FolderRisk: Do not touch
DriverStore C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore
Windows driver store: a trusted collection of inbox and third-party driver packages; manage it with pnputil.
What it’s for
The Driver Store is the trusted collection of driver packages: those built into Windows and third-party ones. Only packages in the store can be installed on a device, and Windows keeps them in this protected location on the local disk. When you install a driver, a copy is first created in this folder (staging), then the driver is installed from that copy.
What it contains
FileRepository: the driver packages, one subfolder per package (named after the INF, followed by a hash).
Risks and best practices
- Once files are in place, do not delete or modify them, and do not add anything outside the staging process: system behavior becomes unpredictable.
- To remove a driver, use
pnputil, never File Explorer. - The folder can grow large. The right cleanup is to delete old package versions with
pnputil.
Useful commands
# List third-party driver packages in the store (published name oemNN.inf, vendor, version)pnputil /enum-drivers
# Remove a specific package from the store (as administrator; oem42.inf is an example)pnputil /delete-driver oem42.inf
# Third-party drivers as seen by DISMGet-WindowsDriver -Online