[SOLVED] Uninstall All Old Drivers?

[brandontolbert17]

I have been building PC's for a few years now (Not the best but I have gotten better) and when I do, I would just keep my SSD/HDD and just plop it in only uninstalling GPU drivers via DDU if I get a new card. However, I realized that there are different drivers from Intel and AMD (plus ones from my previous motherboards) and I was wondering how could I just, remove them all and start fresh without wiping my drive? I hope this isn't too confusing and I thank everyone who helps!

 

[Colif]

Drivers should only run if the hardware that matches them is actually in use.

Download and run Driverview - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

All it does is looks at drivers installed; it won't install any - this is intentional as 3rd party driver updaters often get it wrong.

When you run it, go into view tab and set it to hide all Microsoft drivers, will make list shorter.

that will show all the drivers on PC that aren't from Microsoft so it will at least identify any you don't need.
removing them is another story. Lets see what you have installed first.
if you want me to help,
take a screenshot from (and including)Driver name to (and including)Creation date.
upload it to an image sharing website and show link here

the only way to remove them all at once is a reset but while that doesn't wipe your drive, it removes all applications that don't come with windows so its not a solution I would use.

 

[USAFRet]

I have been building PC's for a few years now (Not the best but I have gotten better) and when I do, I would just keep my SSD/HDD and just plop it in only uninstalling GPU drivers via DDU if I get a new card. However, I realized that there are different drivers from Intel and AMD (plus ones from my previous motherboards) and I was wondering how could I just, remove them all and start fresh without wiping my drive? I hope this isn't too confusing and I thank everyone who helps!

This is building a new system, and hoping to pop the old drive + OS into the new system?

Yeah, that doesn't work nearly as well as you think it does.

 

[brandontolbert17]

This is building a new system, and hoping to pop the old drive + OS into the new system?

Yeah, that doesn't work nearly as well as you think it does.

Well, I haven't experienced any issues.

 

[USAFRet]

Well, I haven't experienced any issues.

Sometimes it works
Sometimes it fails
Sometimes it works, sort of

Old Intel -> New AMD?
Sometimes people get lucky.
Sometimes they think they got lucky. Until later.

 

[brandontolbert17]

Sometimes it works
Sometimes it fails
Sometimes it works, sort of

Old Intel -> New AMD?
Sometimes people get lucky.
Sometimes they think they got lucky. Until later.

That's why I want to uninstall the drivers. I have switched from AMD to Intel and visa versa a few times but never uninstalled drivers and I was always afraid of issues the drivers would cause.

Drivers should only run if the hardware that matches them is actually in use.

Download and run Driverview - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

All it does is looks at drivers installed; it won't install any - this is intentional as 3rd party driver updaters often get it wrong.

When you run it, go into view tab and set it to hide all Microsoft drivers, will make list shorter.

that will show all the drivers on PC that aren't from Microsoft so it will at least identify any you don't need.
removing them is another story. Lets see what you have installed first.
if you want me to help,
take a screenshot from (and including)Driver name to (and including)Creation date.
upload it to an image sharing website and show link here

the only way to remove them all at once is a reset but while that doesn't wipe your drive, it removes all applications that don't come with windows so its not a solution I would use.

I have an Intel right now so should I just remove the AMD and Ryzen software? I'm planning on replacing everything and going brand new and switch to an AMD 5900(x) so would I need to remove Intel software [when the time comes]?

 

[USAFRet]

Its more than just "drivers".

An installed Win 10 is much better than previous versions as to working with new hardware.

But sometimes there are issues. Up to and including not booting up at all.
I've seen the entire spectrum.

 

[brandontolbert17]

Its more than just "drivers".

An installed Win 10 is much better than previous versions as to working with new hardware.

But sometimes there are issues. Up to and including not booting up at all.
I've seen the entire spectrum.

Alright. I'll go ahead and reset when I get to building but what about my harddrive? It has gigabytes of stuff like videos and pictures and files that I don't want to get deleted. It's not the main drive so software and drivers and everything else shouldn't be installed on it right?

 

[USAFRet]

Alright. I'll go ahead and reset when I get to building but what about my harddrive? It has gigabytes of stuff like videos and pictures and files that I don't want to get deleted. It's not the main drive so software and drivers and everything else shouldn't be installed on it right?

A full reinstall is done with ONLY the desired OS drive connected.
Not a "reset" within windows, but rather a full wipe and reinstall.

Any other drives are disconnected during this, and not touched.
Vid/Pic/Doc on that drive is just fine.
Applications, no.

Your OS on the C drive is going to be brand new....it knows nothing about any "applications" that may live elsewhere.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[brandontolbert17]

Alright (wo)man thanks for your help!