How inf files work

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

I'm sure there are somewhere in this forum some inf-experts. Could they please post some answers to the following questions?

1. What's the official way to get a control panel installed trough an inf file?==>solved

2. Is it sufficient to copy the *.cpl file to %systemroot%\system32 ? Or do you need to add some registry keys?==>solved

=====>found it : all info beneath is usefull, and especially THIS link (quote with most important info is below): http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....dv/conpanel.asp

Application Setup
____________________________________________________________________
Every Control Panel application is a dynamic-link library. However, the DLL file must have a .cpl file name extension. For Windows 2000 and later systems, new Control Panel applications should be installed in the associated application's folder under the Program Files folder. The path of the DLL must be registered in one of two ways:

If the Control Panel application is to be available to all users, register the path on a per-computer basis by adding a REG_EXPAND_SZ value to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\Cpls key, set to the DLL path. 
If the Control Panel application is to be available on a per-user basis, use HKEY_CURRENT_USER as the root key instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE .
The following two examples register the MyCplApp Control Panel application. The DLL is named MyCpl.cpl and is located in the MyCorp\MyApp application directory. The first registry entry illustrates per-computer registration, and the second illustrates per-user registration. 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Control Panel
Cpls
MyCpl= %ProgramFiles%\MyCorp\MyApp\MyCpl.cpl
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Control Panel
Cpls
MyCpl= %ProgramFiles%\MyCorp\MyApp\MyCpl.cpl


Assigning Control Panel Categories
____________________________________________________________________
As of the release of Windows XP, the Control Panel supports categorization of Control Panel applications. Windows XP also has support for third parties to add Control Panel applications to existing categories. However, third parties cannot add custom categories at this time.

Registering a Control Panel Application in a Category
You can register a Control Panel application in a particular category by adding a REG_DWORD entry indicating the desired category to the registry. The following example registry entry assigns the application MyCPL.cpl to the category Appearance and Themes. Details of the entry are discussed in the following sections.


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Control Panel
Extended Properties
{305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2
%SystemRoot%\System32\MyCPL.cpl= [REG_DWORD] 0x00000001

The registry key {305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2 is the container for all category entries. That key represents SCID_CONTROLPANELCATEGORY, and is composed of PSGUID_CONTROLPANEL and PID_CONTROLPANEL_CATEGORY, both defined in Shlguid.h.

The Name entry is the full path of your .cpl file, using environment variables if desired. The Data entry for that Name should be one of the category IDs listed in the following table, stored as a REG_DWORD.

Category ID Category Name 
0x00000000 Other Control Panel Options. Any Control Panel application that does not specify a category ID is put in this category. 
0x00000001 Appearance and Themes 
0x00000002 Printers and Other Hardware 
0x00000003 Network and Internet Options 
0x00000004 Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices 
0x00000005 Performance and Maintenance 
0x00000006 Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options 
0x00000007 Accessibility Options 
0x00000008 Add or Remove Programs 
0x00000009 User Accounts 
0xFFFFFFFF Do not add to any category 

The categories Add or Remove Programs and User Accounts work somewhat differently from other categories in Control Panel. When one or more applications are added to one of these two categories, the associated link in Control Panel opens a category page. The registered applications appear in the lower portion of the page under the heading "or Pick a Control Panel icon". When no applications are registered for one of these categories, the associated link in Control Panel directly invokes the standard Windows application for that category.

The parent key name Extended Property derives from the fact that you can access this property from script through the ExtendedProperty method on the ShellFolderItem object. The following sample Microsoft JScript® code enumerates the Control Panel items and their category identifiers (IDs).

Show Example

For Control Panel applications that are implemented as Shell namespace extensions—for example, fonts or scheduled tasks—specify the category ID in the registry under the CLSID entry. For example, the registry entry for the Administrative Tools folder is as follows.


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
CLSID
{D20EA4E1-3957-11D2-A40B-OC5020524153}
{305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2= [REG_DWORD] 0x00000005

In this case, you create a value named {305CA226-D286-468e-B848-2B2E8E697B74} 2, then store the category ID as a REG_DWORD as before.

EXAMPLE.INF

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir = 11

[aic78xx_Service_Inst]
ServiceBinary = %12%\aic78xx.sys   ==> when to use %##%

Value Destination Directory : %##% possibilities
____________________________________________________________________
01 SourceDrive:\pathname (the directory from which the INF file was installed) 
10 Windows directory This is equivalent to %windir%.  
11 System directory This is equivalent to %windir%\system32 for NT-based systems, and to %windir%\system for Windows 9x/Me. 
12 Drivers directory This is equivalent to %windir%\system32\drivers for NT-based platforms, and to %windir%\system\IoSubsys on Windows 9x/Me platforms.  
17 INF file directory 
18 Help directory 
20 Fonts directory 
21 Viewers directory 
23 Color directory (ICM) (not used for installing printer drivers) 
24 Root directory of the system disk. This is the root directory of the disk on which Windows files are installed. For example, if dirid 10 is "C:\winnt", then dirid 24 is "C:\". 
25 Shared directory 
30 Root directory of the boot disk, also known as "ARC system partition," for NT based systems. (This might or might not be the same directory as the one represented by dirid 24.) 
50 System directory for NT-based operating systems  This is equivalent to %windir%\system (NT-based systems only). 

