Intergrating drivers question....

[Kev_83]

I'm looking to create a stripped out WinXP CD to make my dad's laptop a little less bloated and a little bit quicker, but before i start, i should point out something important (& as it seems to get overlooked elsewher,e i'll have to make it big lol)...

I KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT COMPUTERS & TWEAKING ETC SO I WILL BE LOST IN A JARGON FILLED CONVO!! LOL

I'm not totally stupid - i CAN do things, just so long as i'm spoken to like a novice and not an expert

I've done most of it, thing is... he's lost the install CD to his USB wireless adapter. However, it's not a 'named' adapter like Netgear or Belkin. It's a backstreet bargain basement special - a no-name brand if you will.

I was recommended http://www.drivermagician.com to backup the drivers & i'm just curious.

nLite only seems to recognize .inf files. While i was at it (backing up the USB adapter) i figured i'd do some other drivers also. Here's a screenie of the audio driver backup....

No problem there. 2 files, one of them recognized by nLite. I don't know if this will then install the audio driver, but to a novice like me it sure makes sense.

I then look at one of the scanner driver backup folders....

All that folder, a total of 7.53mb and the only thing recognized by nLite for driver intergration is the 6.58KB .inf file.

To a novice like myself, that makes me wonder how 6.58KB of a file can install a scanner. What is the good of ALL those other files in that folder that drivermagician.com backed up? Surely they must be important ...... yet nLite doesn't recognize them for driver intergration.

Can someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks.

[johnhc]

Kev_83, the thing you are missing about nLite (and drivers) is that the .inf file (information), contains the instructions of what to do to install the drivers. NLite only recognizes the .inf, but uses it to copy the needed files. After running nLite, look in the NLDRV folder, probably in your i386 folder. You will see folders named 001, 002, etc. These will contain the necessary files for the drivers. I don't know why some drivers are really small and some large, but I have the same thing. Please make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Enjoy, John.

EDIT: I meant to comment on the missing CD. If you have trouble with the wireless adapter, I suggest just buying another. Here they can be had for $10, which makes the trouble of searching for a driver not worth it. Enjoy, John.

Edited February 8, 2009 by johnhc

[Kev_83]

Thanks for the reply John.

RE: buying another adapter. It isn't my laptop, so this is out of the question really. A stubborn dad & all that.

Hmm, that's no good then i guess. Like with the Epson driver backup folder, there's a fair bit in there, so i understand what you're saying with the info file pointing to the drive files etc.

However, if you take the sound driver folder, then it's got 2 files in that folder that drivermagician created ...... the inf file, and a 1KB PDB file. I can't imagine that between these 2 files, the drivers for the audio will be installed.

I think on that note, it would be much much easier to knock it on the head ............. have a good search around the house for the missing CD & forget about intergrating drivers altogether. lol