• Registered: 2008-05-10
  • Posts: 1

Topic: What files are needed for a driver to work?

Hello.

First I want say thank you to the founder of this project and everybody involved in it, this DriverPacks are simply amazing, for people like me having to format lot's of machines every week it really helps a lot.
Not only it helps when using new hardware but also does help on those damn old machines where some drivers are really hard to find and download..
Again A Big Thank You smile

Now my question is rather simple..

What I want is to slipstream drivers, but just have basic driver support for some hardware...

But not those control panels incorporated,  many of my clients just want to plug a cable for hearing sound and don't care about choosing what kind of living room they are and equalize the sound, another example is in graphics cards where they don't care about control panels, if they want they can always later install that control panel.. Also if I take away this files I can use that space for more drivers in the XP CD..

So for a driver to work is there any need for *.exe, cpl, hlp and some other files needed?

What is the files needed for a driver to work?

I suppose is *.inf, *.dll *.cat *.cab *.cfg and *.sys right?

Thank you smile

  • OverFlow
  • DriverPacks Administrator & BASE Developer
  • Offline
  • From: Cincinnati
  • Registered: 2006-12-02
  • Posts: 6,730

Re: What files are needed for a driver to work?

Welcome to DriverPacks. We are so glad to have been of service to you. Thanks for the warm intro.

In a drivers simplest form only the the INF is required. (many chipset drivers consist only of an INF)
Many others only require an inf and a single SYS file. (like quite a few mass storage drivers)

There are no absolutes. I wish there were because that would make our life easy.

Each driver is unique and it's minimum requirements also. There is no simple answer to your simple question.

I wll offer some tips instead of an answer.

if you choose custom for the finisher and then do not call it many of the control panels and other things will not be installed, however you will need to delete the packs manually.

Some drivers use the inf to install these things and if so removeing them is problematic. Most of the time editing the INF will break driversigning and may prevent the driver from installing at all. Other times the driver will install but not work. It is best in these cases to allow them to install then remove them bythe means provided by the drivers provider.

I hope that helps and I hope we see you here often!

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  • Jaak
  • Old Timer Rookie
  • Offline
  • From: Eeklo, in the East Flanders
  • Registered: 2006-07-23
  • Posts: 3,594

Re: What files are needed for a driver to work?

Hi
let us suppose you want to free  up 17Mb and remove the control panel in \SMA3.
(changelog says; \SMA3 control Panel was added (dolivas). SFX installer was requested and Mr. Smartepants built it).

You un7zip DriverPack Sound B and want to find that file, with the intent to remove it.
You would have to edit DriverPack Sound B.ini and remove the section calling that file if you do.

[SMA3]
; REQUIRED
exc_count        = 1
; OPTIONAL
exc_1_tagFiles    = 2
exc_1_tagFile1    = "%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\smwdm.sys"
exc_1_tagFile2    = "%DPSROOT%\D\S\SMA3\sma3.exe"
exc_1_+hwids    = 0
exc_1_-hwids    = 0
exc_1_+infFiles    = 1
exc_1_+infFile1    = "%DPSROOT%\D\S\SMA3\smwdmCH5.inf"
exc_1_-infFiles    = 0
exc_1_commands    = 1
exc_1_command1    = "%DPSROOT%\D\S\SMA3\sma3.exe"

Editing DriverPacks can be done, and the FAQ linked to in my signature has hints which actually apply to all packs, so I won't repeat all that...
I may add a post to that topic, though. smile

The answer was 42?
Kind regards, Jaak.