It would be helpful to think of Windows Device Manager as a real-life office manager. Managers, for the most part, are not directly involved in any tangible product development but are responsible for managing employees, with Device Manager playing a similar role.
In this short guide, Thewindowsfan.com will help you learn how to use Device Manager to troubleshoot Windows 10.
How to Use Device Manager to Update Drivers
Device Manager is also very useful when you have to update outdated drivers, especially when Windows Update stops working.
First, open Windows Device Manager, then follow the steps:
1. Click on the hardware category that you want to update. (Assuming you want to update one of the System device drivers, click System device and select a specific driver).
2. Right-click on the driver and select Update driver.
3. Now, select Search automatically for drivers and let the process complete.
Device Manager will then search for the latest driver update on your PC and install it. But if Device Manager finds that you already have the most up-to-date version of the driver, it will give you a notification. In the example case, the device was running the latest version, as you can see below.
But if you confirm that the driver is not up to date, then you can download it directly from the manufacturer’s website and install it using Device Manager.
Check the status of the installed hardware
It’s not a bad idea to check the Device Manager if your computer’s hardware is acting abnormally.
After you open Device Manager, expand the type of device you want to check. From there, right-click on a specific driver and open the Properties section.
Then, from the General tab in the dialog, look in the Device Status box to confirm its status. If the device status is “working normally”, then the hardware shouldn’t have any driver problems, and you can look for other causes.
However, if there’s a problem with the component, you’ll see a description or error code related to the problem. However, the description or error code itself will not give you any information on how to fix the driver itself.
Fix corrupted drivers with Device Manager
Just as there is no single way to handle the complexities of life, Windows 10 also has several methods to fix your corrupted device drivers. One of such methods is through Device Manager.
Use Windows Device Manager to uninstall the problematic device and then reinstall the healthy version if the device driver is corrupted.
1. Open Device Manager, right-click on the corrupted driver, and select Uninstall device.
2. Now, restart your PC.
After rebooting, Windows will automatically detect your system configuration, find, and reinstall the removed drivers. However, if the reinstallation doesn’t take place, you’ll have to do it manually through Device Manager.
Download the driver manually from your hardware manufacturer’s website. If you receive a ZIP file, extract it, and then follow the steps below:
1. Open Device Manager and right-click on the specific driver.
2. Now, click Update driver > Browse my computer for drivers.
Select the driver file you downloaded from the manufacturer’s website and click Next. The most up-to-date driver will be installed on your PC soon. Restart the PC once for the changes to take effect.
Windows Device Manager makes managing your Windows hardware easier and more convenient. Over the years, Microsoft has introduced a series of such tools to improve the performance of the Windows 10 operating system, which it hopes to continue to do in the future.
