Knowing where drivers are stored in Windows 11/10 is especially helpful when you want to manage driver updates, troubleshoot hardware issues, update/backup/cleanup driver files, fix malfunctioning devices, or simply boost the device performance.
The driver is an essential software that ensures your computer performs smoothly by helping the operating system communicate with the attached hardware devices.
Both Windows 10 and 11 include generic drivers for various devices, such as graphics cards, printers, and sound cards, to enable them to function. However, you may need to download the latest drivers through Windows updates, device manufacturers, or the best driver updaters to enhance the device’s performance and unlock advanced features.
Let’s share quite an interesting fact. No matter whether the driver is generic, installed through Windows update, or a reliable third-party driver update tool, Windows Driver Store is the Windows 10/Windows 11 driver location.
The Windows Driver Store is a secure, centralized repository where Windows keeps trusted driver packages. These packages contain driver information files and associated binaries, ensuring that only verified drivers are installed on your computer for its stability and security.
Whenever your PC detects new hardware, Windows checks the Windows Driver Store, located at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore, to find and install the compatible drivers for that hardware.
You will find more details about this Windows 11/Windows 10 driver’s location in the following sections.
As mentioned above, the Windows Driver Store, the centralized driver repository, is the default Windows 10/Windows 11 driver location. This repository contains driver packages, FileRepository, third-party drivers, and inbox drivers (pre-installed drivers).
The Windows Driver Store is where drivers are stored in Windows 11 and 10. This repository, located at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore, contains the FileRepository folder, which contains all folders of individual drivers on your computer (more on these folders later), to verify and validate drivers before installation, ensuring stable device installation and driver rollback capabilities.
As stated above, the Windows Driver Store is located at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore. Below is how to access it.
The individual generic or built-in drivers and all other drivers are found in the FileRepository within the Windows Driver Store. That means the DriverStore folder is the parent folder for all drivers.
The following sections explain these locations in detail.
The Windows Driver Store location for the built-in drivers, i.e., generic drivers that come pre-installed on your computer, is the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder. Below is how to access this folder.
To access the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder, i.e., where drivers are stored in Windows 10/11 (built-in drivers), you can follow the steps below.
The SYS files that you see in the Drivers folder of installed drivers are the system files of drivers needed by Windows. These files are commonly used to store drivers.
Also know: Best Ways to Open Unknown File on Windows
In addition to general system improvements, Windows updates bring updated drivers for different hardware components. C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository is the Windows 10/Windows 11 driver location for drivers installed through Windows updates. Below is how to access it.
You can follow these steps to access the FileRepository for drivers installed via Windows updates.
In the FileRepository folder, you will find individual subfolders for all drivers on your computer. Each of these subfolders contains multiple files, such as the .sys files, INF files, and other related files.
The .sys files are the actual driver files. On the other hand, the INF files are text files containing the information that Windows needs to install a device driver on your computer. This information includes a particular driver’s name and location, the version number of the driver, the driver’s registry information, etc. You can also locate the .inf files in C:\WINDOWS\inf.
Deleting files in the FileRepository is not recommended, as it can lead to system instability if you delete the wrong file, breaking hardware functionality and leading to crashes or errors.
Moreover, Windows locks the FileRepository files to prevent accidental deletion by users or malicious software, as these files are crucial for hardware.
Even if you delete these files to clean up disk space, often only minimal space is freed. Hence, the risk of deleting the files in the FileRepository is greater than the reward.
However, if you still choose to delete these files, here is how to do it.
If you manually install drivers for specific hardware components or peripherals through third-party software, Windows lets you choose the installation directory.
However, the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder is the default and recommended Windows 10/Windows 11 driver location.
Storing drivers in the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder helps Windows easily identify and access them whenever required.
While Windows does not recommend changing where drivers are stored in Windows 11/10, you can modify the location of drivers if Windows does not recognize the manual driver installation automatically, you need to reinstall or update specific drivers to fix compatibility or performance issues, or you want to back up or transfer drivers to another system. However, you must be very careful while doing so to avoid system instability or errors.
If you wish to find out more about where a specific driver is located on your computer, how to view details of a driver, and how to create driver backups, below is everything about it.
Also know: How to Map a Network Drive in Windows 11
You can use a built-in tool called Device Manager to locate a specific driver. The Device Manager is a centralized tool that allows you to manage hardware devices and their drivers. Below is how to use it.
If you want to know the details of a particular driver on your computer, you can use the same Device Manager tool. Here is how.
Before making any changes to the device drivers, you can copy the C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository contents to an external drive to create a backup so that you can restore them if anything goes wrong.
Now that you understand where the drivers are stored in Windows 11/10, i.e., in Windows Driver Store (located at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore), how to find drivers, view driver details, and create a backup, we hope it will help you manage your device drivers effectively for the best system performance. However, if you have any questions about this guide, do not hesitate to leave a comment.
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