🔒 Closed Driver Tip: Rolling Back Drivers in Windows

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xombi

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This feature can come in very handy when installing drivers. If a driver doesn't work very well for you, and you want rollback to the previously installed driver, here is how you can do that:

1. Open the Device Manager.

2. In Device Manager, locate the device that you want to rollback the driver for. You can navigate through the hardware categories by clicking the + or > icon. You can find specific devices under these major hardware categories.

3. After finding the hardware you're rolling back the driver for, right click on the device's name or icon and click on Properties.

4. In the Properties window for the device, click the Driver tab.

5. On the Driver tab, click the Roll Back Driver button. If the Roll Back Driver button is disabled, Windows does not have a previous driver to roll back to so you won't be able to complete this process.

6. Click the Yes button to the "Are you sure you would like to roll back to the previously installed driver software?" question. The previously installed driver will now be restored. You should see the Roll Back Driver button as disabled after the roll back is complete.

7. Click the Close button at the bottom of the device properties screen. Click Yes on the System Settings Change dialog box that says "Your hardware settings have changed. You must restart your computer for these changes to take effect. Do you want to restart your computer now?" If this message is hidden, closing the Control Panel window might help. You won't be able to close Device Manager. Depending on the device driver you're rolling back, it's possible that you won't need to restart your PC. If you don't see the message, consider the roll back complete.

8. When Windows starts again, it will load the device driver for this hardware you had previously installed.

Driver Roll Back only allows you to roll back a driver once. In other words, Windows only keeps a copy of the very last driver installed. It does not keep an archive of all previously installed drivers for the device.
 
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