How do I save drivers from a Windows 8.1 tablet?

DavidY

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I've mentioned over in this thread that I bought a Windows 8.1 (with Bing) tablet, called a Tesco Connect, from UK supermarket Tesco.

The main problem is that support is non-existent. :(
So if I want to download drivers, there's no 'Manufacturer's website' (at least not for the tablet) to get them from.

Luckily the tablet is running fine at the moment, but I want to know the best way to save drivers
  • for some future emergency when I lose the drivers and want to fix that without having to completely wind it back to the last image backup , and
  • so I can install Windows 10 and have options if Microsoft's automatic systems can't find drivers
  • so I have a set to help other forum members who have the same tablet (as someone asked on the thread I started)

Someone has made a Blog post here where they suggest taking a copy of the entire c:\windows\system32 folder on to a USB stick, and then pointing Device manager at that folder to find missing drivers, but it feels like overkill as there are so many files in system32, most of which won't be drivers I imagine.

So I'm hoping there's a better way to save my drivers - how do I do this?

Thanks in advance. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
but I want to know the best way to save drivers

Use DriverBackup to do that. It allows you to easily save all your current drivers. If you then copy those folders to a USB stick, you then have the full set of working drivers that you can use later.
 

My Computer

md C:\Drivers
Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\Drivers

to add drivers to installation
Dism /online /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\Drivers /Recurse
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
That''ll do it David.

It is one of the functions on a thing I made.

2015-08-01_231701.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
That''ll do it David.

It is one of the functions on a thing I made.
Thanks for that - presumably it's calls various DISM commands, including the ones which KYHI mentions?

Where would I download it from? (I'm sure I've seen it or one of your other tools before but I can't remember where the thread is.)
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
md C:\Drivers
Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\Drivers

to add drivers to installation
Dism /online /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\Drivers /Recurse
Does the /add-driver command work with /online? I think I might need to do it offline, with a WinPE disk?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
Yes,
you can Add-Driver /Online and /Image (Offline)
or Export-Driver /Online and /Image (Offline)

Dism /Image:d:\offline /Export-Driver /Destination:c:\drivers
Dism /Image:d:\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:c:\Drivers /Recurse
--------
Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\drivers
Dism /Image:d:\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:c:\drivers /Recurse
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Please could you dropbox me the drivers? I appreciate it! I've installed windows 10 but forgot to copy the drivers and now have now touch or sound. Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    10
Please could you dropbox me the drivers? I appreciate it! I've installed windows 10 but forgot to copy the drivers and now have now touch or sound. Thanks

Yes,
you can Add-Driver /Online and /Image (Offline)
or Export-Driver /Online and /Image (Offline)

Dism /Image:d:\offline /Export-Driver /Destination:c:\drivers
Dism /Image:d:\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:c:\Drivers /Recurse
--------
Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\drivers
Dism /Image:d:\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:c:\drivers /Recurse

Here is what I get if I use the command in bold. I'm still on Windows 8.1 at this point so not tried the commands to add the driver back yet.

Onedrive link

I also used the command
Dism /online /Get-Drivers /format:table
to make a list of the drivers - in a text file in the zip.

Good Luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
Do you think the process in the blog post - Install Windows 10 on a £99 Tesco Tablet - would work? I'll have to learn to use dism another day.. Thanks again!
I don't know if they'd work with the files I saved?

You could try it I guess - I think you could skip straight to step 7 and see if one of the Device Manager yellow triangles goes away if point it at the folder containing those drivers I saved?

If I understand KYHI correctly, the DISM method of loading them back in, would be to be in an elevated command prompt, and then from there run this command:

Dism /online /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\FolderYouCopiedDriversTo /Recurse

But I have a sneaky suspicion the /Add-Driver command doesn't work with the /online flag, in which case you'd have to create a bootable WinPE disk on another computer, copy the drivers onto there, boot from WinPE, and run that DISM command - considerably more hassle!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
I'll leave it for another day. The battery is probably nearly dead.. Pure guessing game since it doesn't detect it.

Thanks for the help, great response to my first posts on the site.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    10
When you do give it a go, do post back how you get on - I want to upgrade mine to Win10 as well, so I have to get past the driver issues as well, so I have a selfish interest if I can help you get yours going!

If nothing else, it's good information that Windows 10 doesn't automatically detect and install the drivers.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
David, you could zip the drivers and upload them. Might be useful to others.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
David, you could zip the drivers and upload them. Might be useful to others.
Do you mean using DISM to export them? Or copy them manually (if so, I'm not 100% sure where to look?)
Thanks :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
make a folder c:\tesco

then open elevated cmd:

Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:c:\tesco

Then when it has done, zip the c:\tesco folder.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
make a folder c:\tesco

then open elevated cmd:

Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:c:\tesco

Then when it has done, zip the c:\tesco folder.
Thanks.

In that case see post #9 in this thread. ;)

Do you know if drivers saved this way can be searched when you add a driver in Device Manager, or do you have to use DISM to add them back?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
You can browse for the folder from device manager. Saves copying the entire filerepository.


make a folder c:\tesco

then open elevated cmd:

Dism /online /Export-Driver /Destination:c:\tesco

Then when it has done, zip the c:\tesco folder.
Thanks.

In that case see post #9 in this thread. ;)

Do you know if drivers saved this way can be searched when you add a driver in Device Manager, or do you have to use DISM to add them back?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    7/8/ubuntu/Linux Deepin
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
David you are correct add-drivers is for an offline image..
I usually mount the wim and add the drivers//

But you can use Device manager to find and install the drivers you exported
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Is it possible to get an image of your recovery drive? I still can't even detect the hardware ie touch screen or sound, I think I'm screwed!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    10
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