Lesson 3: Installing, Updating, and Troubleshooting Windows Vista Device Drivers

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Practice 1: Configuring Windows Update Driver Settings

In this practice, you will configure the Windows Update Driver Settings. These settings deter-

mine how Windows Vista will use Windows Update to locate new drivers when a new device

is connected. The possible settings are to check automatically for drivers each time a device is

connected, to ask whether the check should be performed when a new device is connected, or

to never perform the check. To configure the Windows Update Driver settings, perform the

following steps:

1. In the Start menu, click Control Panel. If the Device Manager icon is not displayed, click

Classic View in the left pane.

2. Double-click System.

3. Under Tasks, click Advanced System Settings. Click Continue to close the User Account

Control dialog box.

4. Click the Hardware tab.

5. Click the Windows Update Driver Settings button.

6. In the Windows Update Driver Settings dialog box, select the Ask Me Each Time I Con-

nect A New Device Before Checking For Drivers option, as shown in Figure 1-23.

Figure 1-23

The Windows Update Driver Settings dialog box

7. Click OK to close the dialog box.

8. Click OK again to close the System Properties dialog box.

Practice 2: Configuring System Failure Options

The Windows Vista system failure setting determines the amount of debugging information

that Windows Vista provides if a STOP error occurs. By default, Windows Vista performs a

kernel memory dump and then automatically reboots. If you are trying to determine which

driver is causing the STOP error to occur, you will want the STOP error screen to remain dis-

played until you have had time to jot down as much information about the error as possible.