How to remove redundant compatible device drivers on Windows 10?

Question

I just experienced a failed video driver installation for Intel HD Graphics driver on Windows 10.

The failed ones are still shown as the compatible hardware. See below:

I have rolled back to the old 10.18.15. But I don't want to keep the 20.19.xx ones. So how to remove them?

use pnputil to remove old drivers: http://superuser.com/a/597395/174557 — magicandre1981, Dec 08 '16 at 16:41
@magicandre1981 Thanks, this should be better than my approach. Btw, any way to backup a driver's files? — smwikipedia, Dec 08 '16 at 23:58
dism can export drivers: https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/hardware/commercialize/manufacture/desktop/dism-driver-servicing-command-line-options-s14 — magicandre1981, Dec 09 '16 at 05:03
@magicandre1981 Could you change your comment into a reply so I can mark it as answer? — smwikipedia, Dec 16 '16 at 02:55

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 16 '16 at 05:15

You can remove the old drivers with pnputil.exe

run pnputil -e > C:\drivers.txt
open the file drivers.txt and look which .inf file is associated with the driver you want to remove
run pnputil.exe -d oem<NUMBER>.inf

This removes the driver correctly. If this is too complicated, you can use the tool DriverStore Explorer [RAPR]

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Click on enumerate, select the driver and click on Delete Package.

If you want to export your currently drivers you can use DISM

DISM /Online /Export-Driver /Destination:C:\destpath

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 08 '16 at 09:18

OK, I figured it out. Take the steps below:

Below is what it looks like after I kill one of the 20.19.xx driver.

2 Answers2