General driver installation question

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st1

Microsoft installers have consistantly asked for driver software, when
installing operating systems. Since 'Dos 3.0' this has consisted of a note
on the screen generally 'insert driver disk'. When a software is made
available ( through disk, search or directory ) the installer says 'not
found' or installs the driver.
If the installer knows what ii is looking for, why can't the *** thing let
us in on the secret. I also appreciate the 'unknown device' in device
manager.
OK, in Dos3.0 this was understandable, limited resources one or two
devices,...
Installing Vista, this is the result of sheer laziness :( The peripherals,
are self identifying, the drivers are 75% identification, and Vista knows
it's the wrong driver without Beginning to install it. But we still get the
Dos3.0 prompt 'guess which driver I'm looking for - and i'll tell you if
your wrong, Sorry no hints!!!'
Oh, sorry it's not laziness, Microsoft isn't using the P4, 512Meg, 80Gig,
and 128meg graphics, to process data, it's to display the 35 full-color
graphic desktops.
 
Here's how this works in simple terms.

When Windows starts up, the Plug-And-Play (PNP) enumerator polls to see what
devices might be plugged into the various PC motherboard slots, serial
ports, USB ports, etc. If it finds a device, it asks that device what it is
and the device replies with a simple PNP ID. Windows then looks up this PNP
ID in its internal tables to see if it already knows about this particular
device. If it finds the PNP ID in the list, Windows then can categorize the
device (disk drive, modem, printer, graphics adapter, etc.) and actually
name it ("Printer", "Modem", etc.). If Windows doesn't find the PNP in its
tables, or if the device doesn't return a PNP ID, it classifies the device
as an "Unknown Device". At this point Windows tries to load a driver for
the device. Again using the PNP ID information, Windows searches its
inventory of drivers already loaded with Windows. If it finds the right
driver, it installs it and activates the device. If Windows can't find an
appropriate driver already in Windows, it then goes through the process of
asking you to provide the driver disks, look online, etc. If the device is
classified as an "Unknown Device" but has a valid PNP ID, it's still
possible that you can provide the right driver disk and the device will
install properly.

Again, the above explanation has been simplified.

If Windows reports an "Unknown Device", it really is an unknown device.
Windows might know it's PNP ID, but still not have a clue what kind of
device it is. Don't blame Microsoft for this. If you want to blame
someone it might be best to blame the peripheral device manufacturer who
didn't provide the right driver or PNP information.
 
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