Microsoft Press Windows Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant ebook

by MS

  Driver updates are not installed automatically. After upgrading or installing the operating system, you should check for driver updates and apply them as appropriate before trying other techniques to install device drivers. Although a complete discussion of working with automatic updating is covered in Chapter 15, the basic steps of checking for updates are as follows:

  Click Start and then click Control Panel.

  In Control Panel, click the System And Maintenance category heading link and then click Windows Update.

  In Windows Update, click the Check For Updates button.

  Typically device driver updates are seen as optional updates. The exceptions are for essential drivers, such as those for video, sound, and hard disk controllers. Because of this, you'll want to view all available updates on a computer, rather than only the important updates, to determine whether device driver updates are available. To install available device driver updates, follow these steps:

  Click Start and then click Control Panel.

  In Control Panel, click the System And Maintenance category heading link and then click Windows Update.

  In Windows Update, click Check For Updates in the left pane and then click View Available Updates.

  On the View Available Updates page, shown in Figure 3-3, you can review the available updates. By default, optional updates are not selected for installation. To ensure that an update is installed, select the related check box.

  Figure 3-3: Select the update to install.

  Click Install to download and install the selected updates.

  After you've installed the device driver, Windows Vista should both detect the hardware within several minutes and install the device automatically. If Windows Vista detects the device but isn't able to install the device automatically, Windows Vista starts the Driver Software Installation component, which in turn starts the Found New Hardware wizard. In the Found New Hardware wizard, shown in Figure 3-4, you can then click Locate And Install Driver Software (Recommended) to continue with the installation. The Driver Software Installation component will then search for preconfigured drivers.

  Figure 3-4: Start the installation by clicking Locate And Install Driver Software (Recommended).

  The Driver Software Installation component should use the driver that you've just made available on the computer to complete the installation. If it doesn't do this for some reason, you'll see a wizard page that asks you to allow Windows to search online for the driver software. Click Don't Search Online. You'll then be prompted to insert the disk that came with the hardware device. Continue with the installation as discussed in the next section, starting with step 3.

  Installing New Devices

  Most available new devices are Plug and Play compatible. This means that you should be able to install new devices easily by using one of the following techniques:

  For a non-USB or non-FireWire device, simply shut down the computer, insert the device into the appropriate slot or connect it to the computer, restart the computer, and then let Windows Vista automatically detect the new device.

  For a USB or FireWire device, simply insert the device into the appropriate slot or connect it to the computer, restart the computer, and then let Windows Vista automatically detect the new device.

  Depending on the device, Windows Vista should automatically detect the new device and install a built-in driver to support it. The device should then run immediately without any problems. Well, that's the idea, but it doesn't always work out that way. The success of an automatic detection and installation depends on the device being Plug and Play compatible and a device driver being available.

  Windows Vista includes many device drivers in a standard installation, and in this case, the device should be installed automatically. If driver updating is allowed through Windows Update, Windows Vista checks for drivers automatically using Windows Update either when you connect a new device or when it first detects the device. Because Windows Update does not automatically install device drivers, you'll need to check for available updates to install the driver.

  Note

  For details on whether to use Windows Update to check for drivers automatically, see the section titled "The Hardware Tab" in Chapter 2, "Managing Windows Vista Systems." As discussed in Chapter 15, Windows Update must be enabled for this feature to work.

  Windows Vista might also automatically detect the new device and then start the Driver Software Installation component, which in turn starts the Found New Hardware wizard. In this case, you can complete the installation by following these steps:

  In the Found New Hardware wizard, click Locate And Install Driver Software (Recommended) to continue with the installation.

  The Driver Software Installation component will then search for preconfigured drivers. If it doesn't find a preconfigured driver, you are prompted to insert the disk that came with the hardware device.

  Use one of the following techniques to continue:

  q If you have an installation disk for the device, insert it and then follow the prompts. The device should then be installed properly. Skip the remaining steps.

  q If you don't have an installation disk, click I Don't Have The Disk. Show Me Other Options and then follow the remaining steps in this procedure.

  On the next wizard page, click Browse My Computer For Driver Software.

  Click Browse to select a search location.

  Use the Browse For Folder dialog box to select the start folder for the search and then click OK. Because all subfolders of the selected folder are searched automatically, you can select the drive root path, such as C, to search an entire drive.

  When you click Next, the wizard will search for and install any appropriate driver. If the wizard can't find an appropriate driver, you'll need to obtain one and then follow the procedure in the "Installing and Updating Device Drivers" section in this chapter to complete the installation.

