Most new computers these days come with network cards preinstalled such as Ethernet network cards and wireless network cards. If your computer doesn’t a network card and you want to connect it to a home network, you’ll need to install one.
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Depending on your needs, you may even opt for a wireless network card. Either way, you’ll need to install the card along with network card drivers.
Computers with existing cards occasionally need new network card drivers too. For example, if the device drivers have gone missing, reinstalling the drivers will revive the hardware. When you find that you must reinstall network card drivers, you might as well check to see if updated drivers exist. Manufacturers often repair known problems with their hardware and issue these fixes in device driver updates. If a new network card driver is available, download and install that instead of reinstalling the device driver that you have on disk. By installing the latest network card updates, you’ll get the best of both worlds because not only will you solve your current problem such as replacing missing DLL files, yobut u’ll also get the benefits that the new drivers provide such as enhanced functionality or solved issues.
How to Install Network card drivers for Windows?
Installing network card drivers is easy with a new installation because you’ll have the installation discs. It’s a bit trickier updating device drivers for existing network cards because you may not know the model number or manufacturer. To find out exactly what hardware you have installed on your computer use the System icon found in the Control Panel and then click on Device Manager.
Device Manager lists each type of installed device by category. Look under Network Adapters. Here, you will see the installed network adapters such as Ethernet or wireless cards.
- Double-click the device for more details.
- When you double-click the device, you can also use the Update Driver button to search for and update your network card drivers automatically.
- Click on the Driver tab and then click Update Driver.
- Now, choose the automatic search button and follow the instructions.
- While handy, this option doesn’t always produce results.
- If no updates are found, that doesn’t mean that the manufacturer hasn’t released new network card drivers for your particular card.
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Go to the manufacturer’s website and search their download area for your specific network card and see if any drivers exist for it. Compare their version numbers and release dates to the information you discovered about your card in Device Manager. If a newer version exists, download it to your computer and make a note of the download location.
Make sure that you are paying attention to the details when selecting the new network card drivers. This includes downloading the correct driver for your model card as well as selecting the correct driver for your operating system. Minor details such as downloading the driver designed for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and 11 could lead to disastrous results.
Network drivers update
Once downloaded, you may need to unzip the files before installing them. If so, make a note of where they are being extracted. If you’re lucky the network card drivers will come in a self-executing installation file and all you will need to do is follow the directions. More likely, you will need to go back into Device Manager and click Update Driver once again. This time, browse to the location where you downloaded the new files and follow the prompts. You may need to reboot your computer in order for the changes to take place.
Installing and updating network card drivers isn’t difficult but it does require attention to detail and the know-how to identify your network card’s manufacturer, model #, and current driver version. Once you know how to update device drivers, it’s a simple matter of occasionally checking for updates to keep your network cards current with the latest updates.
