Method for automatically retrieving and installing device drivers across a network

A method for retrieving and installing device driver software across the Internet, comprising:

• detecting the presence of a device in a computer system during a boot cycle following a power up of the computer system;
• determining that no current driver is installed in the computer system for the device;
• reading a universal resource locator (URL) specifying the location of a current driver for the device from a non-volatile memory on the device;
• using the URL to communicate with a remote host across the Internet;
• retrieving the current driver for the device from the remote host across the Internet;
• and
• installing the current driver for the device on the computer system.

A method for facilitating retrieval and installation of device driver software across a network, comprising:

• storing a driver for a device at a location on a server coupled to the network;
• constructing a locator specifying the location on server and an address of the server on the network;
• storing the locator in non-volatile memory on the device;
• and
• using the server to make the driver for the device accessible to requesters across the network.