Snappy Driver Installer 1.12.9

A full review of Snappy Driver Installer, a free driver updater tool

By
Tim Fisher
Photo of Tim Fisher, Lifewire GM and Writer
Tim Fisher
Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability
  • Emporia State University

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

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Updated on December 1, 2022

Snappy Driver Installer (SDI) is a powerful free driver updater tool for Windows that can store its entire collection of drivers offline.

Having offline drivers gives Snappy Driver Installer the ability to have access to fast driver updates, even if it can't find an active internet connection.

Screenshot of Snappy Driver Installer Origin v1.9.0
What We Like

  • Downloads run through the program so you don't need to use a web browser.

  • Can download drivers for use offline.

  • Supports bulk driver downloads and installs.

  • Downloads at full, unrestricted speeds.

  • No limit to the number of downloads and updates that you can perform.

  • Completely free from advertisements.

  • Will optionally create a Restore Point before driver installs.

  • It's portable, so it doesn't need to be installed to your computer.

What We Don't Like

  • It's a little confusing to use.

  • Can't create a schedule that checks for updates.

This review is of Snappy Driver Installer version 1.12.9.749, released on November 13, 2022. Please let us know if there's a newer version we need to review.

More About Snappy Driver Installer

  • Snappy Driver works with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
  • Drivers are downloaded through Snappy Driver Installer in what are called driverpacks, which are just collections (packs) of drivers for various hardware like sound devices, video cards, etc.
  • Options off to the side of Snappy Driver Installer (in Expert mode) let you filter the results to show drivers that aren't installed but need to be, drivers that are newer than what is installed, and display current or older drivers only
  • Snappy Driver Installer can also show duplicate drivers and invalid drivers
  • Information for drivers can be seen like the manufacturer and HardwareID as well as the installed driver's and available driver's date and version number
  • You can use Snappy Driver Installer to locate and open the INF file for installed drivers
  • Updates that require you to restart your computer are called out as such so that it's easy to distinguish them from the rest; restarts don't happen automatically so that all the drivers have a chance to install

Thoughts on Snappy Driver Installer

Snappy Driver Installer is a nice program for not only finding which of your devices require a driver update but also finding the specific, proper driver that devices need as well as actually installing the driver for you.

Unfortunately, Snappy Driver Installer isn't nearly as easy to use as similar programs like Driver Booster or DriverPack Solution, but it's still pretty self-explanatory. After having Snappy Driver Installer download the driver updates your computer needs, you can use the side menu to select and install all of them.

Something that we should mention again is how Snappy Driver Installer can be used for offline driver updates. We love this feature because it means you can download lots of drivers for many different devices at once, but not install any of them on that computer. You can then load those drivers into Snappy Driver Installer on any computer, even if it doesn't have a network connection.

You'll see a few EXE application files for Snappy Driver Installer once you've downloaded the program from the link above. One is called SDIO_x64 and is for 64-bit versions of Windows. See Am I Running a 32-bit or 64-bit Version of Windows? if you need help choosing the right one.

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