rev. 0.4 5/14 copyright ? 2014 by silicon laboratories AN335AN335 usb d river i nstallation m ethods 1. introduction users can install a driver for a silic on labs usb device in three ways: ?? microsoft?s driver packa ge installer (dpinst) ?? legacy silicon labs usb driver installer ?? inf-only installation dpinst is an installation utility availabl e through microsoft. silicon labs redistributes this installer with the cp210x and usbxpress drivers and pr ovides a driver customization utility (s ee application note, ?an220: usb driver customization?) that will auto matically customize a dpinst -based installation utility. the legacy silicon labs driver insta ller is a utility included in the softwa re accompanying this document. the executable and ini files included with the installer are intended to be used as a template for a custom driver installation utility. running the executab le alone will not install a driver, as the setup.ini file must be modified to work with the driver installation. both the in i and exe files need to be moved into the driver installation directory next to the inf file for the installation to be successful. see ?4. l egacy silicon labs usb driver installer/uninstaller? for more information on usage and customization. the inf-only installation doesn?t require any inst aller and simply relies on the inf file itself. the following sections will describe each of th ese installation meth ods in more detail. note: the whql recertification process that silicon labs provides to customers does not rely on any of these installation methods, so they can be chosen, or changed, at any point in th e process: during, before or af ter certification of a driver. 2. relevant documentation application notes can be found on the www.silabs.com/interface-appnotes and www.silabs.com/8bit-appnotes pages. ?? an220: usb driver customization ? this document describes the opti ons available for generating a customized dpinst utility with applicat ion-specific strings, vid, pid, and features. this application note also includes a software utility to generate the customiz ed dpinst files. 3. dpinst dpinst is microsoft?s utility that simplif ies and customizes driver installations for windows. visit msdn and read the driver package installer (dpinst) article for full details and support information on the dpinst utility: http:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544842(v=vs.85).aspx . 3.1. installation and customization the simplest method to install a driver with dpinst is to copy the dpinst.exe file to the same fold er as the driver inf file. it will run out of the box and uses the inf file to dete rmine what to show in the di alogs and how to install the driver. there are specific versions for dpinst , and silicon labs only uses x86 and x64. the dpinst.exe filename itself can be modified and customized. by creating and modifying a file named dpinst.xml , customization settings can be defined for the installation. for more information on this, visit msdn and read the customizing driver installation article: http:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff540241(v=vs.85).aspx .
AN335 2 rev. 0.4 3.1.1. quiet mode it is common for manufacturers to launch an installer in quiet mode. to do this, create or modify an xml file as described on msdn. command-line arguments to dpinst.exe can be used instead of the xml file, if desired. the specific arguments to use are the suppresswizard ( /sw ), suppresseulapage( /se ) and quietinstall ( /q ) arguments. the sample dpinst xml file would look like: ... ... the same functionality in command-line form is: .exe /q /se /sw 3.1.2. ignoring serial numbers dpinst does not have a meth od to ignore serial numbers. this is a feature specif ic to the legacy silicon labs installation utility. to continue to use th is option, refer to ?4. legacy silicon l abs usb driver insta ller/uninstaller? . 3.1.3. using dpinst in xp with unsigned drivers when using the dpinst installer with un signed drivers, it is necessary to specify the legacymode (/lm) argument either in the dpinst.xml file or to dpinst.exe through the command line. this argume nt allows dpinst to install the unsigned driver to the machine. the 64- bit drivers still need a signatu re to be able to be in stalled, with or without this argument. the sample dpinst xml file would look like: ... ... the equivalent operation on the command-line is: .exe /lm 3.1.4. further customization for additional information on other dpinst customizat ion options, visit msdn and read the customizing driver installation article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/e n-us/library/windows/hardware/ff540241(v=vs.85).aspx . currently, silicon labs offers autom ated customization of a dpinst.xml file when using the an2 20 utility to generate a driver installer. all the custom driver information is entered into this utility, and it will generate the dpinst.xml file in the newly created driver package. 3.2. uninstallation dpinst will create an uninsta ller in control panel?s add/ remove program files on a successful inst allation. this entry will be begin with windows driver package . to uninstall a dpinst package, find the name of the driver in the list and double-click to begin the uninstallation process. figure 1. uninstalling the dpinst driver package
