What is an INF driver?
An INF file is a text file that contains all the information that device installation components used to install a driver. Windows installs drivers using INF files. This information includes the following: Driver name and location. Driver version information.
What are the 2 pieces of the Windows driver called?
There are two basic types of Microsoft Windows drivers: User-mode drivers execute in user mode, and they typically provide an interface between a Win32 application and kernel-mode drivers or other operating system components. For example, in Windows Vista, all printer drivers execute in user mode.
What is device INF?
Device information (INF) files are text files that provide information used by the Plug-and-Play mechanism on Windows Vista / Server 2008 / Server 2003 / XP / 2000 / Me / 98 to install software that supports a given hardware device. INF files are required for hardware that identifies itself, such as USB and PCI.
What does INF file stand for?
Setup Information file
In computing, an INF file or Setup Information file is a plain-text file used by Microsoft Windows for the installation of software and drivers. INF files are most commonly used for installing device drivers for hardware components. Windows includes the IExpress tool for the creation of INF-based installations.
Do I need inf drivers?
Unless you are installing an operating system, you don’t need to install the Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility. If you install the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility after an operating system installation, only the INF files needed to recognize the product names in Device Manager will be installed.
Can I delete INF files?
The user can then right click on the inf file shown in the list and view the content in the richedit box on the right bottom of the screen or open it in Notepad by right clicking on the particular entry in listview. Once the user is sure that the inf can be uninstalled, they can right click and select Uninstall.
Can you use the same driver on different OS?
Yes you can, the OEM copies are designed to be used with a new computer. In reality, they can be reused on new hardware, so long as they are only used on one computer at a time.
Do drivers need inf?
Where are inf drivers?
The inf file is stored in the [Driver] folder in the folder of the driver you have acquired.
How do I uninstall inf drivers?
What is an INF file for a file system driver?
An INF file for a file system driver generally contains the following sections. The Version section specifies the driver version information, as shown in the following code example. The following table shows the values that file system filter drivers should specify in the Version section.
What is the difference between an INF and an export driver?
An export driver is just a kernel equivalent of a DLL — it just provides APIs to other drivers. Export drivers don’t need an INF; they just need to be put into the right directory on disk. If you already have an INF for other reasons, you canuse the CopyFilesdirective to do this.
How do I know if an INF file is universal?
A driver package with a universal INF file can be configured in advance and added to an offline system. To test if your INF is universal, use infverif /u. A Windows Driver must pass infverif /w, which tests /u as well as Driver Package Isolation.
What is the infverif test for Windows drivers?
A Windows Driver must pass infverif /w, which tests /u as well as Driver Package Isolation. For a list of InfVerif options, see Running InfVerif from the command line.