Manually installing driver files (without using executable)

[phil81uk]

I checked my background processes after doing a Fresh Vista install and was suprised to find that there were several processes relating to the Ultranav (which I assume is the touchpad and nipple). I wanted to minimise background processes but I had decided to install Ultranav as the Vista drivers do not enable scrolling on either touchpad or nipple.

With this I recalled something my brother once spoke of. He spoke of copying driver files from his computer, reformating the machine, and them reinstalling the drivers not by using the Exe files supplied by his machine manufacturer, but by usingthe driver files he had downloaded.

A colleague who used to work as an engineer gave some more information though it was incomplete and I am not sure about it. He said that you can use WinRar to obtain driver files from Exe's (which normally install the drivers for you). And then use Device Manager to install the driver files.

And so my questions are as follows;

(1) Has anyone else tried this, and can anyone give more information on carrying out the operation?

(2) Can such an operation be used to, for example, install the driver to enable scrolling on the touchpad & nipple without all the other processes that the Lenovo driver installs?

I'm not sure that it is that easy, as I have noticed that drivers are made up of multiple files, and not just the single inf file.

[jdhurst]

See if your processes are actually causing problems before removing them. I disable the UltraNav (I use just the TrackPoint) and have no UltraNav processes running. So I suspect the ones running are the ones needed. Generally, the processes on my machine use a bit of memory and no CPU, so I don't bother with them. ... JD Hurst

[Jedacite]

A colleague who used to work as an engineer gave some more information though it was incomplete and I am not sure about it. He said that you can use WinRar to obtain driver files from Exe's (which normally install the drivers for you). And then use Device Manager to install the driver files.

And so my questions are as follows;

(1) Has anyone else tried this, and can anyone give more information on carrying out the operation?

(2) Can such an operation be used to, for example, install the driver to enable scrolling on the touchpad & nipple without all the other processes that the Lenovo driver installs?

I'm not sure that it is that easy, as I have noticed that drivers are made up of multiple files, and not just the single inf file.

Your friend is right, if the driver package does not give you the driver files directly and its a single executable installer, you can simply extract the required driver files from the executable using WinRar (and many other tools as well.)

Basically, to install the driver files manually you will need to select the device that you want to install the drivers manually for and either select install driver or update driver (depends on if a driver has already been installed or not.)

I'm a little rusty at the exact menu options and names, but basically you want to tell windows that you don't want it to search for drivers and you should select the appropriate directory within the directory that you extracted the drivers to. Often these installers have drivers for multiple OS's so you will need to select the one that is the most appropriate to the OS that you are running on.

For example, for the IBM Intel Chipset Drivers the IBM installer contains the Intel Installer which itself contains a set of directories, LANG, Vista, XP, win2003 and win2000. So if you have Windows XP the XP directory is the one that you will want to select.

I would follow jdhurst's advice first though as you may very well find that you need the background processes to be alive in order to use all of the TouchPad features. Like jdhurst, I also disabled use of the TrackPoint and don't have UltraNav in my process list anymore since disabling the TouchPad.

Good Luck.