  Note

  If the wizard fails to install the device, there might be a problem with the device itself or the driver, or a conflict with existing hardware. For additional details on adding hardware and troubleshooting, see the "Managing Hardware" section in this chapter.

  Once you've successfully installed a device, you'll need to periodically perform maintenance tasks for the device and its drivers. When new drivers for a device are released, you might want to test them in a development or support environment to see whether the drivers resolve problems that users have been experiencing. If the drivers install without problems and resolve outstanding issues, you might then want to install the updated drivers on computers that use this device. The driver update procedure should be implemented as follows:

  Check the device and driver information on each system prior to installing the new driver. Note the location, version, and file name of the existing driver.

  Create a System Restore point as discussed in Chapter 16, "Supporting and Troubleshooting Windows Vista."

  Install the updated driver and reboot the computer. If the computer and the device function normally after the reboot, the update can be considered a success.

  If the computer or the device malfunctions after the driver installation, use the standard Device Manager utilities to roll back to the previously installed driver. If the computer cannot be restarted and the driver cannot be restored, recover the system by starting with the last known good configuration and then restoring the system to the System Restore point that you created previously.

  Getting Started with Device Manager

  You use Device Manager to view and configure hardware devices. You'll spend a lot of time working with this tool, so you should get to know it before working with devices.

  To access Device Manager and obtain a detailed list of all the hardware devices installed on a system, complete the following steps:

  Click Start and then click Control Panel.

  In Control Panel, click the System And Maintenance category heading link.

  Click Administrative Tools an
d then double-click Computer Management.

  Note

  To work with a remote computer, right-click the Computer Management entry in the console tree and then select Connect To Another Computer. Choose Another Computer and then type the fully qualified name of the computer you want to work with, or click Browse to search for the computer with which you want to work. Click OK.

  In the Computer Management console, click the plus sign (+) next to the System Tools node. This expands the node to display its tools.

  Select Device Manager. As shown in Figure 3-5, you should now see a complete list of devices installed on the system. By default, this list is organized by device type.

  Figure 3-5: Use Device Manager to work with hardware devices.

  Click the plus sign (+) next to a device type to see a list of the specific instances of that device type.

  Once you access Device Manager, you can work with any of the installed devices. If you right-click a device entry, a shortcut menu is displayed. The options available depend on the device type, but they include the following:

  Properties Displays the Properties dialog box for the device

  Uninstall Uninstalls the device and its drivers

  Disable Disables the device but doesn't uninstall it

  Enable Enables a device if it's disabled

  Update Driver Starts the Hardware Update wizard, which you can use to update the device driver

  Scan For Hardware Changes Tells Windows Vista to check the hardware configuration and determine whether there are any changes

  Tip

  The device list shows warning symbols if there are problems with a device. A yellow warning symbol with an exclamation point indicates a problem with a device. A red X indicates a device that was improperly installed or disabled by the user or the administrator for some reason.

  You can use the options on the View menu in the Computer Management console to change the defaults for which types of devices are displayed and how the devices are listed. The options are as follows:

  Devices By Type Displays devices by the type of device installed, such as disk drive or printer. The connection name is listed below the type. This is the default view.

  Devices By Connection Displays devices by connection type, such as audio and video codecs.

  Resources By Type Displays the status of allocated resources by type of device using the resource. Resource types are direct memory access (DMA) channels, input/output (I/O) ports, interrupt requests (IRQ), and memory addresses.

  Resources By Connection Displays the status of all allocated resources by connection type rather than device type.

  Show Hidden Devices Displays non–Plug and Play devices as well as devices that have been physically removed from the computer but haven't had their drivers uninstalled.

  Working with Device Drivers

  For each hardware component installed on a computer, there is an associated device driver. The job of the device driver is to describe how the operating system uses the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) to work with a hardware component. The HAL handles the low-level communications tasks between the operating system and a hardware component. By installing a hardware component through the operating system, you are telling the operating system about the device driver it uses, and from then on, the device driver loads automatically and runs as part of the operating system.

  Device Driver Essentials

  Windows Vista includes an extensive library of device drivers. In the base installation of the operating system, these drivers are maintained in the file repository of the driver store. Some service packs you install will also include updates to the driver store. You can find drivers in the FileRepository folder under %SystemRoot%System32DriverStore. The DriverStore folder also contains subfolders for localized driver information. You'll find a subfolder for each language component configured on the system. For example, for localized U.S. English driver information, you'll find a subfolder called en-US.

