How to package HP Printer Driver M1536dnf using InstallShield
Hi Guys
I searched a lot but couldn't find anything that could help me or anything that I would understand. I have never packaged a driver before but from my research I found out that capturing a driver is not a good idea but here is the situation.
HP provided with a self extracting EXE which extracts multiple files and folders with a setup.exe/uninstall.exe and autorun.exe.
It has two MSIs under two folders which I am not sure will install the entire software or not.
The silent switch doesn't really work with the EXE. I tried capturing but it didn't work too well.
I couldn't really understand how to use DIFx.
If you have packaged the above driver before or know how it can be done, please do let me know. A detailed response would be appreciated. I am not an expert so I won't be able to understand something too complicated.
Thanks.
Answers (3)
Connect the printer to your machine and capture the driver installation using some capturing tool like Picture Taker or Installrite ect.. then you will come to know which driver is getting installed.. create package using DPInst or DIFx for that particular driver alone..
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/readyuse-dpinst-driver-applications
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It may be in the form of msi also.. in that case you don't have to use DPInst or DIFx ect.. check it.. - jagadeish 11 years ago
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Thank you for your response. That's exactly what I did. Took an initial snapshot of a clean machine and then installed the drivers and completed the installation by plugging the printer in and then rebooted the machine and then took the second snapshot to get the delta. I now have the captured data. I will follow the link to see what to do next. - tellmehow 11 years ago
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So I clicked the second link and followed the instructions. Just a few questions. All it's asking is to look for inf files. What about all the cat, dll, etl, inf, xml files and the registry entries that were captured with the package? - tellmehow 11 years ago
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hmm.. guys... seems that you don't know Installshield very well...;-) "Tellmehow" is referring to this wonderfull tool which includes a fantastic Dirver Wizard. Below is my answer.. for those "Wise" users: It's time to switch ;-) - jaybee96 11 years ago
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:) - jagadeish 11 years ago
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I already tried the device driver wizard in Installshield. It imports the files and for the first few it gives the appropriate description and for the remaining it says, file not found. - tellmehow 11 years ago
Installshield comes with a Driver Wizard, you only have to point to the inf file and all the required files (sys, cat etc..) will be imported according to the inf. file.
Installshield makes a nice feature / component structure for you as well.
http://helpnet.installshield.com/installshield16helplib/DeviceDriverWizard.htm
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some printerdrivers have a i386 folder.. please be sure that you point to the correct inf file.
if you repackage a driver , this would sometimes fail. I recommend the "SnapShot" Method.
please be sure to replace in the registry any "specific" ComputerName references by the [ComputerName] Property... (Seems like Installshield forgot to replace them in some cases...) - jaybee96 11 years ago -
Nice tutorial: http://msiworld.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/creating-device-driver-based-package-in.html - jaybee96 11 years ago
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There's no i386 folder in the capture and yes, I used the snapshot method. - tellmehow 11 years ago
I appreciate all the help guys but nothing worked. Turns out HP has a driver deployment utility for packaging drivers. It was a breeze. Took under 1 minute. You give the path to the ini fiile and it packages the contents of the entire package into a single unattended exe file. Worked like a charm.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=412144&prodNameId=412152&swEnvOID=228&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ds-99433-3
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Hi I am working on HP Laserjet p2035, however when I used the device driver wizard in Installshield, things did not work out and I get error 1603 with the install rolling back. Can you please let me know what steps did you follow to get the driver application packaged.
Help appreciated!!! :) - Kirti 10 years ago-
Hi Kirti
Apologies for the delayed response. To the best of my knowledge, InstallSheild device driver wizard does not support printer drivers. If you follow the above link, you should be able to download the HP Supported Utility I used to package the drivers. - tellmehow 10 years ago-
Thank you for your reply!!
I did use the HP DDU tool, but I did not succeed in capturing dat. My application is for win7 64bit and wen I capture using HP DDU and install the package it prompts me saying "It does not support the OS" inspite of using a 64bit source the HP DDU is unable to pick stuff from the INF. I also opened the INF to see the contents and I see it has the 64bit field but the HP DDU is not recognizing the 64bit. I am still not sure wats gone wrong!!
Did I miss any steps?? Awaiting for your response. - Kirti 10 years ago
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Try using Driver Package Installer (DPInst). You can download it from here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544842(v=vs.85).aspx
Look for Dpinst.exe when you download it. It comes in 32/64 bit versions, so look for the 64-bit Dpinst.exe or if you can find it in any package, that will work too.
All you have to do it copy DpInst.exe to the folder where the drivers are i.e ini, dat, cat all those files. Run it manually by double clicking it first and a window will pop up and if it successfully installs the drivers, then you know this utility will work for you and then you can use the silent switch to install the drivers silently. The switches can be found here http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544775(v=vs.85).aspx - tellmehow 10 years ago