AN335 rev. 0.4 3 4. legacy silicon labs usb driver installer/uninstaller 4.1. description the legacy driver installer and uninsta ller combination is a templa te for a customizable inst allation utility for silicon laboratories usb drivers. these utilit ies are completely indepe ndent of the actual driv er, and no referencing is done by the inf file to the installer or uninstaller. this is desirable because ce rtification of the driver is not affected by changes in the installation utility, and the installation utility is not required by the driver if a customer does not want to use it. the utilities currently work under windows 2 000?, xp?, server 2003?, vista?, and windows 7?. 4.2. installation the following sections explain how insta llation works using the silicon labs usb driver installer. this utility is no longer updated by silicon labs, but it is made available for specific fe atures, such as the ?manufacturing ignore serial numbers? option during install. 4.2.1. install package the driver installer is built as a single executable that refe rences a file called setup.ini. this ini file contains all of the settings used for driver inst allation and uninstallation. this driverinstaller.exe and setup.ini combination should exist in a directory alongside the *.sys driver files, *.inf installation files, and (if th e driver is certified) any *.cat catalog files. for example, the usbxpress driv er package using this in staller looks like this: \usbxpressinstaller.exe (renamed driverinstaller.exe) \setup.ini (customized setup values) \x64\siusbxp.sys (usbxpress driver 64 bit) \x64\silib.sys (support libra ry for usbxpress 64 bit) \x86\siusbxp.sys (usbxpress driver 32 bit) \x86\silib.sys (support libra ry for usbxpress 32 bit) \siusbxp.inf (inf file fo r the usbxpress driver) \siusbxp.cat (catalog f ile for the usb driver) when the usbxpressinstaller.exe executable runs, it starts by reading in all the values from the setup.ini file. from this, it can determine if setup should be performed quietly or if the windows and message boxes should be shown. if quiet mode is selected, then the installation routine begins imme diately, and no status messages are shown to the user. if quiet mode is not selected, the main window is populated with the strings specified in the ini file (company name, product name, the driver version, etc.) and displayed to the user. 4.2.2. installation directory selection an option in the setup.ini file determines if drivers should be copied to the pc. if driver files are supposed to be copied to the hard drive, then a default installation directory specified in setup.ini is displayed in the driverinstaller window. this directory can be changed by clicking the change install location button. the installation directory is where the driver package is copied and where the installation originates. with this type of setup, the original install media, such as a cd or floppy, is not needed every time a device is installed. the driverinstaller can also take a de fault directory from the command line, which will override the default directory for installation and forces the driver files to be co pied regardless of the copy files specification in setup.ini . the following is an example of how to pass in an installation directory: usbxpressinstaller.exe ?c:\program files\silicon labs\usbxpress? if the setup.ini file specifies that driver files should not be copied to the pc, then no installation directory is shown in the window and nothing will happen if a directory is s upplied at the command line. because nothing is copied, the install media (such as a cd, floppy, or the source insta ll directory on the pc) is where the installation originates and will be needed when devices are plugged in. if the installation media is not found when a de vice is plugged in, then the add new hardware wizard will pr ompt for the disc or floppy. it is re commended to always copy the drivers to the pc under root:\program files\company name\product name to avoid this behavior.
