1. Performing Unattended Driver Installation with the PnPUnattend Utility
The PnPUnattend
utility provides helper services for unattended installations. You can
also execute it from the command line to obtain information about
installation progress and to create a log file of the installation. This
utility uses the following syntax:
PnPUnattend.exe [/auditSystem] [/s] [/L]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
/auditSystem
Performs an unattended driver installation.
/s
Searches for the required driver installation information, without performing an install.
/L
Creates a log file of any installation.
2. Managing PnP Setups Using the PnPUtil Utility
You can use the PnPUtil
utility to perform a driver installation from the command line. In
addition, the options let you remove or edit driver information based on
the content of an INF file, which you must always provide. This utility
uses the following syntax:
PnPUtil.exe [-f | -i] [-a | -d | -e ] <INFname>
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
-f
Forces the utility to perform the specified action (add, edit, or delete).
-i
Performs a standardized installation when used with -a based on the INF content.
-a
Adds the device
driver specified by the INF file to the system. However, adding the
device driver simply makes it available for installation. You must
combine this command line switch with the -i command line switch to actually install the driver.
-d
Deletes the device
driver specified by the INF file from the system. The INF file normally
has oem, followed by a number, followed by INF, such as oem0.inf.
Deleting an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) driver has the effect
of uninstalling the device driver. You can obtain a list of OEM drivers
using the -e command line switch.
-e
Enumerates all of
the third-party drivers currently installed on the system, but doesn't
do anything with them. This is the only command line switch that doesn't
require you to provide an INF filename.
INFname
Provides the name of a
file containing device driver information. You can use wild-card
characters to specify multiple INF files.
3. Printing Data Files with the Print Utility
The Print utility
represents the fastest and easiest way to send data to a printer for
output. However, you don't have many choices when you use this
technique. The only change you can make is to define the print device to
use for output. Otherwise, the Print utility relies on all of the
defaults that you assign to the printer. This utility uses the following
syntax:
PRINT [/D:device] [[drive:][path]filename[...]]
The following list describes each of the command line arguments.
/D:
device
Specifies the device to use for output. The default setting uses the printer attached to LPT1.
drive
Specifies the drive that holds the file for printing. The default is the current drive.
path
Specifies the relative or absolute path of the file you want to print. The default is the current directory.
filename
Specifies one or more files to send to the printer for output.