# Installing drivers, do you reboot after each one or install them all then reboot once?



## newtekie1 (Feb 11, 2018)

I was reformatting my livingroom HTPC and re-installing all the drivers and this question just kind of popped into my head.  I'm just curious.


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## AlienIsGOD (Feb 11, 2018)

I only reboot when asked


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## Hockster (Feb 11, 2018)

I'll reboot after doing a package, like after all the motherboard drivers, then I'll typically do the rest as a group as well.


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## 95Viper (Feb 11, 2018)

I reboot when asked, too.  However, depending on the driver... I may just reboot anyway.


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## Kursah (Feb 11, 2018)

Install all and reboot when done. Never had issues going through that process that I can recall in any of the dozens of systems I've deployed in recent years and saves time. Do what works for you or that you're most comfortable with. 

I know some folks that believe its best to reboot after 2-3  driver installs. With modern systems and OSes I think this aspect might actually be less critical. YMMV though.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 11, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> I was reformatting my livingroom HTPC and re-installing all the drivers and this question just kind of popped into my head.  I'm just curious.


As a general rule, I slipstream drivers into the setup iso's for my personal systems. For client PC's, it depends on the OS. In years past on the 9X kernel based Windows it was important to start with the chipset drivers then video card followed by everything else with a reboot inbetween each. Because of the way the 9x kernel handled/organized drivers, it was important to get them in the right order. With 2k & XP, drivers were handled better and it was important only to do a reboot after the chipset drivers were installed. Everything else could be installed all at once, in any order, rebooting only after everything was installed. With Vista on up, it became important to reboot only once, after all drivers were installed.  However, there is no problem if you want to reboot after every driver install. It's just not needed anymore because of the way drivers are handled by the kernel.


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## psyko12 (Feb 11, 2018)

Got used to old fashioned way of rebooting after each install, but sometimes I reboot only when asked.


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## DRDNA (Feb 11, 2018)

I will always install the Chipset driver first and then reboot and install the rest of the Mobo drivers then reboot and let windows update from there


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## Bill_Bright (Feb 11, 2018)

None of the above! 

I reboot when "I" am ready to reboot, and not a second before! It would be very rare, if not totally unheard of, for one of my computers to need a reboot right now, before I could move on. So I finish what it is I am doing and when "I" am ready, I reboot. 

If installing/reinstalling my OS, it is the same thing. A new graphics driver is not going to stop me from installing a new network driver, or new sound driver. So I install them all, then when "I" am ready to reboot, I will. Windows will not get confused. It knows the difference between a graphics driver, chipset driver, and SATA driver.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 11, 2018)

Bill_Bright said:


> Windows will not get confused. It knows the difference between a graphics driver, chipset driver, and SATA driver.


True. From Vista forward drivers can be done all at once. But the 9x kernel OS's could easily get things mixed up. I think that is why people still wonder about it. I have clients that still do a reboot after every driver install on Windows 10. They don't realize they don't need to. But it doesn't do any harm. Microsoft has come a long way in the last 20 years in how Windows handles hardware interactions.


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 11, 2018)

Clean Windows install: I install all of the drivers (often via batch which uses flags to forego reboot) then restart (shutdown -r -t 0) at the end.
Graphics driver update: uninstall -> restart -> DDU -> restart -> install -> restart

I remember Internet Explorer 9 required a restart before install because there's two KB updates that were required and one of those needed a restart or IE9 setup would fail.  That's not a driver though.


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## Jetster (Feb 11, 2018)

I follow the directions. Sometimes when I have a system that is problematic I reboot every time. But typically just when it says reboot

This of course is only in a Windows install. Now I have done it and wait till all drivers installed then reboot. Most of the time this works but I've seen errors because of this.

And I always install chipset drivers and SATA drivers first, unless its an old system that you need a gpu driver to get the correct resolution


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## Deleted member 67555 (Feb 11, 2018)

I reboot when it's convenient for me and not until...
Been doing that since Vista... Unless I need something installed to install something else...
Not sure when the last time that happened was... Been awhile.


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## John Naylor (Feb 11, 2018)

It depends ... I have had the systems demand a reboot ... I have had multiple installs witha problem requiring a OS install.  I have even had utility softwater (back up in this instance) currpt a driver install.    Onew thing you should always do, unless you opted for the cheapest possible MoBo, is skip the installation of drivers "in the box".

1.  The higher up you go in proce, the MoBo often comes equipped with special drivers and programs with additional brand specifc improvements.  With utility software and some multimedia stuff, the "key code" is embedded in the code on the MoBo CD.  Don't use the CD, don't get the license.

2.  Also best to establish an 'out of box' working condition cause if ya call TS, that's what they may ask .  First think ya learn in TS training is the job is not to help the customer but to get them off the phone.  So yes, I have had those, please wipe the drive and reinstall the OS with supplied drivers first discussions with Asus.

3. Finally, also have to watch ... some drivers require that certain windows updates have been installed.

4.  Finally, some drivers are mutually exclusive, at least according to Asus.  Have no use for wireless on desktop  but when PC is being build, mo ethernet cable nearby so I used the Wifi to build ... move no office, connected ethernet and, at least accoridng to Asus, can only have one active at a time.


