Backing Up Your Drivers Before a Windows Reinstall
How to export every third-party driver on your machine into one folder you can re-apply after a fresh Windows install.
Why Backup Drivers At All
If you are about to reinstall Windows and your laptop has obscure or hard-to-source drivers — fingerprint readers, tablet pens, ancient docks — backing up the existing drivers first can save hours of hunting through OEM support pages later.
The good news is Windows itself includes a built-in command for exactly this: 'pnputil /export-driver * C:\DriverBackup' from an elevated command prompt extracts every third-party driver into one folder.
Restoring After a Reinstall
After Windows is freshly installed, point Device Manager or pnputil at the backup folder to reinstall the drivers. 'pnputil /add-driver C:\DriverBackup\*.inf /subdirs /install' walks the folder and installs every INF it finds.
Most modern Windows installs find their own drivers via Windows Update, so this technique is mainly useful for the genuinely obscure devices that Windows' catalogue does not cover.
- pnputil /export-driver * C:\DriverBackup
- Reinstall Windows
- pnputil /add-driver C:\DriverBackup\*.inf /subdirs /install
When the Backup Will Not Help
Driver backups capture only third-party drivers — built-in Windows drivers belong to Windows itself. They also do not include vendor companion apps, which need to be reinstalled separately.
If you are switching between major Windows versions (10 to 11, x64 to Arm), some backed-up drivers may not be compatible. Always check vendor support pages for the specific Windows release you are installing.
Quick Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions readers send us most often on this topic.
No — only third-party drivers added to the driver store. Built-in drivers reinstall with Windows itself.
Drivers can move between PCs of the same model and the same Windows architecture. Across different hardware they often will not install.
Yes — it is the official Windows tool for managing driver packages.
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