[geeks] The Registry (?)

[Alois Hammer]

On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:19:29 +0200, "Joost van de Griek"
<jvdg at sparcpark.net> said:
> 
> Well, if the systems boots, you might try to just delete all hardware
> from the Windows Hardware Profile panel thingie, then reboot the
> computer. It'll whine a bit, but just kill everything. That way, it'll
> trigger the new hardware wizard on the next boot, and install all the
> correct drivers. Hopefully.

First, you want to make sure that the option to show hidden devices is
checked.  Second, you need to either edit the Registry, or else accept
that you can't remove the L2TP, PPPoE, or other miniport drivers.  And,
actually, removing *all* the miniport drivers would be very bad.  You
probably want the IP minport driver, for instance.  Speaking IP on
Windows without it is difficult.

Third, removing *all* the drivers will probably result in, at best, a
system that doesn't connect to networks and is probably broken in other
fascinating ways.  But if you remove the CPU driver, FPU driver, and
other similarly low-level drivers, you'll probably just get a system
that doesn't boot, at all, ever again, or at least until you perform a
complete reinstall.  Even booting Win2k/XP/Vista in CD/DVD Recovery mode
probably won't ever fix it.