4 ms·

The first time you plug a new brand of USB memory stick into a Windows 7 box, Windows goes out and downloads a driver for it. So it's automatic, and it's "plug

The first time you plug a new brand of USB memory stick into a Windows 7 box, Windows goes out and downloads a driver for it. So it's automatic, and it's "plug and play" in a sense, but it's just papering over the "driver disk" problem, not really solving it (i.e., eliminating the need for the custom driver). And if the company that made the device doesn't feel like updating their drivers... well, you're SOL, probably. Buy a new scanner. That's kind of an absurd situation. Yes, using USB is a little smoother than it used to be, but why is this the best we can do?

everyone 12y ago
It doesn't download it from the internet if that what you mean. Windows 7 comes with a big library of generic drivers included. I have a windows 7 machine that I've never connected to the internet or even a network and most things will have drivers installed automatically.
- ploxiln 12y ago
  That's true, if you plug in a usb flash storage device, windows has the standard class driver locally and installs it without any requirement on internet access. Same with standard keyboards and mice. But compare to linux. On windows, the first time you plug a particular model of usb device into a particular port, it takes 20 seconds to "install the driver" (and then it's almost instantaneous on future plugs of the same device into the same port). On linux, it's almost instantaneous, the first time and every time. New device, different port, still instantaneous. It doesn't really make sense why it would take longer the first time, or need to happen again when plugged into a different port. silly windows...
  - antsar 12y ago
    > need to happen again when plugged into a different port This, most of all! As a non-driver-developer, this seems completely insane.
    - TYPE_FASTER 12y ago
      Here's an explanation. It's old, but probably still accurate. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/11/10/255047.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/11/10/25504...
- whoopdedo 12y ago
  Not only that, but vendors nowadays figured out that they can embed a flash chip with Windows drivers in the device. When you first plug it in it shows up as a disk drive that autoplays the driver setup then ejects the storage device and that's when the actual endpoint is connected which can be handled by the newly installed drivers and UI software. Of course, autoplay has its own obvious drawbacks.
- Too 12y ago
  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2008/11/19/disk-space http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2008/11/19/disk-space. "Windows Vista with SP1 installs almost 1GB of drivers on the system to support plug and play of devices" Iirc there was a follow up on how much they removed of this for win 7 but I can't find it now.

everyone 12y ago

It doesn't download it from the internet if that what you mean. Windows 7 comes with a big library of generic drivers included. I have a windows 7 machine that I've never connected to the internet or even a network and most things will have drivers installed automatically.

ploxiln 12y ago
That's true, if you plug in a usb flash storage device, windows has the standard class driver locally and installs it without any requirement on internet access. Same with standard keyboards and mice. But compare to linux. On windows, the first time you plug a particular model of usb device into a particular port, it takes 20 seconds to "install the driver" (and then it's almost instantaneous on future plugs of the same device into the same port). On linux, it's almost instantaneous, the first time and every time. New device, different port, still instantaneous. It doesn't really make sense why it would take longer the first time, or need to happen again when plugged into a different port. silly windows...
- antsar 12y ago
  > need to happen again when plugged into a different port This, most of all! As a non-driver-developer, this seems completely insane.
  - TYPE_FASTER 12y ago
    Here's an explanation. It's old, but probably still accurate. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/11/10/255047.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/11/10/25504...
whoopdedo 12y ago
Not only that, but vendors nowadays figured out that they can embed a flash chip with Windows drivers in the device. When you first plug it in it shows up as a disk drive that autoplays the driver setup then ejects the storage device and that's when the actual endpoint is connected which can be handled by the newly installed drivers and UI software. Of course, autoplay has its own obvious drawbacks.
Too 12y ago
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2008/11/19/disk-space http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2008/11/19/disk-space. "Windows Vista with SP1 installs almost 1GB of drivers on the system to support plug and play of devices" Iirc there was a follow up on how much they removed of this for win 7 but I can't find it now.