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## theFOoL (Feb 11, 2018)

I reboot after every Driver is Installed "or when told to by the Program" usually now nVidia doesn't need a restart after a new Display Driver . I use a Program called Driver-Booster and it hasn't let me down since version 3 (Now on 5.2)

Note: upon after the Driver Downloads it creates a Restore-Point before the Install


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 11, 2018)

Only when asked.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 12, 2018)

I reboot after chipset drivers, then GPU then Sound


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## Mussels (Feb 12, 2018)

With windows 10 i often dont even bother with the reboot

run all the installers at once, including my bulk VCredist, DX9, and dotnet installers, my commonly used programs (potplayer, MPC-HC, chrome) and then just fire up games or benchmarks before i even reboot

a very small amount of programs/drivers wont work correctly, but usually its something simple like manually starting their programs (launching the realtek exe, etc)


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## theFOoL (Feb 12, 2018)

Me too. I have my pc as a EMBY Media Server and dont have to restart unless a update requires it


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## Deleted member 67555 (Feb 12, 2018)

I had to reboot after installing NZXT's CAM suite.
I knew something recent needed a reboot but it didn't effect anything including my overclock I was using on the previous version so even it waited until I was shutting down.
Just saying... OS install reboots don't count because you don't have a choice.


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## qubit (Feb 12, 2018)

None of them, really. I voted for reboot when asked as that's the closes. I may well reboot when a driver doesn't ask for it, depending on the exact situation, but not usually after every driver.


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## Solaris17 (Feb 12, 2018)

Big stuff like chipset or AV anything that touches deep Ill reboot for individually.

Otherwise video editing reboot requests ,disk management software, GPU, USB  etc. I will do in waves and reboot in one go.


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## rtwjunkie (Feb 12, 2018)

I tended in the past to do a 2 to 3 groups of drivers, installing each group and restarting.  Last reinstall I did I ran through every one of them befor restarting.  W10 figured things out just fine.


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## MustSeeMelons (Feb 12, 2018)

Turns out I'm lazy, I only re-boot if I can't continue to work (the next driver fails to install/warning of a pending restart/the driver doesn't work).


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## ShiBDiB (Feb 12, 2018)

Where's the doesn't reboot option


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## fizhsmile (Feb 12, 2018)

Only reboot if it force me to, otherwise I click reboot later.


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## _JP_ (Feb 12, 2018)

You see, the great thing about Vista onwards is WDDM. I just install everything at once, the computer takes it like a champ and then reboot.


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## peche (Feb 13, 2018)

Install order and reebots:
chipset / motherboard, 
sound / ethernet
gpu / video controllers
Antivirus
office
*Reboot, *
Steam
uPlay
origin
EVGA Precision X
itunes
*Reboot*
then run W10 updates for a while, leave the install left, then last reboot, 

Regards,


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 13, 2018)

I dont have the patience to reboot after each so Ill do it all in one go. 

When reinstalling Windows especially, I have a bat file that points to my NAS that has a shared folder for "exes" which also contains my drivers for my computer and the bat file installs everything I want one thing at a time. This way I dont have to hunt around or try and remember what to install.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 13, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> When reinstalling Windows especially, I have a bat file that points to my NAS that has a shared folder for "exes" which also contains my drivers for my computer and the bat file installs everything I want one thing at a time. This way I dont have to hunt around or try and remember what to install.


I use to do something like this. Discovered how easy it was to work it all into an unattended setup and never looked back..


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 13, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I use to do something like this. Discovered how easy it was to work it all into an unattended setup and never looked back..


I havent done an unattended setup since the XP days. I was offput by MS killing the ability for us to wrap up windows updates into our builds.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 13, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> I havent done an unattended setup since the XP days. I was offput by MS killing the ability for us to wrap up windows updates into our builds.


?!? When did this happen?


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 13, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> ?!? When did this happen?


Well it happened YEARS ago. There was a website that you could go to that would host all the Windows updates and you could download them in bulk or individually rather than from MS yourself since it was harder to navigate. Then MS caught wind, took the sites down. I haevnt seen or heard of any site where I could do that since. So I stopped doing streamlined installs .


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## dirtyferret (Feb 13, 2018)

I install everything then reboot once, never had an issue.


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 13, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> Well it happened YEARS ago. There was a website that you could go to that would host all the Windows updates and you could download them in bulk or individually rather than from MS yourself since it was harder to navigate. Then MS caught wind, took the sites down. I haevnt seen or heard of any site where I could do that since. So I stopped doing streamlined installs .


I'm not sure that's right. Have downloaded cumulative updates recently, .MUI files, and slip-streamed them into a Win7 ISO. It never fails. What have you been using for creating ISO's?


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 14, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm not sure that's right. Have downloaded cumulative updates recently, .MUI files, and slip-streamed them into a Win7 ISO. It never fails. What have you been using for creating ISO's?


I don't anymore. I install everything and then create an image with acronis. But I used to use nlite


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## lexluthermiester (Feb 14, 2018)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> I don't anymore. I install everything and then create an image with acronis. But I used to use nlite


Acronis is very good and that's a great method. I used RT-7Lite. The main website has disappeared, but can still be downloaded form most download sites.


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## Athlonite (Feb 14, 2018)

Chipset drivers then reboot 
GPU, Sound, whatever else then reboot 
after that the only time you should need to reboot is newer GPU drivers or some system updates from MS


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## GoldenX (Feb 14, 2018)

I only restart when asked, except for the video drivers, I always restart after them.
First i go for chipset (and all the Intel crap), then video, after that sound, and finally the rest (lan, wlan, card reader, etc).


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