. It has a database of over 27 million different devices and runs on 32 and 64-bit Windows.
  • Driver Magician: is available as a free trial for 15 days and allows you to update and download the drivers of your PC quickly and easily. In addition to identifying unknown devices, it also backs up and restores old drivers.
  • Driver Easy: is available in both paid and free versions. Like the other software described above, it helps identify unknown devices and outdated drivers. Once the scan is complete, it will offer links to download the drivers needed to improve the performance of your operating system.

I recommend that you also read these helpful guides: Best Programs to Update PC Drivers and How to Update Video Card Drivers .

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by Abdullah Sam
I’m a teacher, researcher and writer. I write about study subjects to improve the learning of college and university students. I write top Quality study notes Mostly, Tech, Games, Education, And Solutions/Tips and Tricks. I am a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

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