Gary Little:
Check the driver signing options under the properties page for My
computer/Hardware.
Driver Provider and Driver Version sections are filled in (the latter being
the optional version string from the inf’s DriverVer entry) but Driver Date
has “Not available” and Driver Signer has “Not digitally signed”. Am I
correct in understanding that “Driver Date” will not be filled in unless
the driver is signed?
Guru Huchurao:
Try using “CopyFiles” directive in the inf file with
COPYFLG_NOVERSIONCHECK flag option. This should overwrite the existing
files.
thank-you. I think I understand what you’re driving at but the problem is
not (yet) that the files are not overwritten but that Win2000 decides that
“a suitable driver for this device is already installed” and selects the
inf file stored in the system inf directory over the newly supplied one. I
believe I’ve tried what you suggest and get the same result.
Further digging through the DDK more or less confirms that the driver must
be signed for the inf’s DriverVer entry to have any effect…from the DDK
docs section “How Does Setup Select a Driver For a Device?”:
<<
A driver’s date is specified by a DriverVer entry in the driver’s INF file.
If the driver package is not digitally signed, Setup ignores any DriverVer
entries and uses a default date of 00/00/0000. If two drivers have the same
rank and the same date, Setup can choose either one.
>
I guess the previously installed driver takes preference when both it and
the newly supplied driver are unsigned, when trying to upgrade via the
“Search for a suitable driver” path, that is. (I assume this is also the
case if the previously installed driver is signed but the newly supplied
driver is unsigned. Havn’t tried this though.) Suggesting that users
follow the “Have Disk” path appears to be the only option of the two for
unsigned drivers. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Thanks,
Gordon