No internet after a Windows reinstall? Save your network drivers first

Before you reinstall

1. Plug in a USB stick with enough space.
2. Save the drivers of every network card in the PC, cable, Wi Fi and USB Wi Fi, to the stick.
3. Save your tuned settings to the stick as well, so you don't have to set everything again.

After the new Windows is in

1. Plug in the stick and install the saved network drivers.
2. Once you have internet, let Windows Update bring the other drivers, then install the graphics driver and the makers' apps as usual.
3. Put your saved settings back in one go.

Network drivers are all you need to save. The rest comes once you have internet, and drivers Windows already has don't need saving.

Didn't prepare?

• Share your phone's internet over a USB cable (USB tethering). Most phones work with Windows without a driver.
• Use another PC to download the network driver from the motherboard or laptop maker's site and copy it to a USB stick.

Let Savenz Optimizer do it

The New Windows page of Savenz Optimizer saves the drivers of every network card together with the program to a folder on your USB stick. Saving needs no admin rights. On the new Windows, open the program from the stick and press Put back all to get internet. Windows checks every driver's signature itself and only installs one that suits a card better than what it has. The same page saves your tuned settings before a reinstall and puts them back in one go.