Need to remove device driver

  • Thread starter Thread starter DonV
  • Start date Start date
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DonV

I mistakenly installed an update driver for my Mass Storage Controller,
Silicon Image SiI 680 ATA 133 Controller. The update was listed as a
recommended update from microsoft for Vista. This update has caused the
controller card to malfunction and each time I try to Roll Back the driver,
Vista re-installs the downloaded driver.

Is there a way to completely remove the downloaded driver or stop Vista from
using it. I remove the controller drivers, have to reboot and as soon as I
login, Vista installs the errent driver preventing me from selcting the
earlier driver.

I have tried the normal ways to remove this driver but it does not work.

DonV
 
In Device Manager, in the properties for the device where you've been trying
to roll back the driver, click Uninstall instead. It will ask you if you're
sure you want to uninstall, and there will also be a checkbox, "Delete the
driver software for this device." Check the box and click OK. That should
uninstall the device and also remove the bad driver from the system. You can
then reinstall it with the correct driver.

Mike
 
Thanks, I have done this several times and each time after reboot Vista
starts the install again and installs the downloaded driver update. It is
this update I need to get rid of so I can reinstall the working drivers for
that device.

DonV
 
Personally, I usually make a new folder in the driver file and move the
errant driver into it. Sometimes this has to be done in safe mode logged on
as administrator.
 
That sound like it might work but is there a registry key or something that
tells Vista to use that specific driver?

Vista won't accept me manually adding the hardware and drivers. It still
loads the update driver after reboot and this is pissing me off. The update
driver hides the Secondary channel of the controller card so I cannot see
one of the drives attached to the controller card. I am running a dual boot
with XP and the controller card work fine. Both channels visable and all
drives visable.

BTW, I have two drives attached to the controller card. On the primary
channel, one HD=master, on the secondary channel one HD=master. I had to do
it this way because the drives are too far apart in the case to be set on
one channel as master and slave.

DonV
 
I finally got it fixed. I deleted the control panel applet from the system32
folder. Then I uninstalled all device drivers related to the controller
card. When I did this, Vista reinstalled the drivers for the controller card
and all HD's are visable. So I think the CP applet was preventing me form
actually updating the drivers and thus not allowing all the drives to appear
in the Computer explorer box.

Thanks for all suggestions. Appreciate the help.

DonV
 
DonV,

Files related to particular hardware usually are:

- An .INF file under c:\windows\inf
- Several .SYS files under c:\windows\system32\drivers

When a new Plug-n-Play device is detected, Windows scans INF files to find
one with matching Plug-n-Play identifier inside. Then it uses information
found in INF file to install appropriate driver files and set up device. If
more than one INF found for device, AFAIK newer drivers are preferred over
older and signed/WHQL over unsigned.

All that said, it becomes obvious that to remove a driver from the system,
you need to:

1. Uninstall device from Device Manager
2. Delete corresponding INF file fro, %windir%\inf
3. Delete driver files from %windir%\system32\drivers

Lats one is optional.

1. TO UNINSTALL DEVICE USING DEVICE MANAGER:
- Open elevated Device Manager (click Start, right-click Computer,
select Manage)
- Navigate to Device Manager node on the left pane, find your device in
right pane.
- Write down device name EXACTLy as it appears on the right pane. You
will need that later.
- If you intend to delete driver files:
-- Double click device, open Driver tab, click Driver Details
button
-- Write down driver files and paths
- Close all device properties, right-click device, select Uninstall


2. TO FIND AND REMOVE INF FILE:
Maybe there are better ways to find out which INF file corresponds to which
device but I was using following command issued at command prompt (can be
non-elevated):
find /c "Device_Name_As_It_Appears_In_Device_Manager" c:\windows\inf\*.inf |
find ":" | find /v ": 0"
Example:
find /c "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller" c:\windows\inf\*.inf |
find ":" | find /v ": 0"

You will see an output like following:
===========================
C:\>find /c "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial" c:\windows\inf\*.inf | find ":" |
find /v ": 0"
---------- C:\WINDOWS\INF\MSHDC.INF: 2

C:\>
===========================
Now you know INF file that Windows uses to install drivers for device in
question (in example above it is C:\WINDOWS\INF\MSHDC.INF). If you delete
this file, corresponding driver will not be installed automatically anymore.


3. CLEANUP (OPTIONAL)
If you wish you can delete driver files using information you obtained in
step 1.
 
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