How to install drivers that will not install because of OS version

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
I'm sure a lot of people have problems sometimes finding the correct driver for their OS. Sometimes it is just a problem with the setup for the drivers detecting the wrong OS. Had to help out a friend do this so here is how you can do it.

Download uniextractor.
Uniextractor is a program that can extract the contents of most .exe files to a directory.
http://legroom.net/software/uniextract


Install uniextractor. After install it is selectable from the right click menu.

Right click on the exe file that will not install, pick uniextract to subdir. If you are lucky it will extract the contents. Works for most .msi files as well.

Look in the subdirectory you just extracted to for the .inf file.

Point windows to that when it ask for the driver

Another thing you can do if you have hardware that is very similar to hardware that has drivers is to modify the inf file. I don't recommend doing this unless you have no other options.

In device manager open up the properties for the device you need drivers for.
For me that was a capture card that lacked windows 7 drivers
Go to the details tab and select parent
Mine was:
PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_05\4&30d54f48&0&10F0


The important part is the section that I bolded.

I found a driver for another card that was very similar. Open up that drivers inf file with notepad.
Look for the line that starts to mention the hardware id that is formatted like the part I bolded.

[Conexant.NTamd64]
;-----------------------------------------------
; PalomarMHD Gemini_II-MxL5005_MK5 EVK/416 MPEG2 Encoder
;-----------------------------------------------
%CX23888.PalomarMHD%=CX23888.PalomarMHD,PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8880&SUBSYS_006014F1
%CX23888.PalomarMHD%=CX23888.PalomarMHD,PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8852



Replace the bolded part above with the text you got from the details tab for your hardware.
%CX23888.PalomarMHD%=CX23888.PalomarMHD,PCI\VEN_14F1&DEV_8800&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_05

Save the inf file. Make sure you save it as .inf not .txt

Install the driver by pointing windows to the new .inf file.

One cool thing about this is that it does not break the driver signing. So you can use x64 drivers from another hardware maker for your device if the hardware is the same/similar.




 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
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One cool thing about this is that it does not break the driver signing. So you can use x64 drivers from another hardware maker for your device if the hardware is the same/similar.

That's a pretty big if...
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Originally posted by: Nothinman
One cool thing about this is that it does not break the driver signing. So you can use x64 drivers from another hardware maker for your device if the hardware is the same/similar.

That's a pretty big if...

It depends on what the hardware is. There are many of the same hardware pci cards and usb devices that sell under different name brands. People might be surprised that the majority of hardware on the market is based off reference designs with little/no changes between the manufacturers reference design. Often it is just the device id that has been changed.

Easy way to locate such hardware is do a google search for the numbers off the chips on the board or for the vendor id on usb devices.


 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
0
It depends on what the hardware is. There are many of the same hardware pci cards and usb devices that sell under different name brands. People might be surprised that the majority of hardware on the market is based off reference designs with little/no changes between the manufacturers reference design. Often it is just the device id that has been changed.

Easy way to locate such hardware is do a google search for the numbers off the chips on the board or for the vendor id on usb devices.

I know, generally that's the best way to tell if a device is supported by Linux because our drivers are written for the chipset and not the rebranded product itself. But in Windows lots of drivers are different, even if 2 products use the same chipset the drivers for one might not work for the other because the manufacturer ID on the device is slightly different. And you won't be able to fix that because you don't have the source for those drivers.

Windows drivers are finicky enough without people forcing them to install and hoping for the beset.
 

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
If that card had Vista drivers, you did try to run the instal .exe with Vista SP1 compatibility, right? For the odd program that says my OS is not supported, all I had to do is run the setup with Vista compatibility and it installed fine :thumbsup: Hell, for most of them after the unsuccessful instalation, Win7 prompted me to reinstal it with recommended settings and that has yet to fail me :)
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Originally posted by: Nothinman


Windows drivers are finicky enough without people forcing them to install and hoping for the beset.


Most of the time it isn't a problem with using alternate drivers. If the driver doesn't work you can usually tell that immediately upon install and can just uninstall it.

This is only recommended if you cannot find drivers for your hardware.


 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Originally posted by: Qbah
If that card had Vista drivers, you did try to run the instal .exe with Vista SP1 compatibility, right? For the odd program that says my OS is not supported, all I had to do is run the setup with Vista compatibility and it installed fine :thumbsup: Hell, for most of them after the unsuccessful instalation, Win7 prompted me to reinstal it with recommended settings and that has yet to fail me :)


Yes , but the vista drivers would not install and could not be extracted, even with compatibility settings. Compatibility setting only works if the installer uses the default methods of determining which OS is installed. Some use other methods like checking dll files.