The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by stp

I thought Windows usually pops up with a new hardware dialogue when it finds something attached that's not set up?

It depends on whether Windows can just pull the driver out of its ass or not when it tries to auto-install generic drivers. Windows can't account for every 3rd party hardware/software combination. It can load generic drivers for the most common things that work on the same generic level, but that list is limited due to the vast array of different software out there with different coding and methods that it can't simply predict or be sufficient to support.
It's why hardware manufacturers ship their product with drivers to begin with.

Furthermore, Windows is ass bad at actually searching the internet for drivers. 90 percent of the time when you select the option to search for a driver, it will either say you have the best version already, or it can't find it, and it won't even look past its own generic driver if it even has one. Which is why it's a good idea to get drivers from hardware manufacturers, and why that's not a cliche' but usually a necessity.

Also, the integrated camera on her laptop isn't a plug-and-play device, and that's where you get that prompt.