Driver Installing after Fresh Install of XP without internet

This problem has always boggled me and I have not found a proper solution yet. The thing is many of my friends ask me to do fresh installs of their PCs. I use an image I downloaded from here around 4 years back and it still runs great. However, here is where the problem comes. If I do not backup the drivers before reinstalling Windows, I do not have a way to get the drivers then. And this is a problem in the cases where Windows is corrupt and doesnt openand hence I cant backup drivers.
Further they are using old PCs with custom configurations so I cant even log onto the official brand site such as HP or DELL and download the drivers for a specific model. And if an internet connection is not available then I need to download the respective drivers in my laptop at home and then transfer to a USB and then install on the required PC.
What I would like to know is how to counter this problem? Is there a DRIVERS CD image available on the forum which can help me? Or how can I know which model is the hardware so I can remotely download the necessary drivers and then install?
Please help. I am really in a fix due to this. Thanks a bunch guys.in advance. Namely the driver which I want are Video, Audio and Ethernet.
PS: Buying a new PC or taking the PC in question to a tech shop is not the solution I am looking for.
Answer #1
If you install AIDA64 that will give you information on all the hardware of the computer it’s installed on. You can then note down the details, go home, then download the necessary drivers from the manufacturers sites, or via Google.
If I get stuck I usually try this site to see if they have it …….. http://www.station-drivers.com/
There are driver CD’s and DVD’s available online which have an abundance of all sorts of different drivers on them but I don’t know where to get those apart from doing a torrent search. If you download one of those make sure all the compressed files are open then do an automatic search of the DVD (via Device Manager and the item you want the driver for) to see if there is an available driver.
Here’s an example of the sort of driver DVD you can get …………… http://~ Disallowed ~.cc/software/software_type/utilities/edi5126.html
Answer #2
Thanks a lot Im gonna try out asap.
Answer #3
You can use Driver Genius.
It can back up the drivers and then restore them to your new build.
It can also find updated ones as well.
Not something I use all the time…But in your case,especially, it would be handy
http://www.google.com?t=15172837&highlight=
Answer #4
, I do use Driver Genius. But like I said, there are cases in which I cannot backup the drivers due to windows not loading and an internet connection is not present for that PC in question so Driver Genius is not helpful. So I need a way to identify what hardware is present in order to download the relevant drivers from another PC having internet connection.
And driver Genius does not list the name of the hardware model which requires driver updates. It just gives a lis of the category such as Audio and the device and then itself can download the updates for them. So its not helpful in a PC with no internet connection.
Answer #5
I found some driver DVDs..
http://www.google.com?t=19707626&highlight=
Answer #6
Thanks