Drivers won't install from CD

Blacky · Post by **Blacky** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:44 pm

I would like to create an installation that includes TWO copies of the same driver files for a USB device.

Copy 1: is the normal device drivers that InstallAware will install automatically when the installation is run. The driver files are packed into InstallAware's own coded folder names and cannot be used by the Windows driver installation wizard.

Copy 2: MUST be on the CD in a format that the Windows driver installation wizard can search for, locate and install.

When the CD is used to (re)install the drivers (some time after the original installation has been done), the Windows driver install wizard finds the wrong *.inf file on the CD. It finds the *.inf file that is packed into InstallAware's coded folder names by the install build process. Because the driver files are stored in coded folder names, the Windows driver installation wizard finds the *.inf file, but all the subfolders that are referenced in the *.inf file do not exist in relation to the *inf file's position on the CD.

I need it to find the right *.inf file, the *.inf file that is part of a folder structure that I add to the CD which is quite apart from the InstallAware installation build.

My question is, how can I include a "normal" copy of my driver files AND a copy of the driver files that are to be installed by the InstallAware installer WITHOUT having the windows driver installation wizard find InstallAware's packed up versions of my *.inf file.

I am using signed drivers for win2K, winXP and Vista.

Regards
Paul

Blacky · Post by **Blacky** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:17 am

Still waiting for an answer to this. Can anyone explain how I can implement that?

Regards
Paul

Alex_Ronquillo · Post by **Alex_Ronquillo** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:43 pm

Blacky,

IA does not support this the way you want it. What you need to do if you want to re-install the drivers in the future, you need to re run the installer from the CD, that will repair the installation and reinstall the drivers. That is the right way to do it.

Blacky · Post by **Blacky** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 11:02 pm

IA does support what I want to do, I have finally figured it out. It was simple in the end.

All I had to do was build the install into a single *.exe. That way, when Windows searches the CD it does not find the driver *.inf files inside the IA installation.

During the IA installation process I call this:
Call DLL Function $TARGETDIR$\\Drivers\\difxapi.dll->DriverPackagePreinstall (get result into variable DPPI)
With two parameters:
String: $TARGETDIR$\\Drivers\\mydriver.inf
DoubleWord: 7
Which pre-installs the driver files correctly.
I also check the return value $DPPI$ for non-zero and display an error message appropriately.

(I'll probably end up putting the difxapi.dll file into the Support files section so it is not left in the Drivers folder after the install).

Then I simply include the correct folder structure of the drivers (including the *.inf files) on the CD - completely independant of any IA generated content. If the Windows driver installation wizard is ever used by the customer, Windows can find that version and installs the drivers correctly from there.

Regards
Paul