Easy way to wipe hardware drivers?

[hyrule4927]

I'm going to be upgrading to a 2600K soon and since this upgrade requires a new motherboard, I'm expecting some driver issues. Is there any way to remove all of my hardware drivers in one go so that Windows just searches for new drivers when I start up with the new hardware? Are there any programs or Windows features that would allow me to do this? Running Windows 8 Consumer Preview right now, so if a feature like this was in Windows 7, it's bound to be somewhere in 8.

Trying to avoid reinstalling Windows just because I'd rather not invest the time required to reinstall all my programs and get all my settings how I like them again (mainly because it took some extensive tweaking to get some programs running how I want in Windows 8) unless I really have to. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but I just don't have much time on my hands this quarter. Worst case scenario I guess I could just install fresh and wait until the summer to sort out all the little details since my laptop is really my primary computer at the moment.

 

[Bubbaleone]

You can't "wipe" drivers. They have to be uninstalled. Uninstalling them removes their registry entries. And you need to uninstall all devices in Device Manager if you're going to attempt installing this HDD onto new hardware.

Keep in mind that Device Manager is nothing but a GUI for editing the registry. The default Windows Device Manager does not have the feature enabled that allows you to view and uninstall "super-hidden" devices.

Open Notepad and copy/paste the following:

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc

Name the file "setdev.bat", and save it to the Desktop as "All files" (not text document [*.txt]). Double-click setdev.bat and it opens an advanced MSC version of Device Manager. Select; View>>Devices by type>>Show hidden devices. You will now be able to see every single device that has ever been installed on your current Windows installation.

This view includes all currently installed devices, and all devices no longer installed or connected (non-existent). All the icons for non-existent devices will be "ghosted" (semi-translucent, pale gray color).

Starting at the top and working your way down the list ( click every + sign to expand each device), right-click each installed device icon, and each ghosted device icon and select "Uninstall".

Ignore any prompts to reboot the PC. When you're completely finished uninstalling all currently installed devices, as well as all non-existent devices, shutdown the computer, then remove the hard drive. It's now ready to install onto new hardware.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Good stuff Bubba. :thumbsup: always cool to learn something.

 

[justaguy168]

:thumbsup::thumbsup: Wow! This is some piece of info. I am subscribing just to have it for reference.

 

[hyrule4927]

Thanks for the information!

 

[fatwalletuser]

Good info.

 

[denis280]

Good stuff Bubba. :thumbsup: always cool to learn something.

Wow never too old to learn something.Good one :thumbsup: