Vista - Cannot install any USB devices

Hi,

I've just installed Vista, but since I have I cannot get any USB devices on
my computer to work now... Everything was working fine before the upgrade,
but now everytime I plug anything in Windows attempts to find the drivers,
then tells me to insert the original disk. For some of the devices I don't
even have the disk, i.e. my memory card, which came as just a standalone
unit. Even with my printer, I downloaded the correct drivers, installed
them, and still Windows cannot find these drivers whichever way I try it....
This is driving me crazy now, there must be a reason why it doesn't work!

Thanks for your time in advance!

leepeth wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've just installed Vista, but since I have I cannot get any USB devices on
> my computer to work now... Everything was working fine before the upgrade,
> but now everytime I plug anything in Windows attempts to find the drivers...

Sounds like the common problem that your C:\windows\inf\INFCACHE.1 file
has become corrupted. The workaround is to delete that file, but you
will need to edit its file permissions to grant Full Control to the
Users group before you will be allowed to delete it.

Having searched other forums for a fix to this problem, I actually have now
happened across the answer. After Windows attempts to download the driver
from Windows Update, it asks you to insert the disk if you have it. When you
go on to the next screen and specify where you want Windows to search for the
drivers, point to windows/system32 folder and tick the include subfolders
box. Works every time, but I do have to ask why has a bug of this size
managed to get into the release copy of Vista, as surely the hardware wizard
should know that this is one of the places?

Just left me totally cold this one....

"Don" wrote:

> leepeth wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I've just installed Vista, but since I have I cannot get any USB devices on
> > my computer to work now... Everything was working fine before the upgrade,
> > but now everytime I plug anything in Windows attempts to find the drivers...
>
> Sounds like the common problem that your C:\windows\inf\INFCACHE.1 file
> has become corrupted. The workaround is to delete that file, but you
> will need to edit its file permissions to grant Full Control to the
> Users group before you will be allowed to delete it.
>
>

leepeth wrote:
> Having searched other forums for a fix to this problem, I actually have now
> happened across the answer. After Windows attempts to download the driver
> from Windows Update, it asks you to insert the disk if you have it. When you
> go on to the next screen and specify where you want Windows to search for the
> drivers, point to windows/system32 folder and tick the include subfolders
> box. Works every time, but I do have to ask why has a bug of this size
> managed to get into the release copy of Vista, as surely the hardware wizard
> should know that this is one of the places?

The answer is given below. The hardware wizard searches the INFCACHE.1
file before it starts to look elsewhere for drivers. If that file
contains bad information (which yours does) then the wizard get
confused. Deleting the corrupt cache file is the correct workaround
until MS issues a fix for this bug, which they are working on now.

> "Don" wrote:
>
>> leepeth wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I've just installed Vista, but since I have I cannot get any USB devices on
>>> my computer to work now... Everything was working fine before the upgrade,
>>> but now everytime I plug anything in Windows attempts to find the drivers...
>> Sounds like the common problem that your C:\windows\inf\INFCACHE.1 file
>> has become corrupted. The workaround is to delete that file, but you
>> will need to edit its file permissions to grant Full Control to the
>> Users group before you will be allowed to delete it.
>>
>>