XP Reinstall-Drivers

Iconic

I am about to reinstall XP in a five year old Dell Dimension 8300.

Nlite seems straightforward but I cannot understand the difference between XP drivers and manufacturers drivers. Are XP drivers included in the basic OS
discs and how do I find what manufacturers drivers I am using?

From what I can see only a few drivers are slipstreamed so I assume the rest are included with the basic OS.

Even in Display Manager my NVidia Display Adapter has got Microsoft Corp in brackets beside it.

I have seen this so am going to 'copy the entire contents of the hidden system folders C:\Windows\INF and C:\Windows\system32\drivers. Put all the files from both these locations into the root folder of a CD. i.e. All in the same place, not in 2 separate folders. (Although the INF and SYS files are stored in different places in windows, the driver install expects to find them together)
Then, as a last resort, if your reinstall can't find appropriate driver files from the web, you can use the old ones off your disk'

KathysBoy

Iconic wrote: »

I am about to reinstall XP in a five year old Dell Dimension 8300.

Nlite seems straightforward but I cannot understand the difference between XP drivers and manufacturers drivers. Are XP drivers included in the basic OS
discs and how do I find what manufacturers drivers I am using?

From what I can see only a few drivers are slipstreamed so I assume the rest are included with the basic OS.

Even in Display Manager my NVidia Display Adapter has got Microsoft Corp in brackets beside it.

I have seen this so am going to 'copy the entire contents of the hidden system folders C:\Windows\INF and C:\Windows\system32\drivers. Put all the files from both these locations into the root folder of a CD. i.e. All in the same place, not in 2 separate folders. (Although the INF and SYS files are stored in different places in windows, the driver install expects to find them together)
Then, as a last resort, if your reinstall can't find appropriate driver files from the web, you can use the old ones off your disk'

I don't think there's any need to do this, unless you've got some very obscure or old hardware. In general XP and most Windows operating systems contain approriate drivers for your hardware, particularly XP which is coming to end of life.

If you have very old hardware then you might need to search on the net for a driver, but even then, you can usually find one.

To find out what drivers you're using, you can use one of the driver sites, such as Driveragent,but there are loads of others. I think the scan is free, but you normally have to subscribe (usually about $20) to get access to the driver databases they have.

Iconic

Thanks for your reply. So the MS drivers are included in the OS discs and there is no need to add them seperately?

Strider590

Do not do what you say your intending to do, the result could and most probably will be disastrous....... Driver files (INF) are often linked into other files around the system. Prticularly in the case of graphics drivers.

There are however programs around that will extract the driver files for you, but I must add that i've never found one that worked perfectly.

If your using the original Dell disks (which I doubt), then there should be no problem of course.

Else, go to Dells support site and download ALL the driver files for that system, problem sorted.
Don't worry about the branding either, you'll never get the same system you had before so don't pull your hair out trying.

alared

Have you got a Dell OS disk?
Most Dells don`t have disks but a restore partitioned on the hard drive to set your PC back to "factory settings" just as it was brand new from day one.

Aiadi

Or use something like drivers magician to back you drivers up. It'll also let you know which ones are microsoft's and which are not.

Iconic

Thanks for your help.Yes I am using the Dell Reinstallation CD-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition including SP1.

I have added SP3 (it appears SP2 is not needed) and RVM's update pack which includes updates from SP3 to Jan 09.

I am just worried that the drivers were not included in the ' Dell Reinstallation CD-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition including SP1.' and it will bu**er up the reinstallation. The question is where are the XP MS drivers?

motorguy

KathysBoy wrote: »

I don't think there's any need to do this, unless you've got some very obscure or old hardware. In general XP and most Windows operating systems contain approriate drivers for your hardware, particularly XP which is coming to end of life.

If you have very old hardware then you might need to search on the net for a driver, but even then, you can usually find one.

To find out what drivers you're using, you can use one of the driver sites, such as Driveragent,but there are loads of others. I think the scan is free, but you normally have to subscribe (usually about $20) to get access to the driver databases they have.

Sorry but this is wrong. The right graphics drivers etc WONT be included and probably not the onboard sound ones either, or LAN card.

The answer is to go to www.dell.co.uk, click on support, click on drivers, plug in your Service Tag or the model details, and hey presto all the drivers for downloading.

Strider590

Iconic wrote: »

Thanks for your help.Yes I am using the Dell Reinstallation CD-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition including SP1.

I have added SP3 (it appears SP2 is not needed) and RVM's update pack which includes updates from SP3 to Jan 09.

I am just worried that the drivers were not included in the ' Dell Reinstallation CD-Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition including SP1.' and it will bu**er up the reinstallation. The question is where are the XP MS drivers?

This doesn't half get confusing! My answer is now "Windows XP will always install what it thinks are the best drivers".

Iconic

I am totally confused myself now.

I have got all the current drivers for my computer backed up as my first post. Do I slipstream everyone into Nlite or does the XP disc do that for me?

-TangleFoot-

If you've been following this guide, you already have everything you need. Use nLite to integrate your backed-up drivers into the Windows image, then create an ISO to burn to disc.

If you like, you can slipstream IE8 as well.