INF DriverVer Directive

[Version] |
[DDInstall]
 
DriverVer=mm/dd/yyyy[,w.x.y.z]
 
 

A DriverVer directive specifies version information for drivers installed by this INF.

Entry Values

mm/dd/yyyy

This value specifies the date of the "driver package", which includes the driver files and the INF. This date must be the most recent date of any file in the driver package. The date must be specified in month/day/year order. The month and day must contain two digits, and the year must contain four digits. A hyphen (-) can be used as the date field separator in place of the slash (/).

w.x.y.z

This value specifies an optional version number. If a value is specified, w is required but x, y, z, and their preceding period characters are optional. If specified, w, x, y, and z must each be an integer that is greater than zero but less than 65535. For Windows Me, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, this value is used for display purposes only (for example, in the Device Manager). This value is not used to select a driver for a device. For Windows XP SP1 and Windows Server 2003 and later versions, this value is also used by Setup, in combination with the driver rank and date, to select a driver for a device.

Comments

INF files for Windows 2000 and later must have a DriverVer directive in their INF Version sections to provide version information for the whole INF. Additionally, individual INF DDInstall sections can contain DriverVer directives to provide version information for individual drivers. DriverVer directives in the DDInstall sections are more specific and take precedence over the global DriverVer directive in the Version section.

When the OS searches for drivers, it chooses a driver with a more recent DriverVer date over a driver with an earlier date. If an INF has no DriverVer directive or contains an invalid date specification, the OS applies the default date of 00/00/0000. For Windows 2000 only, unsigned drivers are also assigned a date of 00/00/0000.

INF files for Windows 98/Me must also contain DriverVer directives, but Windows 98/Me does not recognize a DriverVer directive in the Version section. Therefore, these INF files should have DriverVer directives in the undecorated DDInstall sections that are used by Windows 98/Me.

For additional information, see How Setup Selects Drivers.

Example

[Version]
...
DriverVer=09/28/1999,5.00.2136.1