Solved How do i remove drivers without rolling back or updating?

briligg

New Member
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I have two wifi adapters i have been trying to get to work consistently with no luck for several days now. One had been working fine for a few weeks, then it stopped, i tried switching, and that one worked for half a day, then it stopped. Once it stops working the connection is 'limited' but works fine on other machines, or it says it is connected in settings but Chrome says it isn't online. So i wanted to try to install a different driver, having read that this can often be the solution.

But in both cases, there is no old driver to roll back to, and when i try to tell Windows to load a driver i've downloaded or have on a disc, it says, no, the one it already has is 'up to date', and it won't do it.
Is there some way to dig around in the system to get rid of the driver it claims is better so i can try another one?

I tried the suggestion in a Dell troubleshooting article - How to Fix Limited Wi-Fi Connectivity Issue in Windows 8.1 | Dell Netherlands Antilles/Curaçao
of going to the command prompt and changing the TCP parameters. Then the wifi worked for a while, but it stopped. I plugged in the ethernet cable and surfed that way for a while. Then i unplugged it, and the wifi is working. But if the pattern of the last few days continues, that won't last long. It seems like some background thing keeps resetting, and i don't know how to make it stop.
I went and shut off Automatic Updates after reading what other people have said about Microsoft supplied drivers.
How can i surgically remove a driver?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
  1. Physically disconnect the Adapters from your PC.
  2. Open Device Managers->View->Show hidden devices
  3. Network Adapters and right click to uninstall all the grayed out drivers. If a popup windows is displayed, tick on also delete files.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Maybe this will work:

Click Start, type Device Manager, and press Enter.
Find and double-click the category of device whose driver you wish to uninstall (for example, the graphics card would be listed under Display Adapters).
Right-click the device, and click Uninstall.
Windows will prompt you to confirm the device’s removal. Click OK to remove the driver.
DO NOT reboot
Install the new driver.
Reboot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Integrated HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP h2207
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050@59Hz
    Hard Drives
    250GB Samsung EVO SATA-3 SSD;
    2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA-2;
    1.5TB Seagate ST3150041AS SATA
    PSU
    500W
    Keyboard
    Wired USB
    Mouse
    Wired USB
    Internet Speed
    3GB Up, 30GB Down
    Browser
    SeaMonkey
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender; MBAM Pro
    Other Info
    UEFI/GPT
    PLDS DVD-RW DH16AERSH
I tried topgundcp's approach and removed several drivers from the Network Adapters section in Device Manager. Each time i got a warning that i was about to delete the driver permanently and i said okay. With all the possibly buggy drivers removed i tried restarting for good measure, and then plugged one of the Wifi adapters back into the machine. Instantly two of the drivers i had supposedly deleted reappeared. Both are signed by Microsoft.

Okay. So maybe the reboot was the problem, as Ztruker says. Let me try this again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
Well, i tried uninstalling it with it disconnected, but as soon as i plugged it back in, the driver reappeared. Then i tried uninstalling it with it plugged in. That seemed to work. So i went to run the setup file on the CD that came with the adapter, but it threw up a Runtime Error window almost immediately - abnormal program termination. I tried right-clicking the Network Adapters section in the Device Manager > Scan for hardware changes. The system picked up on the presence of the adapter, and reinstalled the same driver i have uninstalled three times now. Clearly no file is being deleted from the system. Somehow, if i want to get rid of it, i have to find it and delete it manually. This is the message i'm getting.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
I managed to install the driver that came with 2nd, identical wifi adapter for my husband's machine, which runs Windows 7, by telling the install wizard not to check online but to load from the folder i browse to, even though when i tried to run setup from the CD the runtime error occurred. That adapter is working fine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
So it's now fixed? If so that's good news.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Integrated HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP h2207
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050@59Hz
    Hard Drives
    250GB Samsung EVO SATA-3 SSD;
    2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA-2;
    1.5TB Seagate ST3150041AS SATA
    PSU
    500W
    Keyboard
    Wired USB
    Mouse
    Wired USB
    Internet Speed
    3GB Up, 30GB Down
    Browser
    SeaMonkey
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender; MBAM Pro
    Other Info
    UEFI/GPT
    PLDS DVD-RW DH16AERSH
No - the adapter i installed on my husband's Windows 7 machine works fine. Is that where you got confused? Maybe i should edit that. I only mentioned it because it is exactly the same kind of adapter. We bought two, one for each computer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
Would help to know which wifi adapter. May have to experiment with different drivers. I had to and eventually found one that worked and didn't drop out. The most recent drivers caused problem in my case.

Are you trying the computer manufacturer supplied drivers at this point?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
I wish i could. I go to the device manager and ask it to update the driver. I tell it to Browse my computer for the software, and then browse to the DVD drive. It then tells me the best driver software for my device is already installed.
So then i try 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer', and tell it i have a disk, and to install from the dvd drive. It then tells me there is no driver for my device on the disk.
No other driver was ever installed for the device, so i can't roll back.

The device is a Realtek RTL8188ETV Wireless LAN 802.11n USB 2.0 Network Adapter.
I note that in the Device Manager, when i right click on the device under network adapters, go to the Drivers tab and click on Driver Details, two drivers are listed for the device - the one provided by Realtek, and one provided by Microsoft. But under the Drivers tab the only one mentioned is the Microsoft one.

I actually took the rather rash decision to go into c:/windows/ system32/ drivers and delete the listed Realtek file, RTWlanU.sys. That just broke it. Fortunately i was able to just copy it back from the CD. Maybe the other listed file is the problem one - c:/windows/ system32/ drivers/vwifibus.sys. But i guess i can't just ax it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
How about download: Autoruns for Windows and run as Admin. In the Drivers tab, search for the Realtek drivers, right click on it and there are different options you can choose to delete the entry from Registry, .sys and in addition, remove .inf file associated with it and finally delete the entry of this driver from Autoruns.

Instead of trying to install the driver from Device Manager, you can manoever to the driver folder from the cd, right click on the .inf file->Install
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I downloaded Autoruns, it's certainly a useful tool - thanks for directing me to it. I couldn't find the delete options you mention, though. It only let me delete the autorun for the driver, it didn't indicate any associated files. But that did make me think to clean the registry with CCleaner, at least.

I also tried installing the .inf file for Win8x64 from the cd as an admin. It gave me a message the process completed successfully.

That didn't seem to make a difference, though. Consistently, device manager says the adapter is working properly, but the connection is always listed as limited.
I fiddled a while with no luck. I tried turning off autorun for vwifibus.sys, and that made the device invisible to the machine. So i turned it back on.

I uninstalled the 8188 Realtek device, shut down, replaced it with the other adapter, which is an 8192 Realtek adapter, and powered up. Device manager showed the same driver being used for it.
It is working at the moment. Possibly relevant - the network is now listed as 'Wifi 2', whereas before it was just 'Wifi'. So something in the guts has changed. Possibly due to installing the .inf file?

So now i am going to see if this continues to work. Thanks for the help so far.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
Apparently the .inf file was updated and a new connection was created (Wifi2) and if it is working then I would leave it alone.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
Yep, still working. I'm going to leave it another 24 hours before trusting in that and marking the thread solved. :) Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1 pro
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