[MadBoy]

Nice idea with counting devicepath lenght. I'll add it soon. And yes it's 4096 chars.

I used to have nice testing desk since i worked for company with over 2000 ppl and they didn't had same hw... so testing was included daily then. But now i changed work and i don't do that anymore so the program i'm writting just to fullfill needs as i knew it's pain in the a**.

Little off topic:
My company also used other project of mine. Installer of software. Worked preety nice, but also stopped developing due to diffrent company Here's a screen of it (excuse my polish):
 showoff.JPG (32.15K)
Number of downloads: 69
 showoff1.JPG (44.88K)
Number of downloads: 49
The use is simple. you just choose either profile or by hand programs you want to install and it does it automatically. Worked preety nice. Program was using network share with access to /ADVANCED dir (office2003 etc) only if someone was in Domain Admins or MsOffice2003 grp in Active Directory so only some ppl could use it. Program also supported multiple localizations. So if you have like lets say Washington, NewYork and server in each city that is replicated thru domain... program would detect where you are and use the closest location to you, or would tell you to "f... off" if you don't have server near by. I also had a bunch of little programs so i was just sending litle exe in mail, adding user to right grp in AD and they were able to install office with 2-3 clicks Was fun Maybe someone will buy my programs some day *Evil GRiN*.

Anyways ;P


I did some googling on this key you gave me and seems it's no GO See for yourself. But maybe you want to try it out by yourself.

If Windows setup can't find your install files:
Start/Run/Regedit. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup. Change the path.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Sourcepath
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\Sourcepath
those are for Windows CD and should be pointing to <driveletter>:\i386 and <driveletter>:

Changing the default Win2000 install path: Top

If you want to change where Windows 2000 expects to find the installtion source files, edit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Setup
and substitute your hard disk path for the existing CD-ROM path.
If a value isn't there, click Edit, New, String Value. For the name enter
SourcePath and press enter. Then double click SourcePath and enter the
path to your installation files, e.g. C:\I386. (it must have a I386 structure)

Next, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion. In RegEdit's right pane, double-click SourcePath and
enter the new path, e.g. C:\I386.

You should also check:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\
Installation Sources
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\
SourcePath

for a path to the CD-ROM drive. If the CD-ROM path appears in these keys, then change them to the hard disk path also.



I'll read some, maybe i'll find something about the wizard :/

[twig123]

MadBoy, on Sep 15 2006, 03:35 AM, said:

Have you DOWNLOADED newest version that i uploaded?

Well your release was ~11am from your post... I downloaded the 'latest' copy ~2hrs before my last post... so ~10hrs after your 5.4 re-release, is when i downloaded it...

I will re-test with the latest v5.5

[twig123]

Check out my debug report file attached...

here is what I gathered from it

[23:10:26] - DEBUG in REGISTRYDEVICEPATH FUNCTION 0: Total Files Listed:
[23:10:26] - DEBUG in REGISTRYDEVICEPATH FUNCTION 0: 0 File(s)			  0 bytes
[23:10:26] - DEBUG in REGISTRYDEVICEPATH FUNCTION 0: 158 Dir(s)	   8,992,768 bytes free

I gather that it hasn't detected ANY of the inf's that I have in the All_Drivers folder... shouldn't it have found the files in each of the folders and reported a size???

also, still with the new 5.5 version, when the program starts it changes the "devicepath" key from "%systemroot%\inf;" to blank... then back to the systemroot after closing... with all 3 registry options (Begin, End & None).

the full debug is attached to this post if u need a further look.

Attached File(s)

•  hardware.log.txt (36.4K)
  Number of downloads: 8

This post has been edited by discountpc: 15 September 2006 - 09:25 PM

[twig123]

@MadBoy:
Check your PM's....

(Edit) ... now a 2nd PM, and a further in-depth incite...
If you want you can either post or pm a reply... doesn't matter to me, but let me know either way.

