{"id":31537,"date":"2023-01-06T15:33:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T10:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=31537"},"modified":"2023-08-09T23:18:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:48:25","slug":"find-unnecessary-drivers-windows-assessment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-unnecessary-drivers-windows-assessment\/","title":{"rendered":"Find Unnecessary Device Drivers in your Windows PC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your Windows installation may get bloated over time with unwanted device driver packages. The driver store may accumulate drivers that aren&#8217;t required by the system &#8212; i.e., the hardware no longer exists, or another package has superseded the driver.<\/p>\n<p>You can remove device drivers in Windows using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/free-up-hard-disk-space-windows\/\">several methods<\/a>. <strong>But<\/strong> how do you find out which drivers are unnecessary for the computer? What if a device driver is currently in use by hardware? The Windows Assessment Toolkit tells that exactly.<\/p>\n<p>The Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) has the &#8220;Driver Verification&#8221; feature, which can find unwanted and obsolete drivers on the computer. It also lists the driver INF file names and the corresponding device names.<\/p>\n<h2>Driver Verification Using Windows Assessment Toolkit<\/h2>\n<p>Download Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) from <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows-hardware\/get-started\/adk-install\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this Microsoft link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the setup screen, select Windows Assessment Toolkit. This feature also installs the &#8220;Windows Performance Toolkit&#8221; and &#8220;Windows IP over USB&#8221; tools.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_0.png\" alt=\"Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) setup screen\" width=\"746\" height=\"548\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After installing, open &#8220;Windows Assessment Console&#8221; from the Start menu. It launches the following file:<\/p>\n<pre>C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\Assessment and Deployment Kit\\Windows Assessment Toolkit\\amd64\\splashlauncher.exe<\/pre>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the Windows Assessment Console Dashboard.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31544\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_6.png\" alt=\"Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) - Dashboard\" width=\"814\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_6.png 814w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_6-768x565.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 814px) 100vw, 814px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Click &#8220;Run Individual Assessments&#8221; and select the &#8220;Driver verification&#8221; checkbox.<\/p>\n<p><em>(The test takes less than 5 minutes. On our systems, it completed in just over a minute.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Click Run.<\/p>\n<p>After completing the assessment, the &#8220;View Results&#8217; or the summary page appears.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31539\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_1.png\" alt=\"Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) - Summary page\" width=\"857\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_1.png 857w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_1-768x708.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 857px) 100vw, 857px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This assessment tool can find the following items:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Unnecessary drivers<\/li>\n<li>Multiple drivers<\/li>\n<li>Devices missing drivers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Unnecessary Drivers<\/h3>\n<p>Expand &#8220;Unnecessary drivers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31540\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_2.png\" alt=\"Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) - Unnecessary drivers\" width=\"475\" height=\"164\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ll see the unnecessary drivers list (with the corresponding OEM##.inf file names) and the driver&#8217;s description, manufacturer, and version. This list is similar to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/driver-uninstall-completely-windows\/\">DISM Get-Drivers<\/a> command&#8217;s output. However, the following list contains only the unwanted drivers. This tool saves the user a lot of time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31541\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_3.png\" alt=\"Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) - List of drivers and devices\" width=\"901\" height=\"667\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_3.png 901w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_3-768x569.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 901px) 100vw, 901px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>(If you&#8217;d like to backup the drivers to a folder before uninstalling them, check out the post\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/drivers-backup-restore-windows-10\/\">How to Backup and Restore Device Drivers)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Select a driver from the list and see the quick notes in the right pane. As per this tool, an &#8220;unnecessary&#8221; driver is one that&#8217;s not associated with any of the available hardware devices. It could be a software or service driver.\u00a0If you do not use this software\/service, you might consider removing it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31542\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_4.png\" alt=\"Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) - quick note\" width=\"462\" height=\"486\" \/><\/p>\n<h4>Uninstall each &#8220;unnecessary&#8221; driver<\/h4>\n<p>The command-line syntax to completely uninstall a driver package (from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/open-elevated-command-prompt-windows\/\">admin Command Prompt<\/a>) is below:<\/p>\n<pre>pnputil \/delete-driver oem##.inf \/uninstall \/force<\/pre>\n<p><em>(See also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/driver-uninstall-completely-windows\/\">How to Completely Uninstall a Driver in Windows<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<em><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:<\/strong> Except for &#8220;Canon G2010&#8221; (which was offline during the assessment), none of the hardware devices exist on the computer. It was surprising to see my old HP Deskjet driver on the list. I uninstalled all the items in the list (using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/driver-uninstall-completely-windows\/\">PnpUtil console tool<\/a>) except Canon, OneNote, TP-Link, and XPS drivers. The TP-Link Wi-Fi adapter device is not connected at the moment, but I use it once in a while.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Devices with Multiple drivers<\/h3>\n<p>When you update a device driver, the superseded package remains on the computer. Therefore, you may clear them as well.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31543\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_5.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1212\" height=\"301\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_5.png 1212w, https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/wdk_driver_assessment_5-768x191.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1212px) 100vw, 1212px\" \/><br \/>\n<em>(open the image in a new tab to see the contents clearly)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Check the &#8220;Current driver version&#8221; and &#8220;Driver version&#8221; in the above table. Note down the older version of the driver and uninstall it.