Thinkpads Forum

Hey all,

First time posting here, but I've read on an off for a while. I have a T60p widescreen (type 8743), which I decided to do a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit on last night. I've gotten everything to work, except for the sound/audio drivers (Analog Devices SoundMAX).

Despite my persistent and repeated efforts, I just cannot get them to install. I've tried the Windows update drivers, installing XP and Vista drivers in compatibility mode, installing the T61(p) 7 drivers, etc. Each time, I've made sure to completely remove the old drivers, but to no measure of success.

I seem to consistently fail trying to install the Windows Update drivers, and when I do a driver update through device manager, I get the same error, telling me it was able to download the drivers, but not install them, because "This operation requires an interactive window station." Tech support had nothing to offer, since there aren't any official 7 drivers for it yet, but apparently it only works when doing an upgrade. They're trying to work something out, but in the mean time, nothing.

Has anyone else had this problem, or heard about it? I'd really appreciate any help.

Thanks,
--dpraetorius

EDIT (11/23/09):
After playing around nonstop and still unable to get it working, I did a reinstall and it was fine from the start. At this point, it seems like the only way to make it work, as none of the methods I tried could get it to work.

Hi, dpraetorius,

Welcome to the forums!

I don't know if this will help much, but your Windows desktop *is* your "interactive windows station." I just found that out by searching for the phrase at devnet. I didn't find any obvious solution, but based on the message itself, I'd guess that something in Windows 7 doesn't think it has the authority to install the driver. The question becomes what's causing that.

First, I'd rule out any controllable local issues that could interfere- like deactivating antivirus, for example.

And you could try installing the Vista drivers. That seems to work for some folks. I'll be very curious about what you find out because lots of folks are asking about this on the net, but I'm not finding any answers.

SafeHarbor,

Thanks for the reply! I had figured as such with the "interactive windows station," but I just can't get anything to work, Vista drivers included. I've been trying to find a way to see if that error can be bypassed, but so far, the forced driver installation techniques I've found haven't done anything. What's killing me is that it recognizes the drivers as proper, but for some reason, it just won't actually install them. I figure if there's some workaround for that issue, maybe something similar to installing unsigned drivers, it could work, but at this point, I've got nothing.

Hi, dpraetorius,

Actually, I was coming back to post again. I found this:

ERROR_REQUIRES_INTERACTIVE_WINDOWSTATION
Issue:
The driver installation requires an interactive window due to issues such as the co installer about to show some user interfaces like a dialog box. This failure generates the following entries in the Setupapi.dev.log file.
dvi: {DIF_INSTALLDEVICE} 11:02:29.804
dvi: CoInstaller 1: Enter 11:02:29.804
!!! dvi: CoInstaller 1: failed(0x000005b3)!
!!! dvi: Error 1459: This operation requires an interactive window station.
dvi: {DIF_INSTALLDEVICE - exit(0x000005b3)} 11:02:29.804
dvi: {DIF_DESTROYPRIVATEDATA} 11:02:29.820
dvi: CoInstaller 1: Enter 11:02:29.820
dvi: CoInstaller 1: Exit
dvi: Class installer: Enter 11:02:29.835
dvi: Class installer: Exit
dvi: Default installer: Enter 11:02:29.835
dvi: Default installer: Exit
dvi: {DIF_DESTROYPRIVATEDATA - exit(0xe000020e)} 11:02:29.835
ump: Server install process exited with code 0x000005b3 11:02:29.835
ump: {Plug and Play Service: Device Install exit(000005b3)}


Solution:
Solve the root cause problem that requires an interactive window station. (The problem might be an I/O problem, a File Access denied problem, and so on.) Co installers cannot require an interactive window station outside a finish-install action or finish-install page. Ensure that the co installer uses a finish-install action or a finish-install page to show UI.

This was written for Vista drivers rather than Windows 7. You can find the same information by searching for

DRvPkg_Errors.doc

I then found in Windows Internals fifth edition: "...Services that aren't running on the visible window station can't receive input from a user or display windows on the console." Yeah, duh...

What can I say? I was born to be a researcher.

So, do you think that a hidden dialog window or one that was supposed to be created to get info from you and possibly was not could be the problem?

And I think it could be related to something way down in the underpinnings. I found a few folks saying reinstalling Windows solved their problem.