Before booting from a main OS into a pre-OS, a pre-OS management component verifies that all critical drivers are present in the pre-OS. The pre-OS management component identifies the hardware devices present on the computer on which the pre-OS is to be booted, and determines which drivers are installed in the pre-OS. If any drivers for critical devices are missing, the pre-OS management component provides a detailed report so that that the user can locate the missing drivers and add them to the pre-OS. In another embodiment, the pre-OS management component automatically obtains and installs the missing drivers.