51 Spool directory (not used for installing printer drivers – see Printer Dirids) 
52 Spool drivers directory (not used for installing printer drivers) 
53 User profile directory 
54 Directory where ntldr.exe and osloader.exe are located (NT-based systems only)  
55 Print processors directory (not used for installing printer drivers) 
-1 Absolute path  

Value Shell Special Folder 
16406 All Users\Start Menu  
16407 All Users\Start Menu\Programs  
16408 All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup 
16409 All Users\Desktop 
16415 All Users\Favorites 
16419 All Users\Application Data 
16422 Program Files 
16427 Program Files\Common 
16429 All Users\Templates 
16430 All Users\Documents

Sources of information:

1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....te-inf_0ig7.asp

2. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;292463

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

ANYONE?????

[gosh]

Inf's don't require anything special to use cpl's. You could copy the cpl to system32 but you probably would want to add the correct registry entries. Search support.microsoft.com, it has articles that give the exact registry keys. Some microsoft cpl's can be registered using regsvr32

-gosh

[/\/\o\/\/]

I even noticed that the .clp extension isn't even necessary

if the application implements "CPlApplet" control.exe will add it

when placed in the system32 dir

gr /\/\o\/\/

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

I even noticed that the .clp extension isn't even necessary

if the application implements "CPlApplet" control.exe will add it

when placed in the system32 dir

gr /\/\o\/\/

So what are you exactly saying?

1. I assume the extension IS necessary, how would it else be recognised?

2. Do you mean .cpl doesnt need to be registered?

[Bilou_Gateux]

I would like to suggest you to download at this URL :

AR RAM Disk

The installation process use an inf file and copy a .cpl file wich can be found in control panel after install.

It may answer your question. Look in section [RAMDisk.AddReg]

RAMDISK.INF

;Copyright © 2001-2002 AR SOft All rights Reserved

; AR Soft RAM Disk 1.20

[Version]Signature="$WINDOWS NT$"

Class=MemDev

ClassGuid={1EFCBBB4-8750-46d8-A754-92D9911DD587}

Provider=%ARSOFT%

DriverVer=1/4/2002,1.20.00.1

[DestinationDirs]

DefaultDestDir = 12 ; drivers

CopyCPLFile = 11 ; system32

; ================= Class section =====================

[ClassInstall32]

CopyFiles=CopyCPLFile

Addreg=MemoryDeviceClassReg

[MemoryDeviceClassReg]

HKR,,,0,%ClassName%

HKR,,Icon,,-5

; ================= Device Install section =====================

[sourceDisksFiles]

ramdisk.sys=1

ramdisk.cpl=1

[sourceDisksNames]

1=%DISK_NAME%,

[Manufacturer]

%ARSOFT%=RAMDiskDevice

[RAMDiskDevice]

; DisplayName            Section           DeviceId

; -----------         -------           --------

%RAMDisk.DRVDESC%=RAMDisk_Inst,RAMDISK

[RAMDisk_Inst.NT]

CopyFiles=RAMDisk.CopyFiles,CopyCPLFile

;AddReg=RAMDisk.AddReg,RAMDisk_EventLog.AddReg

[RAMDisk.CopyFiles]

ramdisk.sys

[CopyCPLFile]

ramdisk.cpl,,,0x80000000

[RAMDisk_Inst.NT.Services]

AddService=ramdisk,0x00000002,RAMDisk_Service

[RAMDisk_Service]

DisplayName    = %RAMDISK.SVCDESC%                           

ServiceType    = 1                  ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER

StartType      = 2                  ; SERVICE_START_AUTO

ErrorControl   = 1                  ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL

ServiceBinary  = %12%\ramdisk.sys

AddReg         = RAMDisk.AddReg, RAMDisk_EventLog.AddReg

[RAMDisk.AddReg]

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\cpls","RAMDisk",FLG_ADDREG_TYPE_EXPAND_SZ,"%%SystemRoot%%\system32\ramdisk.cpl"

[RAMDisk_EventLog.AddReg]

HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System\RAMDisk,EventMessageFile,0x00020000,"%%SystemRoot%%\System32\IoLogMsg.dll;%%SystemRoot%%\System32\Drivers\RAMDisk.sys"

HKLM,SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\System\RAMDisk,TypesSupported,0x00010001,7

[strings]

ARSOFT = "AR Soft"

ClassName = "Memory Device"

RAMDisk.SVCDESC = "AR Soft RAM Disk Service"

RAMDisk.DRVDESC = "AR Soft RAM Disk Driver"

DISK_NAME = "AR Soft RAM Disk Install Disk"

REG_SZ         = 0x00000000

REG_MULTI_SZ   = 0x00010000

REG_EXPAND_SZ  = 0x00020000

REG_BINARY     = 0x00000001

REG_DWORD      = 0x00010001

Apart from the topic : i'm using a small 32 Mb RamdDisk with this driver to store all the unneeded to keep Cookies, Temporary Internet files, History and Temp folder. It's more faster than the HDD and all files are gone when i shutdown my notebook. no longer need to clean those folders with add-on tool.

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

Thank you for your reply , Bilou_Gateux!

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

I've found the EXACT documentation about how to register control panels! Finally...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....dv/conpanel.asp