Guide · Windows 11 and 10

How to back up all your drivers before reinstalling Windows

A folder of your working drivers saves you when Windows reinstalls without Wi-Fi or a storage driver. Two built-in commands make it in a minute.

Updated 5 October 2026 · 4 min read

Why back up drivers first

A clean install of Windows 11 or 10 usually finds drivers for most hardware through Windows Update. The exceptions are the ones that hurt: the Wi-Fi or Ethernet adapter, the storage controller, the touchpad on a laptop, or a specific audio or chipset driver. If the network driver is missing, you cannot download the rest. A folder of your working drivers, kept on a USB drive, turns a bad afternoon into a few minutes.

It is also the best safety step before removing old packages from the driver store.

What is included, and what is not

• Included: the third-party driver packages in the Windows driver store, which are the ones installed by Windows Update, your PC maker and your hardware vendors. Each is exported with all its files: the INF, the catalog and the driver binaries.
• Not included: drivers that ship inside Windows, which come back with Windows. Also not included are control-panel apps and companion software, such as a graphics control app, BIOS or firmware, product keys and your settings.

The backup also contains packages for hardware you no longer have, because the store keeps them. That is harmless, only larger.

Method 1: PnPUtil

1. Create a folder on a drive that will not be erased, for example D:\DriverBackup. An external or USB drive is better.
2. Right-click Start and choose Terminal (Admin).
3. Run pnputil /export-driver * D:\DriverBackup.

PnPUtil prints each package as it exports it, and creates a subfolder for each one. The export command needs Windows 10 version 1607 or later. To see what you have before you export, run pnputil /enum-drivers.

Method 2: PowerShell or DISM

Microsoft's Export-WindowsDriver cmdlet does the same for all third-party drivers from the running system. In an administrator PowerShell window:

Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination D:\DriverBackup

The DISM command-line equivalent is dism /online /export-driver /destination:D:\DriverBackup. Either method gives a folder you can use in the same way.

Restore after you reinstall

1. Install Windows and connect to the internet if you can. Let Windows Update install what it finds first.
2. Copy the backup folder back to the PC.
3. In an administrator terminal, run pnputil /add-driver "D:\DriverBackup\*.inf" /subdirs /install.

This adds every package to the driver store and installs it on matching devices. Microsoft notes that PnPUtil will not force a driver onto a device if it is not the highest-ranked match, so a newer driver that Windows Update has already installed is left alone, which is the right outcome.

To do it one device at a time, open Device Manager, right-click the device, choose Update driver, then Browse my computer for drivers, select the backup folder and keep Include subfolders ticked. Start with the network, then chipset and storage, then the rest.

Tips and pitfalls

• Keep the backup off the drive you are erasing. This sounds obvious, and it is the usual way people lose it.
• Do not copy the FileRepository folder instead. Microsoft says staged files should not be modified outside the normal process, and copying the store by hand is not a supported way to move drivers. Use an export.
• Prune first if the backup is large. A store with years of updates exports every old version. Removing superseded packages first, after a backup, keeps the backup tidy.
• Note the exceptions. Write down the model of your PC or motherboard, and keep the maker's support page link for firmware and utilities that a driver backup does not include.
• Test it. Open the folder and confirm it has subfolders with .inf files. An empty folder is not a backup.

In Cosmo Cleaner

Release 1.2.0 adds a Drivers tab with a Driver store view. Back up all drivers runs the PnPUtil export for you, as a job with progress, into Documents\Cosmo Cleaner driver backups\ followed by the date, or any folder you choose. Nothing leaves that folder, and Cosmo Cleaner never uploads it.

Restore from backup asks for a backup folder, creates a restore point first, then installs the packages it finds. Devices switch to a restored driver only when Windows ranks it better than the current one. Cosmo Cleaner asks for administrator rights for the steps that need them. You can also export an inventory of every driver as CSV or JSON, which is a handy list of what was installed on the old system.

Questions