Silent installation of text only printer fails (driver signing)

[Roger]

Hello

Currently I have to install about 2000 "text only" printers on a server for
testing purposes. So I used the printui.dll commands to install the printer:

ECHO Generic / Text Only
start /wait rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /ia /m "Generic / Text Only"
/h "intel" /v "Windows 2000" /f "%windir%\inf\ntprint.inf"
ECHO.
ECHO ***** Printer Install *****
ECHO TextOnly
start /wait rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /if /z /b "TextOnly" /f
"%windir%\inf\ntprint.inf" /r "lpt1:" /m "Generic / Text Only" /q

Every thing works fine except the "Hardware Information" dialog box. I have
to accept that a non signed driver will be installed. I use the original
"Generic / Text only" driver from the windows 2003 cd.

How can I suppress this dialog box? Parameter /Gw doesn't work.

Any ideas are welcome

Roger

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

make sure the ntprint.cat file is the one for the ntprint.inf file you are
referencing and the driver files you are installing match the inf and cat.

The easiest way to check this is to install the driver using the UI. If you
get the unsigned warning, there is a mismatch.

There was some hotfix for XP that only shipped one core file that breaks
driver signing. Check the file version of unidrv.dll and unidrvui.dll.

ntprint.inf should be pointing to one of the cab files in \windows\driver
cache\i386


If there is an expanded unidrv* file in this location \windows\driver
cache\i386 delete it so the file will be pulled from the cab.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Roger]

Hi Alan

Thanks for the response. I last entry was a little bit incorrect. The driver
is signed, but the "Hardware Installation" dialog tells me that the driver
has not passed the Windows Logo testing. Then I have to continue the
installation with "Continue Anyway". This dialog will be shown when I install
the printer by command line and (at the last steps of) the wizard.

Roger

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

It's not signed any more (most likely due to the cat file mismatch).


You will need to copy all the files that are signed the same to a directory
containing the proper ntprint.inf and ntprint.cat files



--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Roger]

Hi Alan

Thanks for the information. To check this I have done a bare metal
installation. Now the Installation message does not appear. So there is
really a problem on the installed machines.

Can you explain where I can find all the files which I have to clean up? In
the c:\windows\driver cache\i386 there are no ntprint*.* or unidrv*.* files.
Do I have to uninstall all existing "Text only" printers to clean the drivers
or can I overwrite it with the new drivers during the next printer
installation (when I have cleaned the required directories)?

Kind regards
Roger

 

[Alan Morris [MSFT]]

\windows\inf\ntprint.inf


\windows\system32\CatRoot\{F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE}\ntprint.cat


You can also disable the Warning dialog and I think this will work around
the issue for rundll32 in XP and Server 2003

Control panel / System / Hardware / Driver Signing
Set this to Ignore.

--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Roger]

Hi Alan

After the cleanup everything is working fine. Thanks!

Roger