virtual nic miniport installation on windows 9x

Hi everyone,

I was curious what everyone’s opinion was on the best way to approach
automated ndis miniport installation on windows 9x? By automation I’m
referring to installing a miniport without being prompted at all, except
maybe for the Windows 98/ME CD when it tries to copy over required files.
There are a few methods that I’m aware of:

  1. Setup API

This method seems to only allow for a read-only view of installed devices.
From what I’ve gathered SetupDiCreateDeviceInfo is not supported on Windows
9x.

  1. Config Manager API

This method seems to work, although I’ve had a problem with automating it
in such a way that the Add New Hardware wizard does not prompt for driver
information.

  1. DiXxx (16 bit driver installation api)

I’ve yet to try this, and all signs point to this as being the only actual
way to programmatically install an NDIS miniport without a user interface.
Once I get ahold of a 16 bit compiler I plan to check it out.

With that said, what experiences have you all had with these different
approaches? Were you successful with any of them. It seems to me like I
should be able to get the Config Manager API to work, but I’ve yet to be
able to.

At any rate, any input is appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt Miller
xxxxx@positivenetworks.net