Konrad
08-12-2010, 11:59 PM
XPDM drivers are native to XP-generation versions of Windows (XP, 2K, etc); they won't work at all in Win9x/NT but will generally work (though perhaps less functional, reliable, compatible, and pretty) in Vista/Win7.
Sometimes I get a piece of hardware that's recently fallen into obsolescence, legacy land; for example, the integrated graphics from Intel 800/900 chipsets. XP drivers are available, Vista/Win7 drivers are not. The manufacturers (Intel in this example) discontinued support for their drivers and suggest installing the latest (XPDM) drivers available.
Okay. So how do I actually install them? The setup programs usually refuse to run in any version older (or newer) than XP. The XP-era .inf files can't be manually installed because Win7 doesn't like their format. I've been told that you can't really manually force them to install by adding the files and Registry data where they belong, since Win7 automatically overrides and such things (the downside of a self-monitoring and repairing OS).
I know it can be done. But how?
Sometimes I get a piece of hardware that's recently fallen into obsolescence, legacy land; for example, the integrated graphics from Intel 800/900 chipsets. XP drivers are available, Vista/Win7 drivers are not. The manufacturers (Intel in this example) discontinued support for their drivers and suggest installing the latest (XPDM) drivers available.
Okay. So how do I actually install them? The setup programs usually refuse to run in any version older (or newer) than XP. The XP-era .inf files can't be manually installed because Win7 doesn't like their format. I've been told that you can't really manually force them to install by adding the files and Registry data where they belong, since Win7 automatically overrides and such things (the downside of a self-monitoring and repairing OS).
I know it can be done. But how?