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, you can use Disk Cleanup and delete the obsolete &#8220;Device driver packages,&#8221; as in the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/delete-old-drivers-windows-update-disk-cleanup\/\">How to Delete Older Versions of Device Drivers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3830\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/cleanmgr-driver-cleanup.png\" alt=\"delete old driver package disk cleanup\" width=\"375\" height=\"470\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/remove-old-printers-add-printer-list-windows-10\/\">How to Completely Remove Old Printers<\/a><\/div>\n<p>Deleting unnecessary driver packages from the driver store helps you reclaim disk space and decrease the chances of driver migration errors, especially <code>0xc1900101<\/code> and 0x80070002 &#8211; 0x20007 SAFE_OS phase INSTALL_DRIVERS operation, during Windows Setup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your Windows installation may get bloated over time with unwanted device driver packages. The driver store may accumulate drivers that aren&#8217;t required by the system &#8212; i.e., the hardware no longer exists, or another package has superseded the driver. You can remove device drivers in Windows using several methods. But how do you find out &#8230; <a title=\"Find Unnecessary Device Drivers in your Windows PC\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-unnecessary-drivers-windows-assessment\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Find Unnecessary Device Drivers in your Windows PC\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,8,869],"tags":[954,953],"class_list":["post-31537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-utilities","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-drivers","tag-pnputil"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3836,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/drivers-backup-restore-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":31537,"position":0},"title":"How to Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 10 and 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This article tells you how to backup and restore the device driver packages in Windows 10 or 11. The task can be accomplished using the DISM, PowerShell, PnPUtil, or the Driver Store Explorer app. Let's see how to backup and restore device drivers in Windows 10 and Windows 11. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"driver store explorer - export drivers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rapr-export-drivers.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rapr-export-drivers.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rapr-export-drivers.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/rapr-export-drivers.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5801,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-operating-system-version-incompatible-startup-repair\/","url_meta":{"origin":31537,"position":1},"title":"The Operating System Version is Incompatible with Startup Repair [Fix]","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing updates on your Windows 10 computer, your computer may get stuck at a black screen when loading Windows. And the Startup Repair tool kicks in every time and records the following error in the SrtTrail.txt log file: The operating system version is incompatible with startup repair. This error\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perform System Restore Rollback Offline","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/system-restore-offline-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/system-restore-offline-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/system-restore-offline-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6281,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/prevent-wu-driver-update-automatic-realtek\/","url_meta":{"origin":31537,"position":2},"title":"How to Stop Windows Update from Installing Driver Updates","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Windows Update has the habit of pushing driver updates silently into your system. Sometimes, the drivers offered by Microsoft for your devices may cause problems. It's always the best idea to only update the drivers directly from the device manufacturer's site. Sometimes, we may have to roll back the drivers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"policyplus - device ids block driver update gpo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/policyplus-block-driver-update-gpo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/policyplus-block-driver-update-gpo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/policyplus-block-driver-update-gpo.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/policyplus-block-driver-update-gpo.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/policyplus-block-driver-update-gpo.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26088,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/get-enhancements-tab-speaker-properties\/","url_meta":{"origin":31537,"position":3},"title":"How to Get Back Enhancements Tab (Loudness Equalization) in Speaker Properties","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing the audio driver update or upgrading the Operating System, you may notice that the \"Enhancements\" tab is missing in the Speaker\/Microphone properties window. The Enhancements tab provides options to configure Bass Boost, Virtual Surround, Room Correction, Loudness Equalization, and other features. Cause The \"Enhancements\" tab may disappear after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/audio-driver-update-devicemanager.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9422,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-feature-update-error-0xc1900101\/","url_meta":{"origin":31537,"position":4},"title":"Error 0xC1900101 Installing Windows 10 Feature Update","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When you install a Windows 10 feature update (eg., v1809 on a computer running v1803) via Windows Update, the error 0xC1900101 occurs and the installation fails. Error 0xC1900101 is a rollback code that indicates that an incompatible driver is present on the computer. Microsoft stated in its blog post that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"0xc1900101 windows 10 1809","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/0xc1900101-error.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/0xc1900101-error.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/0xc1900101-error.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/0xc1900101-error.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27968,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/defender-core-isolation-memory-integrity-incompatible-drivers\/","url_meta":{"origin":31537,"position":5},"title":"Fix: Cannot Enable Core Isolation Due to Incompatible Drivers","author":"Ramesh","date":"September 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"When you attempt to turn on Memory Integrity in Windows Security, the Windows Security page scans the drivers to check their compatibility with the Core Isolation\/Memory Integrity feature. If there are incompatible drivers found, the list of incompatible drivers is shown. You'll be asked to address the issue before enabling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"wmic sysdriver get info","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wmic-driver-info.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wmic-driver-info.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wmic-driver-info.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/wmic-driver-info.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}