Windows driver backup for business PCs, from built-in tools to full system backup

When a driver fails on an office PC, the printer stops printing, the docking station drops its monitors or the laptop loses its network connection. That employee can lose hours of work, and rebuilding the PC can take longer. A regular driver backup, stored off the device, lets you restore drivers quickly and get that person working again.

• What a driver is and why business PCs depend on drivers
• Why Windows driver backup keeps staff productive
• Whether free driver backup software is enough for several devices
• How to back up, restore and verify drivers with built-in Windows tools
• How full system backup protects drivers, files and the whole machine

Driver backup

Below, we compare the ways to keep backup drivers ready: free tools, built-in Windows commands and full system backup. By the end, you can choose the driver backup approach that fits how your business runs.

A driver is a small piece of software that lets your operating system (OS) talk to a piece of hardware, or in some cases to another program. Every computer runs dozens of them. Your keyboard, mouse, printer, Wi-Fi adapter, graphics card and webcam each need one, and without the right driver a device either misbehaves or does not work at all. The OS does not know the details of every device ever made. When an app wants to print, the OS hands the request to the printer driver, which translates it into the commands that specific printer model understands, then translates the printer’s replies back into something the OS can use. The driver is the interpreter between a general-purpose operating system and a specific device. There are three primary driver types:

Software drivers: This type enables communication between the OS and software applications. Its main function is to restrict or allow access to protected, sensitive data available only to applications in kernel mode. A software driver runs in kernel mode almost all the time.

Device drivers: These drivers enable communication between an OS and a target device. Manufacturers usually create drivers specific to their device (OEM drivers). Some are issued by third parties that follow a strict hardware standard.

Virtual drivers: They present something that is not physically there as if it were. VPN adapters, print-to-PDF printers and virtual disks created by backup software all use them.

Despite the name, not all device drivers communicate directly with the device. Sometimes several drivers are stacked to enable communication. Function drivers at the start and end of the stack talk to the OS or the device. Filter drivers in between convert the communication into formats the device understands.

Almost every device in an office needs a driver to connect to a computer. That includes keyboards and mice, shared printers and scanners, docking stations, webcams and headsets for video calls, and sound and video cards. Motherboard chipsets and network interface cards need drivers too.

Drivers in Windows 10 keep each computer and its connected devices working as intended. When a driver on an employee's PC is corrupted, that person can lose access to the tools they need for client work. Here's what can happen without a reliable Windows driver backup.

Corrupted drivers cause feature malfunctions, unresponsive devices or complete device crashes. They can also lead to:

• Blue screen errors
• Frozen displays
• Software glitches
• Sound issues during calls
• Slowdowns that hinder PC performance
• Limited access to applications

Manufacturer discs are a weak fallback. Discs wear out, nobody remembers where the printer's driver media went, and some manufacturers offer drivers only as online downloads.

Rebuilding a PC while hunting down each driver can take hours or days. A Windows driver backup stored outside the PC keeps every driver ready for recovery.

Driver backup software is an application that copies the drivers installed on a computer to a secure destination: a local disk, external storage or the cloud. Those backups help when a PC crashes, ransomware locks the office machines or an employee moves to a new laptop. You can restore drivers to the same PC or a new one.

You can back up and restore installed drivers with a dedicated driver backup program or a full system backup tool.

Ideally, every office device has its drivers backed up on a regular schedule. Then any Windows machine can return to work quickly, whatever caused the data loss.

The right driver backup software saves time for whoever handles IT and protects the drivers each machine depends on. If a system fails, is corrupted or is hit by a cyberattack, you need to restore drivers fast so staff can get back to work. Look for these features in device driver backup software.

Simple interface: The software should be easy to use and understand. It should detect the drivers on each computer automatically and copy them to backup in a few clicks. Recovery should be just as simple and fast.

Flexible scheduling: Backups should run on a schedule that doesn't interrupt the workday. A tool with low resource use can run in the background while employees keep working.

Central management: If you protect several laptops and desktops, you should be able to set and check backups from one place. Visiting each desk to run backups by hand is easy to postpone.

Data security: Backup drivers and files need strong encryption. A dedicated solution encrypts data at rest and in transit, so backups stay protected and ready for recovery.

Windows 10 includes two native tools to back up and restore drivers: Command Prompt and the Windows PowerShell command-line tool. No installation is required, and the process is straightforward.

Each method below creates a driver backup. Windows 10 and Windows 11 accept the same commands, so one process covers every Windows PC in the office.

Drivers backup via DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) commands in Command Prompt is a simple task.

1. Open "File Explorer" and create a new folder to store the driver backup. Press Ctrl + Shift + N to create it quickly.
2. Open the "Start" menu and type "cmd" in the Search box.
3. Right-click the top result and select "Run as administrator" to run Command Prompt with admin privileges.
4. In Command Prompt, type the following command and press "Enter": DISM /online /export-driver /destination: <path>

Replace <path> with the path to the backup folder you created. If you plan to reinstall Windows or set up a new computer for an employee, save the driver backup to an external drive.

The DISM export command copies every driver stored in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore. This approach backs up only .inf files. Drivers installed from an .msi or .exe package can't be backed up via Command Prompt.

