Windows 7 compatible with Vista / XP drivers ?

[Larry ward]

Previously i was using HP laptop DV 6700 than i came to XP due to some reasons, but there is no XP drivers on HP's site and Lots of drivers for vista.Now i am wondering, will the vista drivers work on windows 7 ??

[Twitter]

Vista drivers seem to be fine for windows 7
both 32bit and 64bit
if your in doubt install the 32bit OS and you shouldn't have a problem finding any drivers

They should work just fine. There aren't any Windows 7 drivers available yet for anything. Most stuff that worked on Vista should work on Windows 7 also.

Most people who "downgraded" to xp when they bought laptops or desktops may have found that xp drivers for some of their hardware were missing, especially for laptops. When upgrading to 7, it would be nice to know that you would have all your drivers. I still haven't found xp drivers for some things on my laptop.

[Michael Sabin]

Microsoft says that, in most cases, the Vista drivers -- software that makes hardware like printers or monitors operate with a PC -- will work fine with Windows 7, which is the successor to Vista that is coming later this year. In some cases, where Windows 7 has features Vista lacked, such as its multi-touch screen features, new drivers will be required. Hardware manufacturers may also choose to do new Windows 7 drivers to take advantage of under-the-hood improvements in the new version. But Microsoft claims the Vista drivers will work in the vast majority of cases.

If you are running the much older Windows XP, as many folks are, and Windows 7 doesn't automatically work with your hardware, you may need to obtain a new driver.

[Orlando]

In general Vista drivers should work out of the box because the driver model didn't change. There may be problems with security settings and access rights maybe. All you can do it install the Beta and try yourself, that is the whole reason behind a Beta.

The most part VISTA drivers will work, you may have to right-click on the file and do a compatibility check.

i successfully used vista(32) drivers for my ancient esi wave terminal 192m - i believe that win7 uses the same driver architecture as vista