Selecting Drivers to be Verified

Drivers can be selected for verification by using the Verifier Command Line, or by using the Driver Verifier Manager graphical interface. There are two versions of Driver Verifier Manager — one for Windows 2000 and one for Windows XP and later.

Verifier Command Line

To verify all drivers, use the /all parameter.

To verify a list of drivers, use the /driver parameter.

See Verifier Command Line for details.

Driver Verifier Manager (Windows 2000)

To verify all drivers, select the Settings tab. Select Verify all drivers. Then press Apply.

To verify a list of drivers, select the Settings tab. Select Verify selected drivers. You will see a list of all drivers that were loaded in the system during the most recent boot.

The Verification Status column gives the current status for each driver. Possible Verification Status values are:

Enabled: The driver is currently being verified and will continue to be verified after reboot.
Disabled: The driver is not currently being verified, and will not be verified after reboot.
Enabled (Reboot Needed): The driver is not currently being verified, but the user has requested verification of this driver. This driver will be verified after reboot.
Disabled (Reboot Needed): The driver is currently being verified, but the user has requested an end to this verification. After reboot, this driver will no longer be verified.

You can select one or more drivers from this list and click the Verify or Don't Verify button. You can also right-click on the driver's name and control verification from the popup menu.

The Verify These Additional Drivers After Next Reboot text box allows you to enter the names of drivers not currently loaded on the system. Multiple names must be separated with spaces.

Once you have selected the drivers to verify, press Apply.

To deactivate all options and clear the verified driver list, select the Settings tab. Press the Reset All button. Then press Apply.

Driver Verifier Manager (Windows XP and later)

In the Windows XP and later Driver Verifier Manager, selection of drivers must be done after selection of options. See Selecting Driver Verifier Options for a description of this first step.

Once the first step has been completed, you will see the Select what drivers to verify panel. You can choose drivers in a variety of ways:

To verify all drivers, select Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer.
To verify a list of drivers, select Select driver names from a list and then press Next. You will see a list of all drivers that are currently loaded. (In Windows XP and later, the current verification status of each driver will not be indicated.) Check the box next to each driver that you wish to verify. To select drivers that are not on the list, press Add currently not loaded driver(s) to the list. This allows you to browse the system for the desired driver's file. Press Open to add that driver to the top of the list. You must then check the box next to this driver to select it for verification.
To verify unsigned drivers, select Automatically select unsigned drivers. A list of these drivers will be displayed. (If no such drivers exist, an error message will appear.)
To verify drivers built for earlier versions of Windows, select Automatically select drivers built for older versions of Windows. A list of these drivers will be displayed. (If no such drivers exist, an error message will appear.)

After you have selected the drivers to be verified, press either Next or Finish.

If you enabled Disk Integrity Verification, you will see a list of all physical disks attached to your computer. Check the box next to each disk that you wish to verify, and then press Finish.

To deactivate all options and clear the verified driver list, start Driver Verifier Manager and select Delete existing settings from the first screen. Then press Finish.

Reboot Required

Changes made to the list of verified drivers will not take effect until after the next boot.

In Windows XP and later, it is possible to change the list of drivers being verified without rebooting, if certain conditions are met. See Using Volatile Settings for details.