  Every device driver in the driver store is certified to be fully compatible with Windows Vista and also digitally signed by Microsoft to assure the operating system of its authenticity. When you install a new Plug and Play compatible device, Windows Vista checks the driver store for a compatible device driver. If one is found, the operating system automatically installs the device.

  Every device driver has an associated Setup Information file. This file ends with the .inf extension and is a text file containing detailed configuration information about the device being installed. The information file identifies any source files used by the driver as well. Source files have the .sys extension. Drivers are also associated with a component manifest (component.man) file. The manifest file is written in extensible markup language (XML), includes details on the driver's digital signature, and might also include Plug and Play information used by the device to automatically configure itself.

  Every driver installed on a system has a source (.sys) file in the %SystemRoot% System32Drivers folder. When you install a new device driver, the driver is written to a subfolder of %SystemRoot%System32Drivers, and configuration settings are stored in the registry. The driver's .inf file is used to control the installation and write the registry settings. If the driver doesn't already exist in the driver store, it does not already have an .inf file or other related files on the system. In this case, the driver's .inf file and other related files are written to a subfolder of %SystemRoot%System32 DriverStoreFileRepository when you install the device.

  Using Signed and Unsigned Device Drivers

  Every device driver in the driver cache is digitally signed, which authenticates the driver as having passed extensive testing by the Windows Hardware Quality Lab. A device driver with a digital signature from Microsoft should not cause your system to crash or become unstable. The presence of a digital signature from Microsoft also ensures that the device driver hasn't been tampered with. If a device driver doesn't have a digital signature from Microsoft, it hasn't been approved for use through testing, or its files might have been modified from the original installation by another program. This means unsigned drivers are much more likely than any other program you've installed to cause the operating system to freeze or the computer to crash.

  To prevent problems with unsigned drivers, by default, Windows Vista warns you when you try to install an unsigned device driver. Windows can also be configured to eliminate this warning or to prevent unsigned drivers from being installed altogether. To manage device driver settings for computers throughout the organization, you can use Group Policy. When you do this, Group Policy specifies the least secure setting using one of three configuration settings. These settings are:

  Ignore Use this setting to allow users to install any unsigned driver without having to see and respond to a warning prompt.

  Warn Use this setting to prompt users each time either to continue with the installation of an unsigned driver or to stop the installation.

  Block Use this setting to prevent users from installing unsigned driver software.

  Note

  When Group Policy is set to Ignore or Warn, unsigned drivers can be installed. When Group Policy is set to Block, unsigned device drivers can't be installed without first overriding Group Policy.

  You can configure device driver–signing settings on a per user basis using the Code Signing For Device Drivers policy. This policy is located in User ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesSystemDriver Installation. When you enable this policy, you can specify the action to take as Ignore, Warn, or Block. Once enabled, the system doesn't implement any setting less secure than the established setting.

  Tip

  See Chapter 9 for details on working with Group Policy. If you're trying to install a device and find that you can't install an unsigned driver, you should first check the System utility settings for driver signing. If you find that the settings are set to Block and you can't change the setting, the Code Signing For Device Drivers policy has been enabled and set to Bl
ock in Group Policy. You must override Group Policy to install the unsigned device driver.

  Tracking Driver Information

  Each driver being used on a system has a driver file associated with it. You can view the location of the driver file and related details by completing the following steps:

  Start Computer Management. In the Computer Management console, click the plus sign (+) next to the System Tools node.

  Select Device Manager. You should now see a complete list of devices installed on the system. By default, this list is organized by device type.

  Right-click the device you want to manage and then select Properties. The Properties dialog box for that device opens.

  In the Driver tab, click Driver Details to display the Driver File Details dialog box. As shown in Figure 3-6, the following information is displayed:

  Driver Files Displays the full file path to locations where the driver exists

  Provider The creator of the driver

  File Version The version of the file

  Figure 3-6: The Driver File Details dialog box displays information on the driver file locations, the provider, and the file versions.

  Installing and Updating Device Drivers

  To keep devices operating smoothly, it's essential that you keep the device drivers current. You install and update drivers using the Found New Hardware, Add Hardware, and Update Driver Software Wizards. By default, these wizards can search for updated device drivers in the following locations:

  On the local computer

  On a hardware installation CD

  On the Windows Update site or your organization's Windows Update server

  In Group Policy, several policies control the search possibilities.