The Driver Roll Back feature, available in Device Manager in Windows XP, is designed to uninstall the current driver for a hardware device and then automatically reinstall the previously installed driver.
The biggest reason you might want to roll back a driver is if a driver update caused a problem or didn't fix a problem you expected it to fix.
Follow these simple steps to roll back a driver in Windows XP:
Here's How:
Open Device Manager from the System Control Panel Applet.
Note: There are several other ways of opening Device Manager in Windows XP as well, aside from Control Panel. It doesn't matter which way you choose.
With Device Manager open, locate the hardware device that you want to roll back the driver for.
Note: Navigate through the categories of hardware devices by clicking the [+] icon. Specific hardware devices are listed under the major hardware categories.
After finding the hardware you're rolling back the driver for, right click on the hardware's name or icon and choose Properties.
In this Properties window, click the Driver tab.
On the Driver tab, click the Roll Back Driver button.
Click the Yes button to the "Are you sure you would like to roll back to the previous driver?" question.
The previously installed driver will now be restored.
Click the Close button at the bottom of the device properties screen.
Click Yes on the System Settings Change dialog box that says "Your hardware settings have changed. You must restart your computer for these changes to take effect. Do you want to restart your computer now?"
If you can't see this message, you can click OK on the System Properties window and close the Control Panel window if it's still open. You won't be able to close the Device Manager tool until you confirm the computer restart.
Note: Depending on the device driver you're rolling back, it's possible that you won't see this message. If not, don't worry - consider the roll back complete.
Your computer will now automatically restart.
When Windows XP starts again, it will load with the device driver you had previously installed for this hardware.
Tips:
Driver Roll Back only allows you to roll back a driver one level. In other words, Windows XP only keeps a copy of the very last driver installed. It does not keep an archive of all previously installed drivers for the device.
Not a Windows XP user? See How do I Roll Back a Driver in Windows? for specific instructions for your version of Windows.
