Drivers are essential software for the functioning of a computer and it is a good idea to have a list of which ones are on your system. Most current versions of Windows (but not XP Home) come with a command-line method that makes it easy to create a list of your drivers. You can even create a file for spreadsheet applications that contains many details about each driver.

The “driverquery” command

Open a command prompt with elevated privileges (see this link) and enter “driverquery" (without quotes) to see a list of drivers. Of course, it is of more practical use to create a file containing the list and several formats are available using different switches with the command. The output of the simple command without switches can be sent to a text file by entering:
    driverquery > "%userprofile%\driver-list.txt"

I have used an environment variable to specify the User folder as the place where the list is placed but you can modify the destination to suit your personal preference.

To add more details and output the result in a table, enter the command:
   driverquery /v /fo table > "%userprofile%\driver-list.txt"

For a format with many details that a spreadsheet program  can read, use:
    driverquery /v /fo csv > "%userprofile%\driver-list.csv"

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This tips section is maintained by Vic Laurie. Vic runs several websites with Windows how-to's and tutorials, including  a computer education website and a site for learning about the command line.

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