# Finding Drivers already on hard drive



## ForestFire0 (Oct 5, 2008)

I have a printer that is normally attached to a different computer, running XP, on my home network. My laptop has Windows 7 and has connected to this printer in the past. When I try to add the printer as a network printer, Windows finds it attached to the other computer and tries to find drivers on Windows Update. When it fails, it prompts me to provide the .inf or .in_ files myself. Since I have already used this printer, the appropriate driver must already be on my hard drive somewhere. I know it's in System32 or a subfolder, but I don't know what the name of the driver is.

So here's my question: how can I locate the driver for a Canon ip1600 printer if I know the driver is already on my computer somewhere?

There are three reasons I want to do this instead of just find the driver online somewhere. One, I know the driver I find on my hard drive will work, is correct, and is safe. I can't be sure of that from a driver I find online. Two, I have trouble finding drivers in the .inf format. The drivers on the Canon website are all executable programs that configure it for me. Third, I feel like I encounter this issue a lot, and if I knew how to find the drivers it would be a useful skill.

Thanks in advance.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

they are in the C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository - just point to that folder during the driver install and if its there, it should install.


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## ForestFire0 (Oct 5, 2008)

It didn't work, but thanks anyway for the response. I think I'm just going to give up. It isn't that important that I do this.


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