what is needed to install a hardware device

Device drivers: Installation and configuration

To install hardware devices on Windows servers, admins must install the advisable device drivers first. Here are some guidelines for installing, configuring and troubleshooting device drivers.

System administrators frequently accept to install hardware devices such every bit disk controllers and network cards on their Windows servers. To practise so, they must install the advisable device drivers on the server starting time.

Here are some guidelines for installing, configuring and troubleshooting device drivers, which provide the necessary interface betwixt the application programs and the actual hardware, on Windows 2000 server organization.

Methods of installing device drivers

Admins can install device drivers on a server in 4 ways.

Running the Setup. Device drivers are automatically installed for all detected devices during installation of Windows 2000 system on the server reckoner
Starting the computer. Whenever the server is started, new devices are detected and their device drivers are automatically installed
Scanning for new hardware.Add/Remove Hardware Wizard can exist used to perform the hardware-detection process and desired device driver installation
Manual installation. You tin use the Add together/Remove Hardware Wizard to specify the device y'all want to install, or y'all can right-click the .INF file that comes with the driver and choose Install.

Note: Yous must take administrative privileges on the server to install device drivers

Configuring devices using Device Director

Device Manager displays information about all devices installed on your server. Information technology displays a listing of devices that were either detected or for which drivers are installed. The icon for the device indicates whether the device is in proper working condition.

Normal icon indicates that the device driver has initialized successfully while an Assertion point on icon would mean that device is incorrectly configured and a Stop sign on icon means that device could not be initialized due to hardware conflicts.

To resolve hardware conflicts and to override the resources or the device driver that were assigned to a device, follow these steps:

Start Device manager by typing 'Devmgmt.msc' in the Run dialog box.
Right-click the desired device and select Backdrop.
Click the Resources tab on the Properties dialog box.
Click the resources to be changed and then clear the "Use automatic settings" checkbox.
Click Change Setting and then change the value of the setting to the desired value.

However best thing to exercise is to permit Plug and Play resolve conflicts whenever possible.

Changing the commuter source location

While adding a device to your system, Windows 2000 provides a commuter, which gets installed from the Driver.cab file in the systemroot\DriverCache\I386 folder. Tthis file is approximately l MB. If the commuter cannot be found in Commuter.cab, Windows 2000 will prompt you for the location of the driver.

It's a skillful idea to keep this file at a central location so that all clients install drivers from a consistent central source. To modify the source path in the Registry and delete the local re-create of Driver.cab, just update the data for the "SourcePath" value in his key in the Registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
This will also save space on the hard disk of customer computers.

Updating and removing device drivers

Administrators oftentimes take to update the existing device drivers or remove them. To update a device driver:

Start Device Director by typing 'Devmgmt.msc' in the Run dialog box.
Correct-click the desired device and select Properties.
Click the 'Driver' tab and and so click the Update Commuter button.

To remove a device:

First Device Manager by typing 'Devmgmt.msc' in the Run dialog box.
Right-click the desired device and select Properties.
Click the 'Driver' tab and then click Uninstall push

Notation: Removing the device does non actually delete the device commuter itself. What it does is remove references to the driver from the Registry and so that the computer does not load the driver.

Upgrading from uniprocessor to multiprocessor

Many times the need arises to go your server upgraded in terms of software and hardware. If Windows 2000 was originally installed on a single processor PC and a second processor is to be added, you need to update the organisation software. To do so::

Commencement Device managing director by typing 'Devmgmt.msc' in the Run dialog box.
Aggrandize the Computer icon and brand notation of the calculator model.
Correct-click the reckoner model below the Computer icon and select Properties.
Begin the Upgrade Device Commuter Wizard by clicking on the Update Commuter button from the Commuter tab.
Choose Display a List of Known Drivers For This Device and then click Side by side.

By selecting Evidence All Hardware of This Device Class, y'all tin cull from a listing of supplied multiprocessor drivers. If you lot accept W2k-specific multiprocessor drivers, utilise the Have Disk button.

Driver signing

Driver signing ensures that the drivers have been certified past Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). It has been implemented in Windows 2000 to improve the quality of drivers and increase the overall stability of the Windows operating organization.

Microsoft digitally signs all files and drivers on the Windows 2000 installation CD. Only administrators often download drivers from the Internet or get them from diverse hardware vendors. To configure how these third-party drivers should exist handled:

Open up Control Console.
Select the System Properties icon.
Switch to Hardware tab, and click the Commuter Signing button.

A dialog box opens which has three checkboxes:

Ignore (allows installing all files, regardless of the file signature)
Warn (displays a message to the user before installing an unsigned file). This is unremarkably the default setting.
Block (restricts the installation of unsigned files).

Bank check the required checkbox and hit OK.

Disabling devices and services for a specific profile

Individual devices and services may be configured to load or not load as role of a Hardware Contour. To disable devices:

Open up Device Manager and select Properties of the desired device
On the General tab under 'Device Usage' label select Do not utilise this device (disable) option
Click OK.

To disable services:

From Authoritative Tools, select Services.
Select the Log On tab from the Backdrop dialog of whatever of the Services
Click on Enable or Disable for the selected Hardware Contour.

Driver installations: failure and recovery

Here are iii problems that ordinarily occur during the installation of a device driver and their solutions:

Problem: Incorrect commuter is installed

Solution: Press F8 at startup and utilise the Terminal Known Good Configuration

Trouble: Driver gets installed partially or some files are missed during installation.

Solution: Use a command-line utility called "System File Checker" that tin can verify the version of protected organization files and revert to a previous version. Type sfc.exe /scannow on the command prompt for running the utility.

Problem: Files are decadent during installation.

Solution: Uninstall or remove the device commuter, restart the server and reinstall the driver.

About the writer: Rahul Shah currently works at a software firm in India, where he is a systems administrator maintaining Windows servers. He has besides worked for various software firms in testing and analytics, and besides has experiences deploying customer/server applications in different Windows configurations.

Dig Deeper on Microsoft Windows hardware, including laptop and notebook reviews

A complete guide to troubleshooting Windows Howdy

By: Gary Olsen
How to fix printer issues after a Windows x update

By: Brien Posey
How to use and troubleshoot with Device Director in Windows 10

By: Stephen Bigelow
Troubleshoot Bluetooth connection problems in Windows 10

Past: Stephen Bigelow