~Dave

This post has been edited by discountpc: 15 September 2006 - 11:07 PM

[MadBoy]

Changelog for 0.5.6
- seems like i missed one thing in program that was related to bug in 0.5.5. Users that were using CDROM or REMOVABLE for drivers_drive wouldn't get DevicePath into registry. (tnx discountpc AGAiN)
- added into program counting for DevicePath lenght. It's added to output and to logfile. Later on maybe i'll redo the look a bit and add it in some better place but for now the log box is nice ;p (requested by netman66)


Should fix the issue now discountpc Tnx again

This post has been edited by MadBoy: 16 September 2006 - 06:14 AM

[twig123]

Thanks for the quick fix
I'm a code junkie usually, but this program is like Chinese to me

I just got to work, so I will test if I get a sec... otherwise I'll test once I get home.

~Dave

[twig123]

MadBoy, on Sep 16 2006, 05:17 AM, said:

seems like i missed one thing in program that was related to bug in 0.5.5. Users that were using CDROM or REMOVABLE for drivers_drive wouldn't get DevicePath into registry

Should fix the issue now discountpc Tnx again

Just downloaded & tested 0.5.6 ... and issue still seems to remain that the drive is not registered as a variable and thus not stored in the registry... I haven't had time to debug it yet and I have only tested with the CDROM tag at the momemnt... but still no path is entered

...also would it be possible to detect the class of the device (audio, video, network) and have it search specific folders before it starts searching the entire Drivers DIR? ... to kinda make Bashrat The Sneeky's Driver packs more usefull... like this structure: a sound device will search the X:\All_Drivers\S (S for sound) first. or X:\All_Drivers\G (for Graphics). I think this would dramaticly cut down on the install times specifcly when using Bashrats driverpacks. Just a suggestion

~Dave

This post has been edited by discountpc: 16 September 2006 - 08:27 PM

[ty628659]

MadBoy:

Good Job !! it worked (unpack and auto install drivers)

Suggestion: in driver_drive can take network path like - ( \\server\drivers\all_driver ), it would be very helpful as we don't need to manual MAP the network dirve

next week i am going to test more machines in my store.

MadBoy, on Sep 15 2006, 08:52 PM, said:

Little off topic:
My company also used other project of mine. Installer of software. Worked preety nice, but also stopped developing due to diffrent company Here's a screen of it (excuse my polish):

do you have english version, it will be very helpful for my business, I will pay you

thanks, ty

This post has been edited by ty628659: 17 September 2006 - 02:17 AM

[MadBoy]

ty628659: network drives (for example auto_mapping as drive or so) can be added, not as easy thou as it would require additional checks, like if server is available etc. Problem is usually LAN isn't working the first time you want to install drivers. You would have to integrate LAN drivers to your windows image.


discountpc: i'll try to find what's wrong. I thought i fixed it and it should work just fine. I'll take a look at it and report if it has the error or not

As for the detection of class of device.. well how would you see that going? At the point of hardware detection hardware id is just a bunch of numbers. Plug & Play compares them with .inf's file and if it matches, driver is installed, if it doesn't match system goes on to next .inf (at least i see it works that way, if not .. ;p) and that's why it takes so long. There's no database for that. Devcon can only say if some device is GRAPHIC, SOUND card if driver for those is already installed (that's why it's possible to implement removal of graphic card even with driver installed and then having it check for new driver for that card as someone requested). Only way it could be done, as i see it, is to have list of HARDWARE ID's inside the program that would say "This ID is graphic" and so on. I don't think keeping that database is possible. It would require lots of ppl work as new devices get rlsed every day. Having 4gb+ of drivers is a long process. As i see it CDROM/DVDROM is the slowest method to use. Fast USB 2.0 pendrive or maybe some small, fast hardrive in USB case would be best choice as it does 30mb/s with computer and doesn't have all disadvantages that CD/DVD has. That would be the fastest way (i always used it). Another way that could be implemented is LAN server but that would require LAN drivers integrated into win image (shouldn't take much place as net drivers are preety small), and a lot of additional work from my side

*EDIT*

Fixed the issue with CDROM/REMOVABLE. DiscountPc test please

This post has been edited by MadBoy: 17 September 2006 - 04:28 AM

[twig123]

MadBoy, on Sep 17 2006, 05:57 AM, said:

*EDIT*
Fixed the issue with CDROM/REMOVABLE. DiscountPc test please

Sweet, the REMOVABLE switch seems to work now , however, CDROM is still M.I.A

(i'm off to my G-rents) bbl 2day for more testing...

