Driver Booster User Manual

About Driver Booster

Driver Booster is a must-have program for updating all out-of-date drivers on Windows. Obsolete drivers may degrade your PC's performance and even cause system crashes. Driver Booster, developed by IObit, provides the greatest one-click solution for quickly and securely updating outdated drivers, installing missing drivers, and fixing faulty drivers. In addition to updating drivers, Driver Booster also delivers various powerful features to improve system compatibility and stability.

System Requirements

Install Driver Booster

Uninstall Driver Booster

You can uninstall Driver Booster by following the Uninstallation instructions

Activate Driver Booster PRO

Note: A valid license key is required to activate the PRO version. You can click here to purchase one. Already have one but forgot? Go here to get it back.

Click the key icon icon at the bottom right of Driver Booster interface, COPY & PASTE your license code into the box, and click the check icon icon at the right side. Or visit here for step-by-step activation guidance with screenshots.

where to enter code

Update Driver Booster

Pro version users can always enjoy the latest version automatically with the Update automatically checkbox ticked by default in the Settings. FREE users can manually update Driver Booster by using either of the methods below:

Glance at Main Interface

When opening Driver Booster, you will see an eye-catching SCAN button. You can start a scan to check the status of drivers immediately. Furthermore, you can check the PC information by clicking the sidebar at the right side of the main window.

main screen of free version

Scan / Update

Driver Booster can assist you to update the outdated drivers effortlessly.

Scan for Driver Updates

Click SCAN to check the status of drivers. You can STOP the scan and re-scan at any time you want.

scanning screen

Note:

  • By default, Driver Booster scans automatically when it's launched. Go to Settings to disable the automatic scan if you dislike it.
  • You can also set your own driver-scan priority in Settings: Latest First or Stability First.
  • Auto scan settings

    Scan Result

    You can see the total quantity of outdated device drivers and outdated game components at the top of the scan results screen. The scan result depends on your PC condition. And Driver Booster scans for 4 issues:

    • Outdated drivers, dates of both the current version and available version are provided.
    • Missing drivers, the current status is "Missing Driver".
    • Faulty drivers, the current status is "Faulty ".
    • Not-installed game drivers, the current status is "Not Installed".

    scan result of driver booster

    Update Drivers

    You can follow either of the methods below to start the update:

    • Click Update Now at the top right to update all selected drivers.
    • Click Update at the right side of each driver line to update drivers one by one.

    update driver

    Generally, there are 3 stages for driver update:

    1. Download drivers. With breakpoint resume technology, you are allowed to stop anytime and Driver Booster will continue the download next time instead of starting over again.
    2. Create a restore point. If you disable the option 'Automatically create a system restore point before a driver is installed' in Settings, this stage will be skipped.
    3. Install the downloaded drivers.

    Note: For Pro version users, there may be one more stage – automatically back up a driver before it is installed, if this checkbox is ticked in Settings.

    updating

    The time needed for the update depends on driver size and download speed. You can choose Automatically reboot PC or Automatically shut down PC on the updating screen. After it's completed, you will get a countdown message to reboot PC or shut down PC accordingly.

    auto reboot or shut down pc options

    Boost

    The Boost module in Driver Booster offers two features: Game Boost and System Optimize.

    Game Boost

    Game Boost stops unnecessary apps/services to help you get a better gaming experience. You can just click Turn On to boost. Before the boost, you can click the Configure text link and select the items you want to stop to boost your game performance.

    game boost

    configure boost detail

    After the boost, you can click the Details text link to view all the stopped processes/services/apps. And you can click the Turn Off button to turn off Game Boost at any time.

    details about boosted processes

    System Optimize

    System Optimize helps clean up junk files, privacy traces and redundant registry entries, optimize your internet speed and system with the all-in-one product Advanced SystemCare.

    If you haven't installed Advanced SystemCare yet, clicking the Check Now button will guide you to install Advanced SystemCare for further optimization.

    system optimize window

    If you've already installed Advanced SystemCare, you can click the Run Now button to optimize your system with Advanced SystemCare.

    run advanced systemcare

    Tools

    Driver Booster provides you with 6 tools to Fix Common Problems and several Other Useful Tools. They are Backup & Restore, Fix No Sound, Fix Device Error, Clean Invalid Device Data, Fix Network Failure, Fix Bad Resolution, Offline Driver Updater, and System Information.

    These tools can help detect and fix some common problems like no sound, network failure, wrong resolution, update drivers offline, clean invalid device data, check the system & hardware information, and update programs to the latest versions. Besides that, the tool Backup & Restore can back up drivers, restore your drivers and restore your system to a previous good status. You can use these tools anytime by clicking the icon tools tab icon on the left side of the main interface and clicking the tool you need.

    tools in driver booster

    Note:

  • The tool Fix Device Error is only available for Pro version users.
  • For how the tool Offline Driver Updater works, click here for details.
  • Unplugged devices are those devices flagged with the unplugged icon icon in the driver list, which means they are not plugged into your PC at this moment. It is not a 'problem' and needs no 'fix'. But, if you are sure you won't use them anymore, right-click on the driver , and select Uninstall to uninstall them one by one.
  • uninstall unplugged device

  • If there are too many good-for-nothing unplugged devices, you can click the tool Clean Invalid Device Data to remove the invalid device data in bulk. You can also click the Ignore text link to keep the device data and clean the rest by clicking the Clean button.
  • Note: Clean Invalid Device Data will remove the unplugged device data only. The unplugged devices' drivers are still installed on your computer. When you plug them again, you can use them without any problems.

    clean unplugged device data

    Action Center

    Click the action center tab icon to open Action Center and learn more about how the other recommended well-known IObit products can help you with your computer. If you haven't installed them yet, it's strongly recommended that you click the Install now button to install them.

