Driver Installation Framework: newbie question

I am not a device driver expert by any stretch of imagination. I am
just an application programmer trying to package some drivers that are
required by our application that interacts with external hardware
devices using InstallShield 2008's driver installation framework.

I have a really dumb question.

The DIF wizard asks me to point it to an .inf file (belonging to, say,
a printer driver). Once done, it automatically finds all the
relevant .dll and .sys files. After InstallShield packages everything
into setup.exe, I run it on the target machine and the driver files do
get installed correctly but my question is what exactly is the meaning
of "installation"?

I was kindof thinking the framework will automatically add an icon for
the printer (in the Start->Settings->Printers section) and associate
the .inf file with it. Is that part still need to be done manually?

Tim
Wed Dec 12 22:15:15 PST 2007

Dilip <rdilipk@lycos.com> wrote:
>
>The DIF wizard asks me to point it to an .inf file (belonging to, say,
>a printer driver). Once done, it automatically finds all the
>relevant .dll and .sys files. After InstallShield packages everything
>into setup.exe, I run it on the target machine and the driver files do
>get installed correctly but my question is what exactly is the meaning
>of "installation"?
>
>I was kindof thinking the framework will automatically add an icon for
>the printer (in the Start->Settings->Printers section) and associate
>the .inf file with it. Is that part still need to be done manually?

The installation process just puts the INF and driver files in the
appropriate spots. You won't get an icon until the printer is actually
detected, or until the user does Add New Printer.
--
Tim Roberts, timr@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.