Tag: device driver
November 01, 2009 by
Jason
Microsoft’s “Better Together” slogan apparently applies not only to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 but also to the latest iteration of the Windows client and the Redmond company’s peripherals. The vast majority of products offered by Microsoft Hardware features the Windows 7 Compatible logo and comes with device drivers designed to play nice with the successor of Windows Vista from the get go. Windows 7 was released to manufacturing on July 22nd and hit the shelves last week on October 22nd, with Microsoft applauding strong support and compatibility for the OS.
The Redmond company even features a webpage dedicated to Microsoft Hardware products and Windows 7, advertising a match nothing short of the perfect marriage between peanut butter and jelly. More importantly, the Microsoft Hardware + Windows 7 page contains a collection of special offerings for customers. The software giant noted that the special deals on Microsoft were open to all customers.
Microsoft Hardware products including mice, keyboards, LifeCams, gaming devices and notebook accessories, all compatible with Windows 7, are also available at discount prices from a variety of online retailers including the Microsoft Store. The only exception to the Windows 7 compatible line-up of Microsoft Hardware items is the Fingerprint Reader, which does not play nice with the operating system, the company informed. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Windows 7 | No Comments »
October 14, 2009 by
Jason
Keeping Windows 7 and Windows Vista running under normal parameters takes much more work than is done in Redmond alone. Fact is that the ecosystems of software and hardware products designed to integrate with the Windows clients have to do this seamlessly, especially when dealing with solutions that hook into the core of the operating system. Driver update failures for example, can easily cripple Windows 7 and Windows Vista, causing the two platforms to no longer start.
“This problem may occur if any one of the following conditions is true: The new device or the driver causes conflicts with other drivers that are installed on the computer. A hardware-specific issue occurs. The driver that is installed is damaged,” Microsoft explained.
In case you performed a driver update for a device component of your computer and Windows 7 and Vista are acting up, then your best choice to resolve the matter is to roll back the changes. Reverting the driver update will cause the issues introduced by the refresh to go away. First you will need to boot into Windows.
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Posted in Windows 7 | No Comments »
Microsoft is making it easy for users running Windows Vista Service Pack 2, but also SP1, to resolve sound problems affecting the operating system after the deployment of a service pack. In this manner, the Redmond company is acknowledging that Vista users can run into issues related to sound once they upgrade their platform either to SP1 or to SP2. Fortunately enough, the software giant provides users with an automated solution for eventual sound problems via KB948481. Microsoft is essentially providing a Fix It button and associated solution that will help users troubleshoot any sound issues introduced with the installation of a new service pack.
“After you install a Windows Vista service pack, you may experience one or more of the following problems with sound: no sound is produced when you play audio files or run programs that have an audio component. The speaker symbol next to the clock in the notification area may display the following message: No Audio Output Device is installed. The Sound Controller in Device Manager displays a yellow exclamation point. The sound quality changes. For example, if you previously had surround sound, you may now have stereo sound,” Microsoft explained. Read More»
Posted in Hardware, Windows Vista | 3 Comments »
February 07, 2009 by
Jason
With Windows 7 client and Windows 7 Server (Windows Server 2008 R2) available in Beta as of early January 2009, Microsoft has now also started serving the Sensor Windows Driver Kit Beta resources. The Windows 7 Sensor Windows Driver Kit Beta documentation has been published on MSDN and can be accessed by developers that are looking to integrate sensor or location products with the next version of the Windows operating system. “If you have been wondering about how to support your sensor or location device on Windows 7, wonder no longer! The Windows 7 Sensor WDK documentation is live on MSDN,” Microsoft’s Gavin Gear stated. “We’re experiencing some issues with rendering bulleted and numbered lists and working diligently to resolve this issue. Thanks for being patient,” added Jim Travis, senior content publishing lead, Microsoft. Microsoft is offering developers access to the Design Guide, Windows Sensor Reference and Sensor Samples. Read More»
Posted in Windows 7 | 1 Comment »
December 29, 2008 by
Jason
Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista extends the operating system’s support for drivers that play nice with all Windows operating systems. Even as early as the first Beta of SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, the upgraded Windows Driver Model is permitting developers to get a taste of what the gold bits for the service pack will offer in terms of driver compatibility. According to Microsoft, the Registry Callback feature of WDM was kicked up a notch.
“Microsoft developers have upgraded and improved the Registry Callback feature of the Windows Driver Model (WDM). They have added 6 enumerations and 3 structures to the kernel architecture that will give you more flexibility in working with registry keys for filter drivers,” a member of the Windows Driver Kit team revealed.
At the start of December 2008 Microsoft made available for download the first Beta bits of Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1. The Redmond company revealed that the 6 fresh enumerations added were: RegNtPreRestoreKey, RegNtPostRestoreKey, RegNtPreSaveKey, RegNtPostSaveKey, RegNtPreReplaceKey, and RegNtPostReplaceKey. Read More»
Posted in Windows Vista | No Comments »