How to allow changes to driver settings?

JohnB47

I'm trying to change the audio driver settings on my Win 10 laptop. I'll explain the reason for this if needed but basically there is some code in certain driver files that I want to enable - the driver code is supplied disabled.

Here is a typical path to one such file, called te7pebwa

C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\te7pebwa.inf_amd64_48a566e10e51a08\te7pebwa

The modification I want to make is simple - to remove the semi-colon symbol at the beginning of certain lines, like the following:

;HKR,%EPattributePath%\EpSettings\StereoMixEnable,Enable,1,01

I've read up about this and have tried changing the security settings for the file, then the folder containing the file, then the next folder up but every time I do, the check boxes I need to tick (modify, full control etc.) are greyed out. I'm making sure I have admin rights and that I'm the only person logged in.

(I'm using Notepad to open the file, modify, then 'Save'. But when I do, the save procedure acts like Save As, wanting me to replace the existing file, which I am then denied from doing).

When I do manage to modify the files, I intend to uninstall (but not remove) the driver, then power on/off to get the driver reinstated with my modified settings).

As I say, more info on why I'm doing this if you want.

Any advice on this? - apart from 'don't do it! Thanks.

emptybox

When you say you are "making sure you have admin rights", are you right clicking the Notepad icon and selecting 'run as administrator'?

JohnB47

emptybox wrote: »

When you say you are "making sure you have admin rights", are you right clicking the Notepad icon and selecting 'run as administrator'?

Ahhh. No I wasn't doing that and didn't know I could/should. I've had a look and see what you mean.

I'll try that a little later but am I right in thinking that it isn't always about setting the permissions for the file itself, you have to set permissions for the folder containing it?

Thanks.

emptybox

Running Notepad as administrator might allow you to do what you want.
I would certainly try that before you try changing security settings for the Windows\System32 folder. Not sure if that would be possible or sensible anyway.

Another approach might be to copy the relevant driver files into your own data folders and make the changes there (presuming you know what you are doing).
Then uninstall the current driver, and reinstall from your modified version.

Having said that, I haven't tried to do anything like that myself, so no idea if it would work.

JohnB47

Thanks.

Edit: sorry, forgot to mention but running notepad as administrator didn't help but I'll certainly include that in future attempts. End of edit

I'll try your latest suggestion. Yes, what I'm trying is a little unwise but I can always reinstall the audio driver from source, so I think I'm covered.

I'm thinking that I might have to make a copy of the completed driver set - folders, sub folders and files. Then make the changes and then point the reinstall procedure to that folder set rather than go on-line of click?

I say this because I've already tried downloading the latest driver, making a mod to one .inf file in the set, then reinstalling from that. But I remember reinstalling by pointing to the modified .inf file, rather than the whole set. It didn't work.

So, next question. If I make a mod to a file in a drivers set of files, what point do I point to, to reinstall - just the folder containing all the subfolders/files?

Second edit. So, given my example, if I make a copy of file te7pebwa, then do an uninstall/reinstall and point to the parent folder of that file, which is

C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\te7 pebwa.inf_amd64_48a566e10e51a08

then that should reinstall the audio driver?

Thanks for the help.

emptybox

To install a driver you would point to the folder immediately containing the .inf file and associated files.
But if you've modified the files, on your desktop (or elsewhere) then that folder would be there not in Windows\System32. That's where it'll end up, I'd have thought?

That's probably all I can help you with really.
Hopefully someone who knows about modifying driver files will come along, if you need more help.

John_Gray

Does not the supplier of the driver also indicate the method of modification?

JohnB47

emptybox wrote: »

To install a driver you would point to the folder immediately containing the .inf file and associated files.
But if you've modified the files, on your desktop (or elsewhere) then that folder would be there not in Windows\System32. That's where it'll end up, I'd have thought?

That's probably all I can help you with really.
Hopefully someone who knows about modifying driver files will come along, if you need more help.

Thanks. I'll go with your first paragraph, your second has me confused. I'll try copying all folders and files to a separate place on my laptop, then try installing from there. Cheers.

JohnB47

John_Gray wrote: »

Does not the supplier of the driver also indicate the method of modification?

No, the supplier doesn't support modification, probably because Microsoft have asked it to disable a certain audio feature ( making a recording of what you are listening to on the pc).

Thanks.

JohnB47

emptybox wrote: »

Running Notepad as administrator might allow you to do what you want.
I would certainly try that before you try changing security settings for the Windows\System32 folder. Not sure if that would be possible or sensible anyway.

Another approach might be to copy the relevant driver files into your own data folders and make the changes there (presuming you know what you are doing).
Then uninstall the current driver, and reinstall from your modified version.

Having said that, I haven't tried to do anything like that myself, so no idea if it would work.

I've just tried this but I get a message saying that I've already got the latest driver installed. Here's what I did.

I went to Control Panel, Device manager, Audio Inputs and Outputs. I expand that and see two lines - Microphone Array (Conexant Smart Audio HD) and Speakers (Conexant Smart Audio HD). I right click on the Speakers line and choose Uninstall. Then right clicked on Audio Inputs and Outputs and chose Scan for Hardware Updates. That's when I get the message that the latest driver is installed. I didn't uninstall the microphone array, perhaps I should have done? I'm just doing this one step at a time, worried that I might not be able to recover things!

emptybox

'Scan for Hardware Updates' will install the inbuilt sound driver, which is not what you want.

When you've uninstalled the old driver you should see the appropriate item in Device Manager, which will likely have a yellow triangle against it. Might be labelled unknown sound device or something.

You should be able to right click it and choose 'update driver' or wtte. This should then give you the choice of automatically installing a driver, or allow you to choose to install from CD or a folder on the computer. Choose the latter and browse to the folder.

After all that, Windows might not recognise your modified files as an appropriate driver, and might refuse to install it.
In which case you can roll back to the previous driver to get your sound back, and go back to the drawing board.