This post has been edited by discountpc: 17 September 2006 - 10:42 AM

[MadBoy]

Dammit, CDROM has to work also. It's same function, taken care at same time. SO it must work, especially that i was TESTING CDROM and not REMOVABLE :/

I also thought when jogging a bit about the speed issue on CDROM, or even REMOVABLE devices. I think the good solution to this is to have another little app hardware_prepare.exe that will prepare index file with the right path's to registry. That way you can prepare yourself index file of all dirs before putting it on CD/DVD. SHould be much faster then.

Also i thought about that db of hardware.id stuff. It actually wouldn't be needed to do it by hand or split into sections (GRAPHIC etc). I could have hardware_prepare.exe that would create something like index from .inf's in lets say format:

hardware_id : path to inf that has that hardware_id

THen when some device is removed in removal process hardware_id is taken and try to match the hardware_id with index file. That way there's almost no searching process thru CD/DVD or dirs.. it just goes straight to right inf's

Looks nice on paper.. wonder if i can code it

[twig123]

I'm doing some more testing now.
... strange I can't get REMOVABLE to work now either :-|
I'm going to delete all my files and re-create all the settings files again to eliminate the issue being on my end. Also I'm going to test on a 2nd system just to make sure.

[twig123]

I'm confused... now its not working for me again...
can you double check it again for me?

(edit) check PM

This post has been edited by discountpc: 17 September 2006 - 08:08 PM

[MadBoy]

Changelog for 0.5.8-0.6.0
- fixed some variable name so it wouldn't cause confusion in script (related to bug with CDROM/REMOVABLE). Could happen with more then 1 CDROM drive or in case of removable devices (more then 1 removable device) that the program didn't set the registry path correctly.
- fixed position of one check so it would announce correctly when the path to Drivers is incorrect.


hehe, this time i hope it's fixed totally. Need bug report from discount and others. Fill me in.

[twig123]

Hmm... Still a no go...
Attached are my logs tested with the REMOVABLE switch that is not working, and I also tested manually setting H as the drive letter in the ini file that does work.
When REMOVABLE is specified, it still is not writing to DevicePath in registry, but does work beautifully if the drive is specified. I have attached my hardware log & hardware ini. maybe they will help.

I give you props on the fast new-releases though

Attached File(s)

•  REMOVABLE_hardware_NOT.log.txt (5.11K)
  Number of downloads: 18
•  REMOVABLE_hardware_NOT.ini (332bytes)
  Number of downloads: 19
•  H_hardware_Working.ini (324bytes)
  Number of downloads: 16
•  H_hardware_Working.log.txt (6.3K)
  Number of downloads: 15

This post has been edited by discountpc: 18 September 2006 - 04:45 PM

[MadBoy]

I have found another instance of problem. As you compare both logs you can see that there is 'h' in one and 'H' in other. That's why it didn't work. Anyway i think i fixed the last issue of it. If it doesn't work there's one more thing that i can do to make it 100%, but even without it this should work.

[twig123]

Sweet! another fast release! I like waking up to a new release
I'm gunna be @ work for another 4hrs, but I will test once I get home and let you know

This post has been edited by discountpc: 19 September 2006 - 12:53 PM

[twig123]

MadBoy, on Sep 19 2006, 03:00 AM, said:

there is 'h' in one and 'H' in other

I've tested and REMOVABLE & CDROM seem to be FULLY working now!!!
...Who would have thought that would be the issue.... a cap. letter

Now all we gotta figure out is how to detect when the devices are all installed to close the program

~Dave

[MadBoy]

Ye, i'm waiting for proposals I'm sure there's some way to check if drivers are being detected right now. I would suspect that some process shows up (is active) in process manager while devices are being detected and/when it's done the process closes or becomes inactive. Question is .. which process my program should be looking for

[MadBoy]

Changelog for 0.6.2
- Program now detects if detecting device is in progress or it's done and notifies user about it.
- In automatic mode program will automaticly close itself after detecting all devices. Of course if Wizard won't show up, else everything should be automagic.

In other words. It should work as it is supposed to do. Lemme know

Changelog for 0.6.3
- Added some checks and timeouts in detecting new devices so it wouldn't wait for process to come up.


Report and gimme ideas ;p