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Roll Back a Device Driver to a Previous Version

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use this procedure to return to an earlier version of a device driver.

A newer version of a device driver often adds functionality and fixes problems that were discovered in earlier versions. Rolling back a driver can cause the loss of that new functionality, and can reintroduce the problems that were addressed by the newer version.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.

To roll back to a previous version of a driver

  1. Open Device Manager.

  2. Right-click the device for which you want to roll back to the previous version of the driver, and then click Properties.

  3. Click the Drivers tab.

  4. Click Roll Back Driver.

  5. In the Driver Package rollback dialog box, click Yes.

Additional considerations

  • By default, membership in the Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum group membership required to modify device drivers on the computer. A standard user can modify a driver package only if the device setup class for the driver is in the Allow non-administrators to install drivers for these device classes computer policy. For more information, see Controlling Which Devices Can Be Installed by Standard Users.

  • The Roll Back Driver button is only available if a previous version of the driver was installed. If the current driver for the device is the only one that was ever installed on this computer, then the Roll Back Driver button is not enabled.