SOLVED: Updating Samsung USB Driver Following A Windows 10 Upgrade
► Galaxy smartphone drivers are actually installed within the C:\Program Files\SAMSUNG\USB Drivers folder.
► Each software component of this driver package is separately saved (installed) into this folder.
► Whenever a major Windows upgrade occurs, as from Windows 7 to 10, the newer Windows version may NOT be COMPATIBLE with the prior Samgung USB driver software. Registry references to the old software will still exist, however, because the new version of Windows cannot identify, recognize or therefore update the remnants of this older, non-compatible driver. The device manager in the newer Windows version will thus find NO evidence of ANY installed Samsung USB driver, which prevents Device Manager from updating this driver package.
► If we download a newer, compatible driver directly from the Samsung website, its updater does see and recognize the older existing driver, left as a Registry remnant from the prior Windows installation. As a result, the updater informs the user that an existing driver is already installed, and asks if we would like to continue to install the new driver anyway. Answering NO does nothing to create a functional driver on your system. Answering YES causes the installation to proceed, only to fail about 75% through due to interaction with the previously installed remnants. Neither choice accomplishes anything to help us acquire an updated driver.
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► The solution is to first delete the prior driver’s registry entries, and then perform a standard install of a selected, updated and compatible driver package.
► It is considered too risky to manually remove so many registry entries. However the following approach works quite well: (1) Manually delete the “USB Drivers” folder under Program Files\Samsung. This removes the actual driver software that was referenced (pointed to) by the registry. Then (2) download and install the free Ccleaner product, and run its Registry cleaner to automatically purge (remove) the newly orphaned and unwanted Registry entries.
► You may now perform a standard install of your selected Samsung USB driver.
► Galaxy smartphone drivers are actually installed within the C:\Program Files\SAMSUNG\USB Drivers folder.
► Each software component of this driver package is separately saved (installed) into this folder.
► Whenever a major Windows upgrade occurs, as from Windows 7 to 10, the newer Windows version may NOT be COMPATIBLE with the prior Samgung USB driver software. Registry references to the old software will still exist, however, because the new version of Windows cannot identify, recognize or therefore update the remnants of this older, non-compatible driver. The device manager in the newer Windows version will thus find NO evidence of ANY installed Samsung USB driver, which prevents Device Manager from updating this driver package.
► If we download a newer, compatible driver directly from the Samsung website, its updater does see and recognize the older existing driver, left as a Registry remnant from the prior Windows installation. As a result, the updater informs the user that an existing driver is already installed, and asks if we would like to continue to install the new driver anyway. Answering NO does nothing to create a functional driver on your system. Answering YES causes the installation to proceed, only to fail about 75% through due to interaction with the previously installed remnants. Neither choice accomplishes anything to help us acquire an updated driver.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
► The solution is to first delete the prior driver’s registry entries, and then perform a standard install of a selected, updated and compatible driver package.
► It is considered too risky to manually remove so many registry entries. However the following approach works quite well: (1) Manually delete the “USB Drivers” folder under Program Files\Samsung. This removes the actual driver software that was referenced (pointed to) by the registry. Then (2) download and install the free Ccleaner product, and run its Registry cleaner to automatically purge (remove) the newly orphaned and unwanted Registry entries.
► You may now perform a standard install of your selected Samsung USB driver.
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