How to install a driver when there's no installation .exe file to run

LookinAround

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[center]Installing a Driver when there's no Installation .EXE file to run[/center]

Drivers typically download as an EXE or ZIP file...

When a driver downloads as an .EXE file, you only need double click the .EXE. The EXE file installs the driver for you

If a driver downloads as a .ZIP file: Extract the content and save to a folder on your Desktop. Open the folder and look if there's a Setup.exe file
If you see a Setup.exe double click to run it
  • On occasion the setup file may be named something else
  • If you happen to see a file named Uninstall.exe, ignore it. It's the uninstaller, not the installation EXE

But if the top level of the folder doesn't include a Setup.exe installation file, try directing Windows to the folder you want it to install
  1. Open Device Manager. Right click the the device you want to install. Select Update Driver
  2. Click No, not this time then Next
  3. Click Install from a list or specific location then Next
  4. Check Include this location in the search then Browse to the folder you saved on your Desktop (I.e. the extracted ZIP file) then Next
  5. If Windows thinks the driver in the folder is a match for the device you selected, it will install it. Reboot to allow driver installation to complete
Once driver installation is complete you can delete the folder on your Desktop. (But you may want to save it somewhere should you ever need to reinstall the driver again)

TIP: fyi.... When you use this method to direct Windows
> Windows is looking for .INF files in the folder (Windows ignores EXE files in this case. It looks for INF files to tell it how to do the install)
> If there are no INF files in the folder, Windows won't even let you select the folder when you Browse in step 4​
 
Oh man....I have been trying to figure out how to do this for 3 days....thank you for a simple solution...dell's website insisted it would all just magically happen.
 
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