Setup USAGE Popup While Installing OEM Device Driver

ID: Q175234

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SYMPTOMS

While using a Control Panel utility to install an OEM third-party device driver for a new Tape or SCSI device, you get a USAGE popup message screen as follows:


 --------------------------------------------------
| Usage                                            |
|------------------------------------------------- |
| Microsoft Setup                                  |
|                                                  |
| Setup [/?][/F][/I<INF SRC FILE>]                 |
|       [/C <Script Section>][/s SRC PATH>]        |
|                                                  |
| /? - generates this usage message.               |
| /F - Turns off blue background                   |
| /I - defaults to current working Dir + Setup.inf |
| /c - defaults to shell commands                  |
| /s - defaults to current working directory       |
| /t - set INF <var> to <value>. Multiple /T valid |
| /v - turn on INF syntax checking.                |
|__________________________________________________|

This problem occurs after you select the device name you want to install as defined in the third party Oemsetup.inf file, but before being prompted for the path to install the driver from, which is usually the floppy drive.

Installing a built-in supported driver from the drop down list will install without problems, this error only occurs while using an OEM driver.

CAUSE

The registry value for SourcePath contains a LONG directory name containing a space(s).

Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup SourcePath:REG_SZ:C:\Directory Name ( no spaces allowed.)

RESOLUTION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys And Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it.

To resolve this problem, perform the following steps:

Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe), and go to the following subkey:

Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Double-click the value: Sourcepath:RE_SZ:directory name.

Either remove the present entry, or remove the spaces from the path.

Quit Registry Editor and run the Control Panel utility to install your third-party driver. The driver should install properly.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Keywords : kbsetup ntsetup NTSrvWkst
Version : WinNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug