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Quickly Resolve Driver Problems Using the Built-In Verifier.Exe Tool

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Quickly Resolve Driver Problems Using the Built-In Verifier.Exe Tool D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 15 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions D 826/1 Quickly Resolve Driver Problems Using the Built-in Verifier.exe Tool Using the information given in this article you will be able to: Pinpoint the faulty device drivers on your system, Solve driver errors to prevent Blue Screen STOP crashes, Fix problems with Verifier.exe in Safe Mode. Driver errors are the bane of many Windows users, and if you haven't come up against one yet you should count yourself lucky. Not only do faulty drivers lead to crashes, out-of-date drivers can drag down your performance. But it is not easy to identify the driver that is the cause of an error message or system crash. In this article, I’ll show you how to use the Driver Verifier Manager (Verifier.exe) to check all the installed drivers on your system in order to boost stability and Windows reliability and correct errors when you encounter driver problems. • Fix Half of All Hardware Errors Caused by Driver Problems ........................................................... D 826/2 • Run the Driver Verifier Manager on Your PC ........... .... D 826/3 • Analyse the Results of Your First Driver Test ... ............. D 826/6 • Solve Driver Problems Using the Driver Verifier Manager .............................................................. D 826/9 • The Different Driver Checks Explained in Detail ........... D 826/10 • Solve Driver Errors that Make Windows Constantly Re-boot .......................................................... D 826/12 The Windows Advisor May 2018 15 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 16 D 826/2 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions Fix Half of All Hardware Errors Caused by Driver Problems How Windows Drivers provide an essential interface between your uses drivers operating system and your PC’s hardware devices. To ensure that hardware developers don’t have to completely develop everything from scratch, Microsoft provide a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) which acts as a buffer between Windows and your device drivers. This means that Windows only has to load a small amount of driver code in order to function. Every hardware Each hardware device in your PC needs its own driver to device needs a allow Windows to use it. When Windows needs to get data driver from a device such as your mouse, the driver provides it in a suitable form that can be understood by Windows. The driver will also transfer instructions from Windows back to the device. Driver errors If there is an error in the driver subsystem, you will lead to Windows experience Windows crashes. If the error message names a crashes specific driver, you can quickly cure the problem: simply replace the faulty driver with the most up-to-date version available from the hardware manufacturer’s website, or use the built-in Device Manager to install the latest driver version from Microsoft. Blue Screen STOP errors are amongst the worst problems you can errors are often experience on your PC and are invariably caused by faulty caused by driver drivers. The most common STOP errors are as follows: faults • IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0xA • PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA 0x50 • ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY 0xBE • SPECIAL_POOL_DETECTED_MEMORY_CORRUPTION 0xC1 16 The Windows Advisor May 2018 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 17 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions D 826/3 • DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION 0xC4 • DRIVER_CAUGHT_MODIFYING_FREED_POOL 0xC6 • TIMER_OR_DPC_INVALID 0xC7 • DRIVER_VERIFIER_IOMANAGER_VIOLATION 0xC9 The causes of mysterious crashes or STOP errors are often Verifier.exe – unclear. If you suspect a driver is the cause but the driver a built-in name isn’t reported in the error message, you can check all Microsoft tool the installed drivers on your system and find any faulty drivers using a tool that is integrated into Windows. The Driver Verifier Manager (filename Verifier.exe) is integrated into Windows, 10/8.1 and 7. Run the Driver Verifier Manager on Your PC In order to open the Driver Verifier Manager: • On Windows 10, right-click on Start and select Run , Launch the type verifier into the Open line and then click on OK . Driver Verifier Manager • On Windows 8.1, press + R , type verifier.exe and click on OK . • On Windows 7, click on Start and type the command verifier into the search text field, then click on verifier.exe in the list of search results. Verifier.exe launches a wizard when it starts that gives you The wizard several options you can use to scan your drivers. Once provides various you’ve selected an option, the tool restarts and begins options analysing your system. The analysis process will load all of the drivers on your system in a special mode where they can be analysed. Windows then runs normally, but verifier.exe keeps a record of what the drivers on your system are doing. The Windows Advisor May 2018 17 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 18 D 826/4 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions Select the test to perform. We recommend starting with Create standard settings Next time you run the tool use this option to find information about your drivers The wizard will help you configure the Driver Verifier Manager Perform the first In the first step you need to select the drivers that you want test with the to test. The tool provides several options in addition to the standard default Create standard settings , but these are mostly of use settings to software developers. To begin your first test, select Create standard settings and then click on Next . 18 The Windows Advisor May 2018 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 19 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions D 826/5 If you suspect a particular type of driver to be causing your problems, choose Select driver names from a list To complete your check you have to restart your system then rerun the tool Select which driver types you want to check You can run the Driver Verifier Manager as often as you like. Choose which Firstly, run a test using the option Automatically select drivers to test unsigned drivers . If this doesn’t find any problems then repeat the steps and select the next option, then run the tool again. This way you can work your way through the options running the Driver Verifier Manager each time until you find the cause of your driver problems. If you’ve never installed any third party drivers on your system and have only used the default drivers supplied by Microsoft, then you can skip the first test, as all of the drivers on your system will be signed. The Windows Advisor May 2018 19 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 20 D 826/6 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions In this list you will see the drivers to be checked. The selection depends on which type of driver was chosen After clicking Finish the tool tells you to re-boot Once you set up the analysis on your system, re-boot your computer Driver files usually have cryptic names set by device manufacturers, so use the information in the Description column to check what each driver actually does. If you find that the Driver Verifier Manager will only check a few drivers, you can use the Back button to return to the previous options and select a different test that will check more drivers. This is also useful if you find a particular driver that you want to check is not included in the test. After running through all of the driver verification options, you will find the drivers that are causing problems on your system. You should uninstall these, or upgrade them to new versions from the relevant device manufacturer. Analyse the Results of Your First Driver Test Verifier Once you have re-booted your PC and launched Driver Verifier requires a Manager Verifier again, select the option Display information re-boot about the currently verified drivers and then click on Next . 20 The Windows Advisor May 2018 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 21 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions D 826/7 The tool will show a split window with settings that are to be checked on the left-hand side and drivers that are to be checked on the right-hand side of the screen. On the left side, select the type of check to perform and on Choose which the right-hand side, the driver. You can add new drivers to drivers you want be checked by clicking the Add button, then selecting the to analyse driver file. Similarly, you can remove drivers from the analysis by selecting the driver and then clicking the Remove button. Choose the drivers to check and click Next Make sure the checks you want to run are set to Yes Use this button to alter the tests performed Test each individual loaded driver To the right of the driver name you will see one of three Check the status possible statuses for each driver. The possible statuses are: of your driver The Windows Advisor May 2018 21 D826.qxp_May 2018 29/03/2018 14:53 Page 22 D 826/8 Driver Errors, Quick Solutions Status Description Loaded The driver is currently loaded and verified. Unloaded The driver is not currently loaded but it was loaded at least once since you restarted the computer. Never loaded The driver was never loaded. This status can indicate that the driver's image file is corrupted or that you specified a driver name that is missing from the system. Check on Click on Next and the tool will display a window showing your global global performance indicators that refer to the drivers and performance types of checks that you configured previously.
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