You cannot add an OEM-specific serial driver to a Windows CE 5.0 image (891899)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows CE 5.0

SYMPTOMS

When you try to add an OEM-specific serial driver to a Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 image, the OEM serial driver is not added to the image.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because of new environment variables and the associated logic in the Common.bib file. If you do not set the BSP_NOPCMCIA variable or the BSP_NOPCCARD variable, the build overwrites the OEM-provided driver with the Com_card.dll driver. These variables control whether the Microsoft-provided, bus-agnostic serial driver is excluded. Additionally, if you do not specify the OEM serial driver in the Platform.reg file, the driver is included in the image.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem and to include the OEM serial driver in the image, follow these steps:

Change the name of the OEM-provided serial driver so that the name of the file is not Serial.dll. For example, change the file name to SerialOEM.dll.
Open the Platform.reg file in Notepad to update the registry information.

Note The Platform.reg file is located in the Platform\FILES folder. Platform is the name of your target platform.
Locate the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\Serial] subkey in the Platform.reg file.
Replace the "Dll"="Serial.dll" line in the file with the following line:
"Dll"="SerialOEM.dll"
Note SerialOEM.dll is the file that you renamed in step 1.
Save the Platform.reg file.
Rebuild the platform.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about serial port driver registry settings, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wceddk40/html/cxconserialportdriverregistrysettings.asp

For more information about bus-agnostic drivers, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wceddk5/html/wce50conBusAgnosticDrivers.asp

For more information about BSP_NO environment variables, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wceosdev5/html/wce50conBSPNOEnvironmentVariables.asp

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	3/22/2005
Keywords:	kbnofix kbtshoot kbprb KB891899 kbAudDeveloper