Installing mobo drivers without a optical drive?

[grendel0501]

This is the first rig I have built without a disc drive.
And I kind of feel like I painted myself into a corner, not being able to install windows or drivers like I normally do.
But this is the future. And in the future we must adapt to things. Like RGBs.

I have a USB copy of windows, and I'm guessing I need to copy the drivers for my new Z390 onto a USB drive to install them.
But I thought you had to make it into windows to install USB drivers in the first place. Or am I confused here? and USB would work fine for a first boot install of mobo drivers and windows?

 

[EarthDog]

USB drivers (2.0 and 3.0) are native and most ports work out of the box. It is the ones driven by third party controllers that need drivers.

So yeah, install windows, chances are it picks up your network card, hti the mobo website and install chipset, ME, audio, and whatever else is NEEDED.

 

[grendel0501]

USB drivers (2.0 and 3.0) are native and most ports work out of the box. It is the ones driven by third party controllers that need drivers.

So yeah, install windows, chances are it picks up your network card, hti the mobo website and install chipset, ME, audio, and whatever else is NEEDED.

So ethernet drivers should also be pre-installed?
I'm use to having to have atleast the ethernet driver to get to the point where internet will allow me to find the other drivers.

My plan was to pre-load a usb drive with the mobo drivers and install those after the usb copy of windows is done installing.

 

[EarthDog]

They should, yes. What board is it and what type of network card is on there (see mobo website specs page)?

I typically use a laptop or another PC in the house to get my drivers.

 

[grendel0501]

They should, yes. What board is it and what type of network card is on there (see mobo website specs page)?

I typically use a laptop or another PC in the house to get my drivers.

When upgrading I usually keep the old parts and upgrade the 'guest' computer. So I'll have a functioning pc around should I forget something.

The board is a newer Z390 Aorus Pro from Gigabyte, I'm not sure about the network card, Gigabyte's site lists it as a Intel GBE LAN.

 

[EarthDog]

YOu should be all set bud...you have a source for the files, go get em and have them on hand for post windows install.

 

[Woomack]

Usually Intel LAN drivers are already in Windows. Some top series motherboards need nearly the same drivers but with slightly different ID and for some reason Windows can't find them. Anyway, if you can copy that to USB drive then you should be fine.

On Z370/Z390 motherboards I'm usually installing fresh Windows from USB drive as at least all Intel USB ports are working (so most USB on these motherboards). Later if there is no LAN driver then I copy it on the USB drive and just download drivers/update OS. Windows Update should have most of other drivers. I'm not using drivers from CD/DVD as usually there are older versions anyway.

 

[grendel0501]

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/Z390-AORUS-PRO-rev-10#support-dl-driver-chipset

Which of these do I really need? I'll be using HDMI audio from the GPU with Nvidia's drivers, so I really don't need the audio drivers.
There are 3 chipset choices, do I need all of those?
After that LAN is the only other driver I think I need.

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Also, I'm lucky I just bought windows 10, because Gigabyte doesn't seem to have windows 7 versions of their drivers.

 

[trents]

After you get Windows 10 installed, check in Device Manager and see if there were any devices that Windows 10 didn't already install drivers for. Those would be the only ones you need to go to Gigabytes website for or to the GPU manufacturer's website or whatever manufacturer's website appropriate for whatever device Win 10 didn't already install a driver. I think when you check in Device Manager you will find most or all devices are already covered by the built-in drivers that come with Windows 10 or those it automatically finds on the internet if your LAN is already active.

If your LAN is not active after installing Windows 10 that really is the only one you need to install. Once connected to the internet Windows will search for and install the others unless the hardware is really really new. Things have changed a lot since the last time you built a computer. Now days, most or all hardware manufacturers work directly with Microsoft and distribute their drivers through Microsoft updates.