AN335 4 rev. 0.4 4.2.3. pre-installation routine when the install button is clicked, th e installer goes through a process to make sure that the driver is installed successfully and cleanly. the steps are as follows: ?? pre-installation check ?? checks that a current version of th e driver is not already installed. ?? checks that an older version of the driver is not installed. ?? checks that a version of this driver is not installed usi ng an older version of silicon lab s driver installation utilities. ?? performs a system scan to ensure that other inf files do not exist with any vid and pid of the drivers that are about to be installed. the first check determines whether the driver being installed is already installed. if it is installed, it prompts and exits. the next check determines if an older version of this driver was inst alled previously. if so, it will perform a proper removal befo re installing the new driver. there is also a ch eck to determine if this type of driver was installed using one of silicon labs? older in stallation utilities by looking up the unin stall keys in the registry. if it finds an old version installed, it pr ompts the user to uninstall the old installation and runs the old uninstaller utility in quiet mode. finally, the inf directory is scanned to find any leftover inf files that contain a matching vid and pid to the ones being installed. if they are found, the user is prompted with the names of the driver sets and can choose to either uninstall them and continue or cancel the installation. during any of these preinstall checks, it is possible that something may occur that requires a reboot. if this is the case, then the user is prompted to reboot at the end of the successful installation. 4.2.4. driver installation routine description ?? driver installation (upon succ essful pre-installation check) ?? driver files are copied to the installation directory (if specified in setup.ini). ?? the uninstaller is copied into the system directory. ?? inf files are installed from either the installation directory (if copied) or the install media. ?? registry entries are created for driver uninstallation. ?? registry entries are created containing information on the current installation, such as the version, vid, pid, driverinstaller version, installation directory, and lists of files copied and installed. it also contains the options for uninstallation, such as quiet, removing the installed driver files, etc. the driver installation process is very straightforward. if anything fails in the above rout ine list, the user is prompted and the application exits. if there are no errors, then the installation prompts with success and exits. 4.2.5. driver inst allation completion the driver installer records all device installation in a registry ke y. this key can be checked by calling the application to determine if an installation has been comp leted successfully and comes from the first item in the vid_pid list. see ?4.4 . customization of the driver in staller? for more information. hkey_local_machine\software\silicon laboratories, inc.\silicon laboratories driver installations\\?the devices are split into usbxpress or vcp device types with a corresponding registry key of ?usbxpress? and ?vcp cp210x cardinal?, respectively. ?usbxpress devices consist of device string siusbxp&vvvv&pppp and cp210x devices consist of device string iiiicomm&vvvv&pppp (where iiii is up to the first 4 characters in the inf file name, vvvv is the vid and pppp is the pid) . these device specific keys are al so used in the wi ndows uninstaller registry key which causes the driver installation to appear in the add\remove programs listing. the following registry entries are examples of the current usbxpress and vcp installations: usbxpress? hkey_local_machine\software\s ilicon laboratories, inc.\s ilicon laboratories driver installations\usbxp ress\siusbxp&10c4&ea61
AN335 rev. 0.4 5 vcp? hkey_local_machine\software\silicon laborat ories, inc.\silicon laboratories driver installations\vcp cp210x cardinal\slabcomm&10c4&ea60 there may be times when an installation completes and the system needs to be rebooted. the user will be prompted if the driver installer is not running in quiet mode. if the driver installer is being called from another application in quiet mode, it is recommended to reboot the computer at the end of a successful installation. 4.3. uninstallation this section explains the legacy silic on labs driver uninstallation process. 4.3.1. calling the uninstaller an uninstaller is copied to a silabs directory inside the windows system directory (such as c:\windows\system32\silabs\ ). this uninstaller is named driveruninstaller.exe and is embedded within the driverinstaller.exe . because this is a universal installation ut ility, the same driveruninstaller.exe is used by any silicon labs driver installations. during installation, the installer checks the version of the curren t uninstaller (if it already exists on the system) and then only replaces it if it is missing or an older version exists. the uninstaller takes in the \ portion of the r egistry key entered at the completion of an installation via comm and line. for example, to uninstall the usbxpre ss device with vid 0x10c4 and pid 0xea61, the command would look like: driveruninstaller.exe ?usbxpress\siusbxp&10c4&ea61? the uninstaller is then provided with all of the installation inform ation that was provided in the setup.ini file. when the uninstaller first runs, it will look to see whether it should run in quiet mode. if so, t he uninstallation is performed with no windows or messages. if it is not in quiet mode, it will populate the win dow with all of the strings that were specified in the setup.ini on installation and, if driver files were copied, will show th eir current existing location. 4.3.2. driver uninstallation routine first, the uninstaller removes the copied drivers if they are specified to be removed. if no drivers were copied on installation in the first pl ace, this check is skipped. next, the inf files for the device are uninstalled; this ha ppens differently depending on the operating system. the basic removal routine is to remove any inf/pnf combinations and then remove any catal og files (catalog files will only be pertinent on windows xp ? /server 2003 ? /vista/7 ? ). finally, the computer is scanned for any device reference to the driver, and those devices are removed from the system. this causes any matching usb devices to be stop ped, and they will not be rec ognized by the system until they are either unplugged and plugged back in or a scan for new hardware command is issued in device manager.
AN335 6 rev. 0.4 4.4. customization of the driver installer the setup.ini file contains a set of en tries denoted by [
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