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what does uninstall really mean?

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nite_monkey:
I have been trying to use my usb wireless dongle as an access point, and I found a way to use it to run ds roms on my ds through the ds download and play, but I have to install edited drivers. I am ok with doing this, but windows sure isn't. Which brings me to my question, what does uninstall mean?
last I checked uninstall ment:
Uninstall: To properly and completely remove a program from the computer. This is usually done via the programs' own uninstall utility, or by using Add/Remove in Control Panel.
Or in my case to COMPLETELY REMOVE a driver from the computer.
I uninstalled the drivers for my usb dongle, but whenever I do that and then reinsert the dongle, it puts the drivers back on. I want to install the edited drivers, how do I do that? I can't push update driver, because windows says the drivers that it is forcing me to use are newer than the ones I want to use.

gjehle:
first and foremost it means what the programmer who wrote the installer meant and made it to be

now, when it comes to drivers, this is another story.
usually your driver is a combo of .inf and .sys (once you get rid of all the installer usability candy)
windows puts the .inf somewhere in \WINNT\ (or \WINDOWS\, depending on your windows version) and the .sys into \WINNT\system32\drivers\
besides those windows tends to hold old versions of the driver under different file names in other places (yes, it's kinda vague like that)

what your windows device manager does on top of that, is report the version number it finds in the .inf file (just a text file) and not necessarily the version number of the driver itself (right click on the .sys file, properties, version-tab)

now just imagine this scenario i found myself in at work just recently:
we're using a 3rd party USB device with a specialized driver and firmware made for us by said 3rd party.
as it always goes, it's not perfect, so there will be new driver versions.

windows is also kinda stupid when it comes to plugging the same usb device into different usb ports (yes, even if the usb-serial is properly implemented in the device).
so windows thinks (even so it's the same device) that each time you use a different port, it's a different device.
each time installing or requesting the driver.

you can 'update driver' from the device manager. ok. does not always work.
i even went so far as to delete the .sys file from \winnt\system32\drivers\ only to find a very old version of the driver
suddenly appearing out of thin air the next time i plugged the device in.

here's the (kind of work intensive but successful) way to get rid of a driver:
- plug device in
- right-click / properties on the device @ device manager
- remove driver (or uninstall, not sure what's it called)
- unplugg device
- delete .sys file for the driver from \winnt\system32\drivers\ (and if you can find them, all .inf files)
- restart pc
- plug in device
- install new driver when asked

nite_monkey:
Windows sure does suck. I removed the sys file, but I couldn't find the inf file, and I restarted the pc, and when I plugged in the device again, it put back the drivers again.

Ralf Maximus:
How did you 'edit' the drivers?

If the edited drivers' .inf file isn't updated with a newer version number, Windows will shrug and use the existing drivers since it thinks they are the same.  Conversely, if the edited drivers appear to be older than what Windows has, you will have a fight on your hands.

What happens if you go to device manager, select the USB device, then manually force a driver install, pointing explicitly to the desired files?

nite_monkey:
I just downloaded some drivers from a website that were suported by my card that would let my send stuff to my ds.
I've never manually forced a driver install, how would I do that?

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