How to Find the Drivers Associated With a Device on Linux

1. Overview

Understanding the drivers associated with a specific device in a Linux system is an indispensable task for system administrators, developers, and technically inclined users. Whether we’re troubleshooting hardware issues, tuning the system for optimal performance, or simply trying to understand how we handle hardware, identifying the correct driver is a key step.

In this tutorial, we follow a comprehensive approach, blending theoretical background with step-by-step instructions and real-world command-line examples. Our goal is to ensure that by the end of this article, we can confidently determine what drivers our Linux devices are using and how to manage them effectively.

2. Introduction to Linux Device Drivers

In Linux, every hardware component—be it a network card, USB device, or storage controller—relies on a kernel driver to function. These drivers form the communication bridge between the operating system and the underlying hardware. The kernel can handle drivers in two main forms:

• built-in drivers, which are statically compiled into the kernel image
• loadable kernel modules (LKMs), which can be inserted or removed from the kernel at runtime

Drivers in Linux are not standalone executables. However, they’re integrated deeply into the kernel or loaded as modules that can be managed dynamically. Moreover, they abstract the hardware interface and allow user-space applications and the OS to interact with physical components seamlessly. Consequently. the modular design of Linux ensures that we only load necessary drivers, reducing memory overhead and improving stability.

Linux exposes a significant amount of driver-related information via virtual filesystems like /proc and /sys. Tools such as lspci, lsusb, and lsmod tap into this information to give us visibility into how devices are recognized and managed by the system. These tools, along with several others we’ll explore, are essential for understanding the state of device drivers in real-time.

3. Identifying Devices and Their Associated Drivers

Before we can find the driver, we must first identify the device. On a typical Linux machine, device categories can vary:

• PCI devices
• USB peripherals
• Block storage devices

The method we use to inspect each type may vary, but the fundamental goal remains the same: Establish a clear mapping between a physical device and the kernel driver responsible for it.

3.1. Using lspci

The lspci command is a starting point for identifying PCI devices. It’s part of the pciutils package. Let’s check how to install this package:

$ sudo yum install pciutils

Next, we’ll list all PCI devices detected by the system:

$ lspci
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)

To gain deeper insights, including the driver in use, we append the -k option:

$ lspci -k -s 02:00.0
Kernel driver in use: igb
Kernel modules: igb

This clearly tells us that the igb module is currently managing this Ethernet controller. It’s worth noting that the -s flag restricts the output to the specific device, allowing us to focus our analysis. In essence, we can use this method for other PCI-based devices such as audio interfaces, wireless adapters, or video controllers. Finally, it ensures that we get a granular and accurate view of device-driver associations.

3.2. Using lsusb

For USB devices, the analogous tool is lsusb, which is part of the usbutils package. Firstly, let’s install the package:

$ sudo yum install usbutils

Next, we’ll check the output of lsusb:

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:c534 Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver

Although lsusb does not directly show driver information, it helps us identify the vendor and device ID, which we can cross-reference in /sys or with udevadm to find driver mappings. For example, to query the driver for a storage device, we might use udevadm:

$ udevadm info -a -n /dev/sda | grep -i driver

This command crawls the udev database and surfaces the driver attribute for the given device node by utilizing the grep command. In addition, we can also use a more focused command to extract just the driver name:

$ udevadm info -a -n /dev/sda | grep -oP 'DRIVERS?=="\K[^"]+'

This is particularly useful when we want to script the driver discovery process or automate checks in a system audit. Finally, udevadm offers a detailed view of how udev rules and kernel subsystems interact with the hardware at a low level.

4. Exploring sysfs and Managing Kernel Modules

Linux provides a robust way to explore driver bindings via the /sys virtual filesystem. Every device has an entry in /sys/class, /sys/bus, or /sys/devices, and symlinks make it easier to find relevant driver information.

For instance, let’s check how to find out which driver is managing the network interface eth0:

$ ls -l /sys/class/net/eth0/device/driver
../../../../bus/pci/drivers/e1000e

This means that the e1000e driver is bound to the Ethernet device. Accordingly, this information is very useful when we’re troubleshooting connectivity problems or planning driver updates.

In addition, another valuable resource is /proc/modules, which lists all currently loaded kernel modules:

$ cat /proc/modules | grep e1000e

This tells us if the module is actively loaded and provides memory usage and reference count information. These insights can help us determine whether a module is being utilized by multiple devices or loaded redundantly.

To manipulate modules manually, we use modprobe, which simplifies the process of inserting or removing modules. For instance, we’ll load the e1000e module:

$ sudo modprobe e1000e

Then, if we need to unload it, we utilize the -r option with the same command above. Furthermore, to get information in more detail about a module, such as its version, author, and dependencies, we can use modinfo:

$ modinfo e1000e

This command outputs structured metadata that can be critical during driver debugging or validation procedures. Moreover, it lists parameters that admins can often tweak at load time to alter driver behavior—useful for performance tuning or enabling debug logs.

5. Binding and Unbinding Devices From Drivers

At times, we may need to manually unbind a device from its driver, particularly when performing low-level diagnostics or swapping drivers. Particularly, this is achievable through the sysfs interface.

Let’s suppose we want to unbind a device at PCI address 0000:02:00.0 from its driver:

$ echo -n "0000:02:00.0" | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/e1000e/unbind

To bind it back:

$ echo -n "0000:02:00.0" | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/e1000e/bind

This kind of manual control is powerful but must be handled with care. Hence, improper use could leave critical hardware inaccessible without a reboot. Particularly, these commands are useful in driver development environments or for testing alternate drivers without rebooting or changing init configurations.

We can automate these steps with a shell script to perform repeated tests efficiently. Always verify the path and PCI ID before running unbind operations to avoid accidental service disruption.

6. Conclusion

In this tutorial, we’ve learned that finding the driver associated with a device in Linux is not just a technical skill—it’s a fundamental aspect of managing and maintaining healthy systems. As we’ve seen, Linux offers many tools for inspecting devices and identifying their drivers, from high-level utilities like lspci and udevadm to low-level interfaces like /sys and /proc.

By combining theoretical knowledge with real-world examples, we can develop a deep, practical understanding of how Linux handles device drivers. In this article, we aimed to provide exactly that. Ultimately, our ability to navigate the Linux driver subsystem not only boosts system reliability but also empowers us to build more secure, efficient, and scalable environments.