Answer Line: Move Your Old Drivers to a New Computer

I want to upgrade my computer but keep my old monitor, modem, and sound card. I don't have the disks that came with these. Where I can find the drivers for these peripherals?

Wilber Hernandez, West New York, New Jersey

You'll find the files you need in your C:\Windows\System, C:\Windows\Inf, and C:\Windows\Help folders. Unfortunately, separating these files from the rest of those folders' content is a long, boring, and near-impossible procedure.

So don't do it. Instead, copy the complete contents of these folders (probably about 100MB) from your old computer to a single folder on your new computer. Call the new folder C:\drivers. And don't worry about wasting space--you won't have to keep that folder for long.

Once you've transferred the old files and hooked up the old peripherals to your new computer, get your system running, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click the Device Manager tab. Now examine the listing for each type of device you've retained from the old computer. If the device does not have the correct name--for instance, if your display adapter is identified as 'VGA Monitor'--or if it has a yellow question mark/exclamation point icon, then you will need to install the old driver.

Double-click the device's listing to bring up the device's properties. Then click the Driver tab, followed by the Update Driver button. The resulting wizard will ask, 'What do you want Windows to do?' Select Search for a better driver. When the wizard asks where to search, check Specify a location, then uncheck any other checked options, and enter c:\drivers in the location field. Follow the rest of the wizard, answering each question according to your best judgment.

Once you have the drivers for your old devices in place, you can delete the C:\drivers folder.