The system cannot find the file specified - driver installation

[Beef Wellington]

Restoring drivers in Windows Vista (maybe Windows 7 too) I run into this error a lot...

The system cannot find the file specified

Which was not so much of a problem in Windows XP, because it then listed the file name it was looking for and I could go find it wherever it may be. Windows Vista doesn't tell me anything other than The system cannot find the file specified, which is next to useless to me.

Is there a method to figure out what file Windows Vista is looking for when it fails a driver install?

 

[ilikefree]

The one you have there is tifm21 from c,windows, system32,drivers

 

[Beef Wellington]

The picture I linked above is an example, not necessarily the driver file I am trying to find.
What I am trying to figure out is how I can tell, for every time I try this, which particular driver file Vista is trying to find next.

The following is an example of what an incomplete driver looks like in Windows XP. Note how it actually says which file name it needs next? (Circled in red)

And then back to the example from Windows Vista - Notice that it makes no mention to which file it is missing?

So, for Vista, how can I figure out what particular missing file(s) it is looking for?

 

[richc46]

Welcome
I have helped many with BSODs, when drivers are the problem. This is what I tell them and it seems satisifactory.


How to Find Drivers

search Google for the name of the driver

- compare the Google results withwhat's installed on your system to figure out which device/program it belongsto

- visit the web site of themanufacturer of the hardware/program to get the latest drivers (DON'T useWindows Update or the Update driver function of Device Manager).

- if there are difficulties inlocating them, post back with questions and someone - will help you search Google for the name ofthe driver

- compare the Google results withwhat's installed on your system to figure out which device/program it belongsto

- - if there are difficulties inlocating them, post back with questions and someone will try and help youlocate the appropriate program.

- The most commondrivers are listed on this page: http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html
- - Driver manufacturer linksare on this page: http://www.carrona.org/drvrdown.html

and here

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/the-vista-master-driver-list/

 

[Beef Wellington]

Thanks for the tip. But I'm trying to figure out which files belong to a driver (or INF file) specifically. Is there a method to figure this out?

 

[richc46]

The only other information that I have used and am familiar with is the driverquery and driverquery /v command. The /v command may be of some help.
Get a List of Vista's Drivers from the Command Prompt - [OC]ModShop