Command Prompt also includes pnputil, a built-in driver tool. To export all third-party drivers in the driver store, run pnputil /export-driver * "path" as administrator and replace "path" with your backup folder.

PowerShell provides another built-in way to export third-party Windows drivers. Run the command on the Windows PC whose drivers you want to back up; PowerShell availability on other operating systems does not make Export-WindowsDriver a cross-platform driver-backup method.

To create a Windows driver backup with PowerShell, follow these steps:

1. Press "Windows + X" and select "Windows PowerShell (Admin)." On Windows 11, select "Terminal (Admin)."
2. Choose the driver backup destination and enter the following command: Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination <path>
3. Open "File Explorer" to confirm the backup files exist.

Again, replace <path> with the path to the backup folder you created.

Before you restore drivers, take a full backup of the machine. If a restored driver causes new problems, you can return the PC to its previous state.

To restore the driver for one device:

1. Open "Device Manager," right-click the device and select "Update driver."
2. Select "Browse my computer for drivers."
3. Choose your driver backup folder, check "Include subfolders" and click "Next."

To restore every driver in the folder at once, run this command as administrator: pnputil /add-driver "path\*.inf" /subdirs /install

Then run pnputil /enum-drivers to list the installed driver packages. Check that the drivers you restored appear in the list before you hand the PC back to the employee.

Sometimes, drivers in Windows malfunction, and that's normal. Before you rush to restore them from backup, you can try to update or reinstall them via Device Manager.

1. Type “Device Manager” in the Start menu search box, select Device Manager and press Enter.
2. Expand the relevant device category, right-click the device, select Update driver and choose Search automatically for drivers.
3. If Windows does not find an updated driver, check the device manufacturer’s support site.

If the driver is current but the device still fails, reinstall the device driver using the following steps.

1. Open the "Device Manager" as discussed in the previous section.
2. Right-click the device you want to reinstall.
3. Choose Uninstall device, then restart the PC.
4. Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver during startup.

Mac computers need less attention when it comes to driver backup. Windows drivers need extra care because Windows runs on computers from many manufacturers, such as HP, Dell and Lenovo.

Apple builds its own hardware and macOS, so driver updates are included when you back up the system. If your office runs both, focus your driver backup effort on the Windows machines.

Employees count on their computers and accessories to work, including keyboards, mice, USB flash drives and Wi-Fi. Keeping backup drivers has long been part of regular PC maintenance, because it keeps attached devices working.

Cyberattacks are common, and ransomware can lock every machine in an office at once. Without a driver backup, you may not have the tools you need to get systems running again.

The same applies when an employee's laptop dies or is stolen. Picture rebuilding that machine without a working keyboard driver or the network connection you need to troubleshoot.

Driver backup rarely gets the attention that client files and shared documents do, but it belongs in the same plan. If you want to test the idea, these free backup driver software options can back up drivers on a PC:

• DriverGuide Toolkit offers advanced technical support and adds 500 new drivers to its database daily.
• DriverMax backs up drivers and downloads driver updates at the same time.
• Double Driver saves backups as a structured folder, a compressed folder or a self-executable file for instant restore.

Be careful with websites that offer downloads of older drivers, since some can carry malware. Keeping your own driver backup means you don't have to search for a legacy driver online.

Like most free solutions, each of these options needs supervision, and that work grows with every device. You have to confirm that auto-updates are enabled and check that each backup ran.

The built-in Windows tools have no scheduling at all. Every backup is a manual task, so months can pass without one, and nobody knows until a PC fails.

Before you download a tool, check that it supports the Windows versions your office runs. Your backup should include both system and third-party drivers, so you can restore them quickly after you wipe and reinstall a PC.

Did you know? Setting up backup machine by machine is where gaps tend to appear. Acronis Cyber Protect protects office laptops, desktops and servers with one agent, one console and one policy.

If you have to rebuild a PC or recover from a data loss event, a Windows driver backup alone won't get the employee back to work. They also need their applications, settings and client files. A complete backup solution protects system drivers and files together, so you can restore both.

A full-image backup captures drivers automatically as part of the system disk. You don't need a separate driver export, and protection doesn't depend on someone remembering to run one.

Acronis Cyber Protect creates full-image and file-level backups of office devices. You can restore the whole machine, or search the backup for a single driver file and recover only that file. The same file-level recovery brings back an overwritten shared document or the client files from a stolen laptop.

Testing a new driver, printer software or Windows update carries its own risk. Take an image backup of the machine before you test. If the change causes problems, roll the machine back to that image.

Backups need protection too, because an attacker who deletes them removes your way back. Cyber Protect supports immutable backups, which can't be changed or deleted during their retention period. The same agent includes anti-malware and ransomware protection.

Neither capability guarantees recovery on its own, so test your restores. Rapid, verified recovery in Cyber Protect lets you confirm that backups restore before you need them.

Vulnerability assessment and patch management help keep Windows and applications up to date. Remote desktop lets you fix an employee's PC without visiting their desk. One console shows protection across every office device.

A computer malfunction or malware attack can sideline an employee until their PC works again. Recovery is fastest when every connected device works as intended. That makes a backup of device drivers a core part of keeping the business running.

You don't need to piece together a driver backup process and hope it works when something fails. Acronis Cyber Protect lets you protect every office device from one console and restore a single driver or a whole machine.