Rebuilding/managing driver lists

  • Thread starter Thread starter rogerw
  • Start date Start date
R

rogerw

I'm a bit plagued by multiple *.inf files that have been
loaded during the ages for various driver upgrades of
interface boards. When I go to select a driver for them,
there are many apparently similar entries that are hard
to choose from.

In the Win 9x days, it was a simple matter to just
delete the unwanted .inf files, delete the DRVdata.bin &
drvidx.bin, causing the system to rebuild the database
based on files on-hand.

I see that under 2k the *.infs are pre-compiled to
*.pnfs - and that no matter of searching tells me how to
do the analog of rebuilding the list.

Two questions:

1) Can I just delete the undesired .inf and .pnf? If so,
how do I cause the system to re-tally the .infs
(or .pnfs) on hand to give me a pared-down list?

2) If I desire to edit some text in the .inf to make the
listing's entries uniquely distinguishable from each
other (when presented with a list of choices for the
board), I assume that I need to force a new .pnf to be
generated (guessing that the list is tallied from
the .pnfs). How can I force that to be done?

Thanks in advance,

R.
 
I'm a bit plagued by multiple *.inf files that have been
loaded during the ages for various driver upgrades of
interface boards. When I go to select a driver for them,
there are many apparently similar entries that are hard
to choose from.

In the Win 9x days, it was a simple matter to just
delete the unwanted .inf files, delete the DRVdata.bin &
drvidx.bin, causing the system to rebuild the database
based on files on-hand.

I see that under 2k the *.infs are pre-compiled to
*.pnfs - and that no matter of searching tells me how to
do the analog of rebuilding the list.

Two questions:

1) Can I just delete the undesired .inf and .pnf? If so,
how do I cause the system to re-tally the .infs
(or .pnfs) on hand to give me a pared-down list?

2) If I desire to edit some text in the .inf to make the
listing's entries uniquely distinguishable from each
other (when presented with a list of choices for the
board), I assume that I need to force a new .pnf to be
generated (guessing that the list is tallied from
the .pnfs). How can I force that to be done?

Thanks in advance,

R.
Click to expand...

Yes you can just delete any .inf and assocaited .pnf files you don't
need. You don't have to delete any other files as there isn't a master
index fine. In toubleshooting driver install problems I sometimes move
all OEM*.inf files out of the inf directory.

Be careful in editing any .inf files. However if you want to do that you
should be able to just delete the .pnf file and it will be rebuilt the
next time the Add New Hardware Wixard runs.

Leonard Severt

Windows 2000 Server Setup Team
 
-----Original Message-----
Yes you can just delete any .inf and assocaited .pnf files you don't
need. You don't have to delete any other files as there isn't a master
index fine. In toubleshooting driver install problems I sometimes move
all OEM*.inf files out of the inf directory.
Click to expand...

Very nice. I figured as much, but I figured deleting the
files would be OK, just wasn't sure about the list.
Be careful in editing any .inf files. However if you want to do that you
should be able to just delete the .pnf file and it will be rebuilt the
next time the Add New Hardware Wixard runs.
Click to expand...

Cool. What I intend to do is edit so a driver
version/date shows in the list. Wasn't sure how to re-
make the PNFs

This helps a lot!

Thanks again,

r.
 
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