Scenario 5: No Driver Can Be Found for the device

In Windows Vista, the following steps must be performed for this scenario:

1. The user connects the device to the computer.
2. A balloon notification appears, saying "Installing device driver software, click here for status."
3. A Found New Hardware dialog box is displayed, indicating that Windows Needs To Install Driver Software For Your Unknown Device.
4. The user selects the Locate And Install Driver Software (Recommended) option from this dialog box and accepts the elevation prompt to search the driver path for a suitable driver.
5. The Found New Hardware wizard appears with the message "Insert the disk that came with your <name of device>.
6. Because the user doesn't have media containing the driver, the user selects Next in the Found New Hardware wizard to continue searching the configured driver path for a suitable driver.
7. After searching the configured driver path, no driver is found for the device, so the Found New Hardware wizard displays the message "Windows was unable to install your unknown device."
8. The user selects Back in the Found New Hardware wizard and selects I Don't Have The Disk, Show Me Other Options.
9. The Found New Hardware wizard displays the message "Windows couldn't find driver software for your device" and provides two options for the user to choose from: Check For A Solution and Browse My Computer For Driver Software (Advanced).
10. The user selects Browse My Computer For Driver Software (Advanced) and then specifies a local folder on the system where additional drivers are located. Unfortunately, the driver needed for the device is not in that folder, so the Found New Hardware wizard again displays the message "Windows was unable to install your unknown device."
11. The user selects Back again and this time selects Check For A Solution.
12. The Found New Hardware wizard again shows the message "Windows was unable to install your unknown device." After making 10 different decisions (which button to click or option to select), the user gives up and the device installation fails.

In Windows 7, the steps for this scenario are as follows:

1. The user connects the device to the computer.
2. A balloon notification appears with the message "Installing device driver software, click here for status."
3. When Windows has searched everywhere in the configured driver path and does not find a compatible driver for the device, another balloon notification message appears, saying "Device driver software was not successfully installed, click here for details." Clicking this link indicates No Driver Found and lets the user choose between always automatically searching Windows Update for the latest drivers (the default) or letting the user choose what to do. For more information on these options, see the section titled "Configuring Device Installation Settings" later in this tutorial.