How to Install Drivers Using CMD in Windows

To install drivers on a Windows computer using the Command Prompt, you must first open Command Prompt with administrator privileges. This can be done by clicking the Start button, typing "CMD" in the search box, right-clicking Command Prompt, and selecting "Run as administrator." Once Command Prompt is open, navigate to the folder containing your driver files.

For example, if your drivers are stored on your desktop in a folder called "Drivers," navigate to that location by typing "cd Desktop\Drivers" and pressing Enter. Next, use the PnPUtil command-line utility to install your driver. To install a single driver, type "pnputil /add-driver" followed by the path to your driver file and "/install."

For instance, "pnputil /add-driver C:\Drivers\driver.inf /install." Press Enter and wait for Windows to process the installation. If you have multiple driver files, you can install them all at once by using the "pnputil /add-driver" command with the "C:\Drivers\*.inf" argument and "/subdirs /install." This searches the specified folder and its subfolders for INF driver packages and attempts to install them.

After installing the drivers, you can check which drivers are currently installed on your computer by entering "driverquery" in Command Prompt and pressing Enter. The results can be saved to a text file for future reference. If you need to update a driver, use the same PnPUtil command with the path to the updated driver file. Finally, some driver installations require a restart for the hardware to function correctly. To restart your computer immediately, enter "shutdown /r /t 0" in Command Prompt and press Enter.