An application directed method for substituting a driver for a target device includes the steps of updating a set of hardware identifiers for the target device to include a new hardware device, building a list of drivers based on the set of hardware identifiers that includes the new hardware identifier, and calling into an operating system to cause the operating system to switch the driver for the target device to a new driver which is selected from the list. With this method, a device that has multiple drivers associated therewith can have just one of the drivers substituted, and where multiple devices share the same hardware ID, the driver for just one of the devices can be substituted.