Windows 7: Clarification please re drivers for Windows 7

Hi

First off, apologies if this is already posted someplace.

I'm relatively Windows-literate, but admit to being confused on how to deal with drivers. I will be doing a clean install of Windows 7 on my laptop (Dell D631, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb HDD, currently Win XP Pro) and want to be in good shape re drivers required. I'm confused as to where to go to have the right drivers available before I start the install... what comes with Windows 7, what do I need to go to manuf websites for, what do I go to microsoft.com for, what about the Catch-22 of... "don't have the right (eg) network driver, and can't get onto the web due to this, to GET the right network driver..." etc etc.

Apology #2 - this might be a real basic question. Thanks in advance for help. Nice forum!

Good question

Win 7 should pick up most if not all of your drivers when you install. It did on my dell. If you're installing 32 bit it will be pretty straight foward, 64 bit dell is not keen on so their driver support is lacking

Ken

hello piattj and welcome to sevenforums,

dell.com would be a good place to start for you - just tap in your service tag in the right box, and you will be taken to the relevant diver download page. del don't seem to have drivers for 7 yet, but the vista ones will work. obviously you will need the 64 bit drivers and install the 64 bit OS to make the most of your ram.

download the drivers now and keep them in a safe partition or drive/disc, so you can use them after the install if needed. as zigzag says, you might not need them as the install picks up a good amount of hardware, but it's a good idea to have them just in case.

have fun with your new os!

Thanks for the amazingly quick replies... so the summary is - find out about current devices on laptop, go to Dell website to download what's available (use Vista 64 bit drivers as Dell don't seem to have posted Windows 7 drivers much yet), have these available on (eg) USB to use where the Windows 7 install doesn't take care of finding & installing the driver?

Thanks!

Yep

And we will be here if you need us. You wont

Ken

I personaly prefer using a usb memory stick to download the drivers to it's alot eaiser

I just installed Windows 7 x64 on my Dell M1530 laptop and the OS found all drivers apart from the Nvidia 8600GT video card. The only other software I needed was the webcam software but the Vista 32 bit program that I downloaded from Dell worked.

Glad you are working

Grats. Hope you had no trouble installing the Video Drivers.

johnyfalco or anyone else ... please clarify - you said "the OS found all drivers apart from Nvidia..." - does this mean that Windows 7 (or the install process) provided all the (except Nvidia) required drivers? Were they included in the Win 7 distrib or were they gotten off the web during the install or...what? Can you give a little more detail about how the drivers were found... thanks (just putting my teeny mind at rest...)