I’m in the process of “upgrading” a server from Windows 2003 server to Windows 2008 server, and one of the things this server does is manage a few serial devices.\u00a0 Therefore, it contains an old PCI serial board, but the manufacturer has since moved on to newer hardware, and hasn’t bothered to update the drivers.<\/p>\n
Trying to install the Windows 2003 drivers yielded the following:<\/p>\n
a service installation section in this inf is invalid<\/pre>\nAnd, naturally, refused to install.\u00a0 To track down the source of this error, there is a file created in \\Windows\\inf called “setupapi.dev” that logs details about the driver installation process.\u00a0 Reading through this file, the reason for the error is evident:<\/p>\n
inf:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ServiceBinary=C:\\Windows\\system32\\DRIVERS\\mf.sys\u00a0 (mf.inf line 39)\r\n!!!\u00a0 dvi:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Add Service: Binary 'C:\\Windows\\system32\\DRIVERS\\mf.sys' for service 'mf' is not present.\r\n!!!\u00a0 inf:\u00a0 {Install Inf Section [MFINSTALL.mf.Services] exit(0xe0000217)}<\/pre>\nIntriguingly, a quick search through C:\\Windows\\System32\\DriverStore\\FileRepository showed that the driver does exist, it just happens not to be installed.\u00a0 There’s a folder called mf.inf_Identifier (where “Identifier” appears to be random junk) that contains a file called mf.sys.\u00a0 Copying this file into C:\\Windows\\System32\\Drivers allowed the device drivers to install, and they appear to work perfectly well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m in the process of “upgrading” a server from Windows 2003 server to Windows 2008 server, and one of the things this server does is manage a few serial devices.\u00a0 Therefore, it contains an old PCI serial board, but the manufacturer has since moved on to newer hardware, and hasn’t \u2026 Continue reading