Forgive us if we are a bit obscure about installation, but it's not a simple matter and caused us several problems.
You are true, the installer simply copies the proper files in the system folder. However, under WinNTx it detects the presence of winpcap on the system (looking for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NPF registry key) and deletes this key if present. This key is deleted on uninstallation as well. The rest of the work is done by packet.dll the frist time a program uses WinPcap. However, as Gianluca said, we strongly discourage this kind of installation, because: - a driver (like the one of WinPcap) is not an application. It requires installation inside the OS kerenl, correct registry settings, the support of an OS service. The consequence is that having different versions of a driver running on the system is complex, discouraged and often impossible. If an application installs its private version of the winpcap binaries on a machine, it with every probability prevents the other (many) winpcap based apps from running on that machine. This is for example the case of some widely-used programs, like LC3. - when a winpcap based app doesn't run as expected, the user sends a mail to the winpcap team, and we spend time providing support for problems caused by other people. I grant it's a lot of time: in the last year we were contacted thousands of times for problems of this kind. WinPcap is a free project maintained by a small number of people: the time spent solving this kind of problems impacts seriously on the improvement of the product. - the thing becomes really annoying when the applications causing conflict (sometimes commercial) hide the fact that they use WinPcap. This is a clear violation of our licence, and causes us to become crazy trying to locate the problem. So, I think you will understand why we are so reluctant to give deatils on the installation. We suggest to use the installer that we provide, eventually launching it (or the transparent version provided by Gianluca) during the installation of your product. Loris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jens Munk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 9:39 PM Subject: Re: [WinPcap-users] command line tool/manual installation > I would like to post this question too as I need to include whatever needed > in my installation files for all Windows versions from 98 to XP. So far my > installation script works for Win98/ME and XP and I guess that will work for > 2000 as well. But what about NT? Will the same Packet.sys file work here? > > Maybe you could just summarize according to this list: > > > > Which files do I need for WinNT4 > > > Which files do I need for Win2k > > > Which files do I need for WinXP > > Thanks, > > Jens. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gianluca Varenni" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 7:13 PM > Subject: Re: [WinPcap-users] command line tool/manual installation > > > > You can find a command-line installer at > > > > http://winpcap.polito.it/install/bin/winpcap_2_3_nogui.exe > > > > However, I ***STRONGLY*** suggest you use this kind of installation > because > > -it can create problems if there is another WinPCap version installed > > -it can cause problems if there are other programs based on WinPCap > running. > > > > Perform a command line installation only as a last resort!!!! > > We guarantee proper operation only if you use the GUI installer. > > > > GV > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Bob TwentyTwo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 5:04 PM > > Subject: Re: [WinPcap-users] command line tool/manual installation > > > > > > > My first post wasn't very clear, so I'll try again: > > > > > > when you look in de install exe of the latest wincap 2.3 setup exe you > > will > > > find the following files > > > > > > \Wincap2_3\files\Main\0\npf.sys 15kB > > > \Wincap2_3\files\Main\1\npf.sys 29kB > > > \Wincap2_3\files\Main\2\packet.dll 60kB > > > \Wincap2_3\files\Main\3\packet.dll 60kB > > > \Wincap2_3\files\Main\4\npf.vxd 23kB > > > \Wincap2_3\files\Main\5\wpcap.dll 60kB > > > > > > So there are 2 npf.sys and 2 packet.dll ???? > > > > > > My questions are: > > > > > > Which files do I need for WinNT4 > > > Which files do I need for Win2k > > > Which files do I need for WinXP > > > > > > And do I have to edit the registry to get things started or is copying > the > > > files to the right dir's sufficient? > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: > > > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
