Changing the "Name" of a NDIS miniport driver in Network Connections

NTDEV
1

Hi,

I’m trying to find the best way to change the name of a miniport driver when
it shows up in the “Network Connections” dialog on W2K & XP. This is the
“Name” column, not the “Device Name” column (which I know I can control via
my INF file.) Is there a way to control the “Name” column entry via the INF
file? I looked through all the relevant help databases and I did find a way
to control it (I think) via the INetConnection interface which is part of
Internet Connection Sharing(ICS), but it isn’t supported on W2K. In fact,
it may only be supported under XP, SP2 and forward?

It seems for such a simple thing, there’d be a simple way to do this. It’s
easy to rename by right-clicking on it in the UI, but I have a need to
automate this on install for the user.

Thanks,

Paul

Paul Benware

KoolSpan Inc.

www.koolspan.com

2

Paul,

The programmatic network connection renaming is indeed supported on
the XP or later only. Here’s what you can do on Win2k in your co-installer
once an adapter is installed:

  1. Learn your adapter NetCfgInstanceId. It is stored in the Registry in the
    DIREG_DRV key.
  2. Open the

SYSTEM\CCS\Control\Network{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}<netcfginstanceid>\Connection

key. Note that the network installer keeps this key open for a while
after
an adapter itself has been installed so you may have to wait a bit.
3. Set the “Name” string name there to your desired connection name.
Set the “ShowIcon” DWORD value there to 0.
4. Execute a property change on your device to bring this connection name
into life.

Ugly but works.

Ilya Faenson
Rockville, MD USA

>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Subject: Changing the “Name” of a NDIS miniport driver in Network
>Connections
>From: “Paul Benware”
>Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 12:10:15 -0400
>X-Message-Number: 15

Hi,

I’m trying to find the best way to change the name of a miniport driver when
it shows up in the “Network Connections” dialog on W2K & XP. This is the
“Name” column, not the “Device Name” column (which I know I can control via
my INF file.) Is there a way to control the “Name” column entry via the INF
file? I looked through all the relevant help databases and I did find a way
to control it (I think) via the INetConnection interface which is part of
Internet Connection Sharing(ICS), but it isn’t supported on W2K. In fact,
it may only be supported under XP, SP2 and forward?

It seems for such a simple thing, there’d be a simple way to do this. It’s
easy to rename by right-clicking on it in the UI, but I have a need to
automate this on install for the user.

Thanks,

Paul

----------------------------

Paul Benware

KoolSpan Inc.

www.koolspan.com