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I will reinstall windows 7 on my toshiba machine and I wonder if I need to do anything special for my drivers.

Does windows (or windows update) take care of them?

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It depends. Windows comes with lots of drivers, but if the system is very new, then Windows may not have the necessary drivers. If your network card is not recognized you will not have internet access until you install those drivers manually. So having the network card drivers, in particular, on hand prior to beginning the reinstall is very important.

It's always a good idea to have a USB thumbdrive or CD with at least the Network and Mainboard drivers on it prior to beginning the reinstall. That way you can at least get back online and then download any other missing drivers through Windows Update or from the manufacturer website.

UPDATES: Here's the step-by-step:

Step 1: Go to the Toshiba website and find where you download drivers for your specific computer. There should be an auto-detect function there to make it easy to find your specific computer.

Step 2: Download the Network Card, Wireless Card, and Mainboard drivers and save them to a thumbdrive or burn them to a CD.

Step 3: Reinstall your operating system.

Step 4: Check if you have internet access. Keep this information for step 6.

Step 5: Find if you're missing any drivers by going to the Device Manager.

Step 6: If you have internet, go to the Toshiba website again and download any drivers that you're missing. If you do not have internet, use the drivers you saved earlier to install your network cards and mainboard drivers. Then go back to Step 5.

Step 7: Install all missing drivers. Then install additional applications you want/need.

UPDATE: On that site use the "Refine Search By" drop downs to select LAN, WiFi, and Chipset in turn. Check the name of your specific device and compare it with the downloads labeled "Driver" on the site.

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thanks man! my model is Toshiba Portage R835. Where should I find the all the list of the Network and Mainboard drivers for my computer? can you help me with that? – tugberk Jan 13 at 16:15
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@tugberk Always go to the manufacturer's website for drivers. In this case Toshiba. Select your Windows 7 architecture (32bit/64bit) and category. – hesse Jan 13 at 16:40
ok, thanks! so finding driver software seems not to be a problem but will windows detect the missing drivers? I mean let's say I reinstall the windows and go to disk management, will I see the drivers there so that I can track which one is missing? – tugberk Jan 13 at 16:55
ow, sorry I wanted to write device manager. I came up with wrong as disk manager. So, now I get a full screen shot of all the devices under device manager before I reinstall the windows. I think, that would give me all the driver names? – tugberk Jan 13 at 17:06
hmm, good idea. I won't have an internet access, right? would you like to chat a little. I would appreciate that: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/2199/… – tugberk Jan 13 at 17:14
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