Win XP and drivers.

[mingsoup]

Windows 7 is awesome. On install it found and installed all my devices and then windows update, proceeded to update all the drivers through windows update.

Windows XP with SP2 slipped, is lacking. I installed it, and pretty much nothing was recognized. Windows Update also failed at giving me any drivers. This results in me scouring the web for drivers, installing the wrong ones, and just in general wasting my time.


How can I make Windows XP Sp2 more adept at installing hardware? Can I make Windows Update grab drivers for me? Why isn't it right now? Can I modify my Windows XP install disc somehow to increase its driver count/ability to install devices right off the bat. I know I can add specific drivers, but I don't want to be system specific. I would like a rather universal disc. Even if I did somehow make my XP install disc more beefy with more drivers, could I make XP more capable of finding and installing new drivers from Windows Update? Why doesn't XP Windows Update grab drivers for me like Windows 7 does?

I can't use Windows7 yet, because my current workgroup, doesn't support it yet. Or else I'd just use Windows 7 (duh 😛, I know)

Thanks

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: mingsoup
How can I make Windows XP Sp2 more adept at installing hardware? Can I make Windows Update grab drivers for me? Why isn't it right now?

Because XP doesn't and Windows 7 does. That's why!

You could try something like DriverPacks (formerly Uniform Windows XP CD or UXPCD), which seeks to integrate drivers for nearly all non-obsolete hardware into an XP install CD.

 

[pcslookout]

It is also easier to have two different video cards installed on the same pc as well in Windows 7. Like a ATI and Nvidia video card. I think it is a lot more trouble to do this on Windows XP or Vista. Don't plan on trying it anytime soon though.

 

[Nothinman]

How can I make Windows XP Sp2 more adept at installing hardware?

Slipstream the drivers into the disc yourself, that's about it.

I know I can add specific drivers, but I don't want to be system specific. I would like a rather universal disc.

There's no magical drivers that will handle everything, you can only add specific drivers.