Topic: unused drivers

[measter]

what's that peice of software that removes unused driver from a pc?

[Adept]

I'm sure someone will know Measter

[TR]

Adept....isnt it called a Virus  

Measter somewhere I have a prog, I will look when I'm sober  

[Simon]

I thought it was called Device Manager.  

[ketamininja]

I'm afraid I'm unaware of any software that does this, but if you find it, I might take a copy.

When you say unused drivers, how do you mean exactly?

Used drivers can be identified because they are linked to the hardware item in the REGISTRY. Unused drivers do not have links anywhere (that I am aware of), and so the computer would not know what file is a driver that is not being used.

The software would have to scan EVERY FILE on your PC (like Norton AV would) and then cross check the name and version etc against a database of known drivers...

I doubt that it exists.

If you want to get rid of a driver that is not being used, then just delete the file. Of course you need to make sure that the file is not going to be needed at any point in the future.

[measter]

i'm damn sure sandra posted a link to some software that does that, though i can't find the post(if it exists).

[Sandra]

I cant remember doing one Measter, sorry  
I can only think that one of the many reg cleaners may do it, but use with caution if you do use one.

[Sandra]

If you are using XP Measter then this article may help :

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302577&Product=winxp

I think the Sysprep tool is meant for PC builders to initially have the original PC set up that they can make an image of to speed up the installation on cloned PCs, maybe some one with a better understanding of this can confirm this  

However one of the commands that you can use with Sysprep is CLEAN where from what I understand from reading about it will do what you require as it boots, by detecting which drivers are no longer appropriate for the devices on your particular pc and deleting them.

I also found this that someone said it didnt work as it should have done and lists the extra work he had to do to remove the unwanted drivers :

"sysprep -bmsd" populates sysprep.inf with entries, each of which corresponds to a mass storage controller found in the Machine.inf, Scsi.inf, Pnpscsi.inf, and Mshdc.inf. After that, when you use sysprep normally (without -bmsd switch), all such devices will be created in device manager, so that the next reboot will load *all* such drivers.

In theory, when this next reboot finishes, the "unused" drivers should be automatically cleanup. In practice, they are not. This is why I saw the orphan devices. To clear them, I have to use "sysprep -clean". The best way is to create C:\sysprep\i386\$OEM$ folder. Put there a cmdlines.txt file that reads

[Commands]
"C:\sysprep\sysprep -clean"

Then in the sysprep.inf file, put the line in the [Unattended] section:
InstallFilesPath=C:\sysprep\i386

This will make sure the orphan files to deleted.

One thing I discovered was that sysprep appended a section named "[SysprepCleanup]" to my sysprep.inf. This section contained all information about what devices should be removed. Provided this section was intact, "sysprep -clean" will do the cleanup for me.

But the tricky part is that C:\sysprep will be automatically deleted after completion. So when I login, I will see no c:\sysprep folder. In particular, I see no sysprep.inf file, so the[SysprepCleanup] section is not there, and "sysprep -clean" has no effect. I must cleanup *while* the sysprep.inf file is still there. This is why I choose to put the command in cmdlines.txt file.

I hope that this helps  

[Adept]

I think the Sysprep tool is meant for PC builders to initially have the original PC set up that they can make an image of to speed up the installation on cloned PCs, maybe some one with a better understanding of this can confirm this  

That's exactly what it's for Sandra. I don't think it'll be much use for Measter

[TR]

Adept....isnt it called a Virus  

Measter somewhere I have a prog, I will look when I'm sober  

I knew I saw it somewhere    its a 15 day free trial Here


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