Most driver updates are fine, but when one is not, you want the smallest fix that works. Go from the gentlest option to the strongest, and stop as soon as the problem is gone.
Something that worked yesterday fails today: no sound, a black or flickering screen, a network adapter that vanishes, a device with a yellow warning. Check when it started against Settings → Windows Update → Update history and any driver you installed yourself. Timing is a clue, not proof.
Open Device Manager, double-click the device, open the Driver tab and click Roll Back Driver. If the button is greyed out, Windows has no earlier driver saved for that device. Choose a reason, confirm and restart.
If you exported your drivers earlier (pnputil /export-driver * D:\Drivers), install the old one again with pnputil /add-driver D:\Drivers\<folder>\*.inf /install. Note that Windows chooses the best-ranked matching driver, so it may keep the newer one. To remove the newer package first, find its name with pnputil /enum-drivers and remove it with pnputil /delete-driver oemNN.inf /uninstall. Do not use it for network, storage or system drivers unless you have another way to recover.
System Restore (search for 'Create a restore point' then System Restore) puts drivers and system files back to an earlier moment without touching your documents. It needs System Protection to be turned on. It is not a backup of your files.
Hold Shift while choosing Restart, or let Windows fail to start twice; you reach the recovery menu. Use Startup Settings → Safe Mode, then roll the driver back there, or use System Restore from the recovery options. For a stubborn case keep the maker's support page and a recovery USB at hand.
Rain Driver does the export, checksum and restore steps for you — but every step above works without it.
Last updated: 2026-10-01
No previous driver version is stored for that device, for example after a clean install.
No. It changes drivers, system files and settings, not your documents.
Export, verify and restore the drivers you actually need.
What it means and the safe order to fix it.
Driver, firmware or hardware? A safe way to tell.
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