    If you are using Driver Booster Pro, you can also find an exclusive offer for Driver Booster Pro version users only to purchase other IObit programs and IObit trusted Partners' products at a very considerable discount here.

    Note: Clicking Hide at the top can keep the recommended programs out of sight if you are not interested in them.

    action center

    Auto Driver Update

    Note: Auto Driver Update is a PRO exclusive feature. You can enable it in the Settings.

    If the option 'Automatically update drivers while the system is idle' is ticked, Driver Booster will automatically 'download' the updates or 'download and install' the updates in the background when your system is idle.

    If you tick the 'Download and install driver & game driver updates' option, you can also select the types of drivers which you want to update automatically.

    auto update when the system is idle

    Restore Driver Updates

    To minimize the bad effect of any unexpected issues caused by driver updates, Driver Booster provides 3 strategies for easy repair: Driver Roll Back, Driver Restore, and System Restore.

    Roll Back

    In the scan result window of Driver Booster, you can click the drop-down menu button at the end of every listed outdated driver, and select Roll Back, if it is available, to roll back the driver to its previous version.

    And you can also click the version link (Available or Current) to open Drivers Details window to check whether you can roll back the driver to its previous version.

    roll back options

    roll back option

    Restore

    To restore a driver, you have backed up drivers first. Driver backup feature included in Driver Booster can help you back up drivers so that you can restore drivers when you need to.

    Note: Driver Backup is available for Pro version users only.

    Click the tools tab icon icon on the left side of the main interface and open Backup & Restore. If there is any driver version available for backup, it will be listed under the Driver Backup tab. To back them up, just tick the checkbox before them and click the Back Up button.

    back up drivers in rescue center

    In the Driver Restore tab, you can select the driver you want to restore, choose the wanted version, and click the Restore button to re-install the backed up (the previous) version.

    restore driver in rescue center

    System Restore

    Driver Booster creates a restore point before updating the driver by default. You can restore your system to a point according to Date and Time or Description.

    Note: Restoring system will undo all changes made after that restore point. Driver Booster supports manually creating or removing restore points.

    system restore in rescue center

    Ignore Unwanted Updates

    If there is any driver you don't want to update, you can click the drop down menu button at the right side of a driver line, and select Ignore to ignore either this driver update or all updates of this device.

    ignore driver updates

    ignore driver updates confirmation

    The ignored drivers won't be scanned for the corresponding updates until you recover them from the Ignored list in Settings:

    ignored drivers in settings

    Driver Update History

    Click the options icon icon at the top left of the main interface and select Driver Update History to check what operation you did about your drivers and components with Driver Booster.

    driver update history

    Silent Mode

    Silent Mode can help you a lot when you want to focus on what you are doing. Once you select the option Silent Mode in Settings, Driver Booster will automatically turn to silent mode when your full-screen task or specified program/game is running, which means you will not receive any notification from Driver Booster.

    If any program or game you want to stay focused on, just add it to My Specified Programs/Games list. You can also delete any program or game from the list as per your own needs.

    silent mode

    Configure UI

    Click the options icon icon, you will see the Skin options at the bottom left of the popup window. You can decide the color as you like.

    driver booster skins

    And you can click Settings to quickly change Language, Transparency, and Sidebar Style under General.

    UI settings

    Configure the Program

    Click the options icon icon, select Settings…, configure each function as per your needs, and never forget to click OK to save the changes. Clicking Recommended can restore to default settings.

    recommended settings

    Technical Support

    Every feedback from you is valued. To ensure you can reach us in time, we provide several feedback channels:

  • FAQs
  • It's recommended to read our FAQs before looking in the other sections for help. Because sometimes, the questions have already been answered before you ask them!

  • Program Built-in Feedback
  • Click the feedback icon icon at the top right of the main interface of Driver Booster to open the Feedback window. Make sure your Email Address is correct, choose a proper Request Type, and specify your feedback in Description. Besides, it will be very helpful if you can click Add Picture to send us screenshots of the related error messages if any.

    Note: In Feedback, it will intelligently provide you with a proper solution as per the Request Type you select. The following picture is an example.

    feedback request type

  • IObit Forums
  • Post your questions and concerns to IObit Forums and discuss them with many other experienced and enthusiastic users and our technical staff.

  • Online Feedback
  • Besides the above feedback channels, you can also give Online Feedback for email support. We will reply to you ASAP.

    Thank You

    Thanks to all Driver Booster users, who motivate us to make this product better and better.

    Thanks to IObit Forum Administrators, Super Moderators, and Moderators, who dedicate their time to assisting our forum visitors and keeping the forums running smoothly.

    Thanks to the following volunteer translators, who greatly help improve Driver Booster user experience and introduce it to more users worldwide:

    MFM Dawdeh,ShaJaraH, Павел Беливаков, Arnau Barrabeig, Jordi Rigol Ripoll, Deng Tingjuan, alan@tw, Lukáš Spurný, Jørn Runge, Ernie Wong, Veikko Muurikainen, JeuMeu, Roland LALIS, Nacho Lomidze, Hans-Juergen Koppatz, George Vardakis, Eli Ben David, Purwo Adi Nugroho, Claudio Birello, Nagai Tsuneo, JaeHyung Lee, Markflynn, Thor Stange, Mohammadmahdi Mansouri, Fresta, Igor Rückert, Fernando Santos, Cosmin Barna, Marina Weitz, Ilija Komljenović, dedko58, Marjan Mirai, Jadran Rudec, Roberto Paiva, Annelie Pernheden, Enis Özsaruhan, Андрій Мисак, Le Tien Dat Nguyen, Sinan Başar, Gátser József