Unable to Install Third-Party Drivers During Windows NT Upgrade

 Last reviewed: August 22, 1995
Article ID: Q135344
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5 and 3.51
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 and 3.51

SYMPTOMS

If you install your third-party network interface card (NIC) driver (provided by your NIC manufacturer on floppy disk) during the original installation of Windows NT, and then upgrade to a later version of Windows NT using the CD-ROM, the following message appears when you attempt to install the updated NIC driver: 

   Please insert the disk labeled:
   "<NIC Driver Disk Name>" into <CD-ROM drive>:
You are not allowed to change the drive letter to the NIC driver's source disk. Therefore you must choose Cancel and exit Windows NT Setup.

CAUSE

This problem occurs due to text in the NIC information file (OEMSETUP.INF). The text should instruct Windows NT to prompt the user for the correct path to install the updated driver. The problem occurs during the upgrade because during the original installation of Windows NT, Setup copied OEMSETUP.INF to %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\OEMNADx.INF, where x is a number designating the quantity of third-party drivers you have installed on your computer.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem:

  1. Find the OEMNADx.INF file corresponding to your NIC driver in the original Windows NT installation.

  2. Rename the NIC driver information file in the %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32 directory to another file name. For example, rename OEMNADx.INF to OEMNADx.PSS.

  3. Upgrade to the later version of Windows NT.

  4. Rename the OEMNADx.PSS file to OEMNADx.INF so you can configure or change NIC settings.

KBCategory: kb3rdparty kbsetup
KBSubcategory: ntsetup ntdriver
Additional reference words: prodnt 3.10 3.50 3.51

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Last reviewed: August 22, 1995
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