Adding Third-Party or Updated Driver During Windows Setup (220845)



The information in this article applies to:

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

This article was previously published under Q220845

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and earlier versions, an option to specify additional mass storage devices is displayed during the text-mode portion of Setup.

Windows 2000 Setup does not display this option and attempts to detect all the installed mass storage controllers automatically.

MORE INFORMATION

To specify an additional mass storage device for Windows 2000 during Setup, press F6 during the boot into text-mode Setup. The bar at the bottom of the screen instructs you to press F6 for this purpose for about three to four seconds, and then Setup continues.

Setup uses the following method to detect mass storage devices:
  • Text-mode Setup loads all the mass storage drivers that are listed in the Txtsetup.sif file into memory one at a time. If a third-party driver is added (you pressed F6), this driver is also loaded into memory.
  • The kernel initializes all the drivers one at a time. Any OEM drivers are initialized last, after the drivers included with Windows 2000.
  • The kernel checks to see which drivers initialized correctly and which ones did not.
If Setup detects a mass storage device that causes Setup to stop responding (hang), you should remove the reference to that controller from the [Scsi.load] and [SCSI] sections of the Txtsetup.sif file. To disable a line in the file, place a semicolon (;) in front of the line.

If you are starting your computer from the Windows CD-ROM, create the Windows Setup boot disks by using the batch file located on the CD-ROM. The Txtsetup.sif file is located on the first boot disk.


Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/21/2003
Keywords:kb3rdparty kbinfo kbsetup KB220845