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How to rebuild the Windows driver database

Sometimes a device without problem can’t work after installing or updating its specified driver in Windows 98/ME, and after reinstalling this driver, it still doesn’t work. If you don’t know what to do, you can try to rebuild the Windows driver database.

The Windows driver database includes all current driver programs on the system, these database packages are located in the WindowsInf files Drvdata.bin and Drvidx.bin.

If the driver is updated or changed, its information in the driver database is also changed. However, Windows will not check if your driver installation is successful or not. So if you encounter the problems I mentioned at the beginning of my article, you can rebuild the Windows driver information database to remove any information that doesn’t match the driver installation.

Specific steps as below:

Step 1. The driver programs should be well prepared before updating the driver database, because Windows will ask you to install this device after downloading.

Step 2. Navigate to Windows Safe Mode, press Windows and Break keys together to open System Properties sheet, and then enter Device Manager by clicking on it. Remove the problematic device from this list, then turn off this sheet. If your system asks you to restart the computer, choose No.

Step 3. Click Start and select Search, click all files and folders. Enter Drvdata.bin and click Search. Right-click Drvdata.bin, choose Rename, and change its name to Drvdata.xxx.

Step 4. Follow the third step above to rename Drvidx.bin to Drvidx.xxx.

Step 5. Reboot and enter normal mode. Windows will then create the driver database and prompt you to install the device. Place your driver diskette or browse to its specified location on your hard drive and install the device.

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