How to Enable Verbose Logging in Windows 2000 GUI-Mode Setup (243996)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

This article was previously published under Q243996
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SUMMARY

Windows 2000 GUI-mode Setup logs information about the installation of devices and drivers in a log file named Setupapi.log. This log file is located in the %SystemRoot% folder. Setting the logging mode to Verbose can help you with troubleshooting the Setup process.

Note that this may be most useful in scenarios in which you may be installing a number of identical systems and the same problem occurs on any number of computers.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To set the Verbose logging level, you can add a value to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Value Name: LogLevel
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0xFFFF

You must add this value before GUI-mode Setup begins (just after Text-mode Setup ends). To accomplish this, follow the instructions located at the following Microsoft Web site: You can have Setup add this value for you by following the steps below.

NOTE: This method requires that you modify the Windows 2000 installation files. If you do not already have a distribution share on a network server, you must copy the I386 folder from the Windows 2000 CD-ROM to a local hard disk. Make a backup copy of the Hivesft.inf file before proceeding.
  1. On the distribution share or local hard disk containing the Windows 2000 files, locate the Hivesft.inf file in the I386 folder.
  2. Using any text editor (such as Notepad), locate the following line in the Hivesft.inf file:

    HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup","DriverCachePath",0x00020002,"%SystemRoot%\Driver Cache"

  3. Below the line listed in the previous step, add the following line:

    HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup","LogLevel",0x00010003,0x0000FFFF

    NOTE: The two lines listed above may be wrapped for readability, but are each a separate single line.

  4. When you are done, the file should look like the following example. Verify this before saving the file to disk:

    HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup","DriverCachePath",0x00020002,"%SystemRoot%\Driver Cache"
    ; added the following line
    HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup","LogLevel",0x00010003,0x0000FFFF
    ; ends here
    HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\BaseWinOptions",,0x00000012

  5. Save the file and quit the text editor.
Any installation initiated from this share has verbose logging enabled in the Setupapi.log file. You can verify that this is enabled in GUI-mode Setup by pressing SHIFT+F10 to start a command prompt and using Regedt32.exe to verify that the value has been created.

Note that this increases the size of the Setupapi.log file. In most cases, it is approximately 4 megabytes (MB) or larger.

To view a Microsoft Support WebCast about Windows 2000 setup issues, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/11/2003
Keywords:kbenv kbhowto kbsetup KB243996