{"id":98019,"date":"2025-05-26T17:49:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T17:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.auslogics.com\/en\/articles\/?p=98019"},"modified":"2025-06-20T14:46:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:46:49","slug":"what-are-device-drivers-and-why-are-they-crucial-for-your-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.auslogics.com\/en\/articles\/what-are-device-drivers-and-why-are-they-crucial-for-your-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Device Drivers and Why Are They Crucial for Your PC?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Windows relies on computer drivers to recognize and communicate with hardware devices like your mouse, keyboard, and graphics card. But what are drivers, and how do they work? Let’s find out together.<\/p>\n

Whenever your Windows runs smoothly and your hardware devices respond correctly and consistently, it means your device drivers are working fine.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, you’ll likely experience various software and hardware problems.<\/p>\n

Keep reading to learn all the basics about drivers and why they are the regular culprits for most major Windows problems, from game crashes<\/a> and lags to blue screens of death (BSODs)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What Are Drivers in Computers?<\/h2>\n

Device drivers are programs designed to help hardware components understand and execute instructions from users and Windows. First, they carry identification information that allows Windows to recognize devices, then they help interpret instructions to allow Windows and these devices to communicate and work together.<\/p>\n

For example, a driver tells your graphics card to display specific pictures on your laptop or monitor screen, depending on what Windows wants it to show. Your CPU, motherboard, and other internal and external devices also require drivers to work.<\/p>\n

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Drivers don’t have user interfaces like other regular programs. However, some hardware manufacturers install accompanying GUI applications when you install device drivers. AMD Radeon Software<\/a> and the NVIDIA App<\/a> (formerly GeForce Experience) are examples. <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

While drivers are mostly designed by hardware manufacturers, some can be written by Microsoft if the hardware device follows a published standard. Examples are plug-and-play devices like keyboards and mice.<\/p>\n

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Need help with your PC?<\/div>\r\n\t
Try our Ask a Question<\/a> service — our experts will diagnose and resolve your PC issues completely free of charge.<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

What Does a Driver Do on a Computer?<\/h2>\n

Let’s break down what drivers do when installed:<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"IMG\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Device identification<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Drivers hold information that helps Windows recognize a device and what it can do. For example, when you connect a new mouse, the driver tells your operating system you just plugged in a pointing device. It also provides other device information, such as the name of the manufacturer, hardware ID, make and model, and driver version.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Drivers\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Windows recognizes mouse device and provides details, thanks to its driver<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

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\r\n \"IMG\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Communication between devices and the operating system<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n

Device drivers act as interpreters that tell hardware devices what Windows expects them to do. For instance, when you move or click your mouse, the driver tells your operating system to move the pointer or select something.<\/p>\n

Drivers also facilitate communication between third-party applications and hardware components. Graphics card drivers are usually fine-tuned to work with specific types of games.<\/p>\n

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Third-party applications always go through the operating system to communicate with drivers. But this can still be done in ways programmed to make the app, like a game, work better with specific devices. <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

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\r\n \"IMG\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Communication with other drivers and devices<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n

My descriptions of device drivers so far are oversimplified explanations. Other technical driver-to-driver communications happen under the hood to help the operating system and other applications use devices correctly.<\/p>\n

Windows typically sends requests to devices through driver stacks<\/a>. A driver stack is a vertical chain of drivers that passes down I\/O requests to devices in different formats. Each driver in the stack translates requests from one format to another until the last driver in the chain provides the final translation for the device.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Windows\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Driver stack illustration. The stack begins at the application layer and ends at the device level. Image source: Microsoft<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

In some cases, requests are transmitted through multiple driver stacks.<\/p>\n

For example, when you connect an external storage device to your computer via a USB port<\/a>, the device’s driver speaks to the USB root hub’s driver stack, which also communicates to the USB host controller. The host controller then transmits requests to the computer’s PCI hub on the motherboard.<\/p>\n

The driver that communicates directly with the hardware device in the chain is called the function driver, while others are called filter drivers.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"IMG\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Feature introduction<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n

Device drivers are used to deploy new features, primarily through updates. When your driver is updated, you’re installing a new driver version, which usually contains upgrades and, in many cases, new hardware features. For example, you may experience better sound quality after new audio drivers are installed<\/a> and support for new games when you update your graphics card drivers.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Device\r\n <\/div>\r\n
AMD driver new game support<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

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\r\n \"IMG\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
Device management<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/strong><\/p>\n

Drivers manage how devices behave. For example, an audio driver controls how sound is played through your speakers and determines how the audio card consumes power.<\/p>\n

What are drivers saved as, and where can I find them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most device drivers are stored in the C:\\Windows\\System32\\Drivers or C:\\Windows\\System32\\DriverStore<\/em> folder. They are mostly saved in these folders with the .sys<\/em> file extension and are called dynamic link library files.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Most\r\n <\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n

However, other file extensions, such as the following, are also associated with drivers:<\/p>\n