Vista - deleted WDDM drivers, can't get them back!

hi,
yes i feel a bit stupid... i was pleased to see Vista had the option to
delete the driver software when you uninstall a driver, so i tried it out on
the Microsoft ATI WDDM driver before changing to the ATI catalyst driver to
see if i could get glass.
the catalyst driver didn't work, and now i can't revert to the WDDM driver
either. what's more, i have extracted the install.wim file from build 5728
and i can see the WDDM drivers there in the
\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\atiilhag.inf_a561f9b9 folder.
i can point the update-driver wizard to this folder, and select my matching
device, X1600 pro, and then click Next, it just says "Windows cannot find
the file specified".

i tried copying the files out of the mounted WIM onto the local disk and
install the drivers from there but got the same result. anyone know how i
can use the WDDM driver again?
many thanks in advance
tim

Exactly the same thing happened to me. To be honest, I don't see any reason
to feel stupid - ATI recommend that you delete the old drivers before
installing new ones so we were only following instructions.

Luckily, trying the ATI drivers was the first thing I did following the 5728
install so it was quicker to flatten the hard drive and re-install 5728 than
struggle with the video drivers.

Whether there's a problem in Vista when you try to delete drivers for an
"essential service", I'm not sure but I did notice a similar issue with the
network drivers if I tried to delete the Vista-supplied ones while the
network was still connected - namely the Vista drivers tried to re-install
themselves before I had chance to begin installing the new ones.

John.

--


"Tim_Mac" <tim.mackey@community.nospam> wrote in message
news:61016B1D-6CDE-4946-B27C-648E1C7E56A7@microsoft.com...
> hi,
> yes i feel a bit stupid... i was pleased to see Vista had the option to
> delete the driver software when you uninstall a driver, so i tried it out
> on the Microsoft ATI WDDM driver before changing to the ATI catalyst
> driver to see if i could get glass.
> the catalyst driver didn't work, and now i can't revert to the WDDM driver
> either. what's more, i have extracted the install.wim file from build
> 5728 and i can see the WDDM drivers there in the
> \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\atiilhag.inf_a561f9b9 folder.
> i can point the update-driver wizard to this folder, and select my
> matching device, X1600 pro, and then click Next, it just says "Windows
> cannot find the file specified".
>
> i tried copying the files out of the mounted WIM onto the local disk and
> install the drivers from there but got the same result. anyone know how i
> can use the WDDM driver again?
> many thanks in advance
> tim

hi John ,
thanks for the reply. seems like a bug if i can't re-install the drivers,
even if i have the files.
does anyone else know if it really is a bug?

thanks

> i tried copying the files out of the mounted WIM onto the local disk and
> install the drivers from there but got the same result.

Did you try copying the files into their original location on the hard
drive? (ie. System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\atiilhag.inf_a561f9b9)

I had the same problem when I had (manually) deleted the atiihag folder and
then tried to restore it. Originally I just restored it to my desktop and
got the 'cannot find the file' error when I pointed windows to the folder.
Once I put the folder back in it's original location the drivers installed
fine. Well, when I say fine, I mean they installed as well as they ever had
(I'm struggling with the 'code 43' error that others seem to have.)

hi Michael,
i did try that, although the original files were still there. i couldn't
overwrite them because i wasn't a member of trusted installers. it's
probably just a group thing i'll add myself to. i'll give it a go and post
here if it works.

thanks
tim

I had the same problem with Vista beta 2, so I never deleted or installed
any other drivers in the next installations for my ATI Mobile 9000
videocard.

Regards,

Kikker46

"Tim_Mac" <tim.mackey@community.nospam> wrote in message
news:OETvpiM4GHA.4632@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> hi John ,
> thanks for the reply. seems like a bug if i can't re-install the drivers,
> even if i have the files.
> does anyone else know if it really is a bug?
>
> thanks
>