The device driver is a package with instructions that allow the Windows computer to communicate and control a particular piece of hardware, such as graphics card, printers, Bluetooth, network adapters, hard drive, USB ports, etc. If a device driver is not available, corrupt, or outdated, your Windows PC may stop functioning partially or fully.
If a particular hardware component on your computer or notebook is not working properly, we recommend checking the current driver version installed on your computer. Usually, manufacturers release driver updates multiple times in a year to improve performance and stability, add new features, and fix issues; hence, by checking the current version of the driver, you can determine if it needs an update from the manufacturers’ website. Especially looking at the Driver Date, you can decide whether you have an up-to-date driver or need an update. If you see the driver is more than 1-2 years old, we recommend checking with the manufacturer to see if there’s a later driver version. Visit the hardware manufacturer’s driver page, and check if you have the latest driver by comparing the version available on the site with the one currently installed.
If you are so lazy like me and don’t want to navigate through the manufacturer’s website, you can automate the process through third-party freeware tools like DriverMax, Double Driver, DriverBackup, Snappy Driver Installer, or any other app you like.
In this post at gearupwindows, we will provide two methods to check the version of a device driver. These are the following:-
- Resolve the driver version using Device Manager
- Check driver version using Windows PowerShell
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How to resolve the driver version using Device Manager?
To examine the drivers’ version of a device in Windows 11/10 using device manager, perform the following steps:-
Step 1. Click on the
Step 2. From the available top search results, click on the
Step 3. Expand the category for the device for which you want to check the driver version.
Step 4. Right-click on the device name and select the
Step 5. Navigate to the
Step 6. You can see the driver version, along with the driver provider and driver date.
Once you complete the above steps, you will know the current driver version. Now, navigate to the manufacturer webpage and see if any new version drivers have been released for Windows 11/10.
How to check the driver version using Windows PowerShell?
If you want to verify the driver version for more devices at once, you can use the PowerShell command. To see the driver version using PowerShell, perform the following steps:-
Step 1. Click on the
Step 2. In the Windows PowerShell that opens, type the following command and hit
Get-WmiObject Win32_PnPSignedDriver| select DeviceName, Manufacturer, DriverVersion
Step 3. Once you execute the above command in the Windows PowerShell window, it will list the driver version of all hardware devices in the third column on the right.
Once you complete the above steps, you should see the driver’s version of the device along with their manufacturer names on Windows 11/10 PC. It is a useful method to list all the hardware components at once along with their manufacturer and driver’s version.
That’s all!!!