How Do I Roll Back a Driver in Windows?

Question: How Do I Roll Back a Driver in Windows?

To roll back a driver in Windows means to return the driver to the version that was last installed for the device. Rolling back a driver is an easy way to return a driver to a working version when a driver update fails to fix a problem or maybe even causes a new problem.

Think of rolling back a driver as a quick and easy way to uninstall the latest driver and then reinstall the previous one, all automatically.

Answer: A driver can be rolled back to a previous version using the Driver Rollback feature located within the device's driver settings in Device Manager.

The specifics of using the Driver Roll Back feature in Device Manager differs a little depending on which operating system you're using so here are some guides specific to your version of Windows:

• How to Roll Back a Driver in Windows 7
  
  
• How to Roll Back a Driver in Windows Vista
  
  
• How to Roll Back a Driver in Windows XP

Note: The Driver Roll Back feature is not available for printer drivers. Driver Roll Back is only available for hardware that's managed within Device Manager.

Note: Drive Roll Back will only allow you to roll back a driver one level. In other words, Windows only retains a copy of the previous driver installed; it does not keep an archive of all previously used drivers for the device.