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Can Windows 10 Drivers Work on Windows 7?
3 min. read
Updated onMarch 4, 2024
updated onMarch 4, 2024
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If you’ve ever asked yourself the question ‘Can Windows 10 drivers work on Windows 7, then you came to the right place.
In some specific cases, you might want to try using Windows 10 drivers on your Windows 7 platform.
In today’s article, we will try and explore this possibility, and we’ll also discuss the details about why this option could or could not work.
Can I install Windows 10 drivers on Windows 7?
The short answer to this question would be: Possibly. It mostly depends on the driver you want and the software used for installing it.
Because of the large number of differences between the way different devices are built and work, there is no definitive answer to this question.
Are Windows 10 drivers backward compatible?
What we do know is that theWindows Device Model(WDM) drivers are forward-compatible and not backward-compatible.
This is just another fancy way of saying that Windows drivers are meant to work on newer versions of Windows rather than older ones.
This means that the WDM allows you to use drivers from Windows 7 on Windows 10 by default.
If that wasn’t the case, the drivers could not make use of the new features introduced in the new version of the operating system.
Can you make Windows 10 drivers work on Windows 7?
Note: Please be careful with what drivers you install on your operating system. Toavoid any issues, it is recommended that before installing any drivers you create a restore point for your system.
This will allow you peace of mind that you can always return to the previously installed driver setup without losing any data in the process.
Even though generally the drivers are not meant to be used by another OS, some drivers from Windows 10 will work on Windows 7.
In some cases, the driver itself is compatible with the newer version of Windows, but the installer package is not.
In order to overcome this hurdle, you can simply right-click the setup file and set it torun in compatibility mode. After doing this, you can simply follow the on-screen instructions and use the recommended settings.
How to install Windows 10 drivers on Windows 7?
To install a driver, you just need to run the setup file and follow the steps on the screen. If that doesn’t work, you can install the drivers manually by doing the following:
This helps when you want toinstall theBluetooth Peripheral Devicedriver for Windows 7.
We hope this guide helped you understand the reasons for all the answers given in this article. Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions relating to this issue in the comment section.
Vlad Constantinescu
Vlad might have a degree in Animal Husbandry and Livestock Management, but he’s currently rocking anything software related, ranging from testing programs to writing in-depth reviews about them.
He spent 3-4 years as a software editor at Softpedia and another year as a VPN specialist before he landed his current job as an author at Windows Report.
In his free time, Vlad enjoys playing guitar, doing jigsaw puzzles, researching cybersecurity, and even having a good read on rainy days.
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