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Installing Device Metadata Packages through a Driver Package

Important

Device metadata is deprecated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. For information about the replacement for this functionality, see Driver Package Container Metadata.

A driver package can install device metadata packages by copying them to the device metadata store. This installation is accomplished by using setup information (INF) CopyFiles directives within the DestinationDirs and DDInstall sections of the INF file for the driver package.

Note

We highly recommend that you install device metadata packages from the Windows Metadata and Internet Services (WMIS) server instead of through driver packages. For more information, see Installing Device Metadata Packages from WMIS.

To install device metadata packages through a driver package, you must follow these guidelines:

  • The device metadata packages must be copied to the device metadata store by using INF directives. A co-installer must not copy the metadata packages.

  • If your driver package is used to install devices on versions of Windows earlier than Windows 7, you must use a separate INF DDInstall section that contains your metadata-related INF directives. You must specify this section name in the INF Models section by using a TargetOSversion decoration that specifies an OSMajorVersion and OSMinorVersion value for Windows 7 or later versions of Windows.

    Note

    If you don't use a separate INF DDInstall section that is decorated for Windows 7 or later versions of Windows, the installation of your digitally signed driver package results in a signature alert when installed on versions of Windows earlier than Windows 7.

For more information, see Combining Platform Extensions with Operating System Versions.

  • To support dynamic changes to locale, all metadata packages in the driver package must be copied to the correct locale-specific folder in the device metadata store.

  • The COPYFLG_NODECOMP flag (0x00000800) is required in the INF CopyFiles directives that specify the device metadata packages. This flag guarantees that the binary integrity of the device metadata package is retained, and avoids a decompression of the device metadata package when the driver package is installed.

  • You must first digitally sign the device metadata package before you digitally sign the driver package. For more information about digital signing, see Driver Signing.

  • Any failure during the installation of the metadata package installation causes the driver installation to fail.

The following example shows how to copy device metadata packages to locale-specific directory paths by using an INF file for the device metadata store within the DestinationDirs Section and DDInstall INF sections:

[SourceDisksNames]
1 = %Media_Description%,,,\MetadataPackage ;

[SourceDisksFiles.NTx86]
GUID1.devicemetadata-ms= 1,, ;A metadata package file for EN-US
GUID2.devicemetadata-ms= 1,, ;A metadata package file for AR-SA
GUID3.devicemetadata-ms= 1,, ;A metadata package file for JA-JP

[DestinationDirs]
COPYMETADATA_EN-US = 24, \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore\EN-US ;
COPYMETADATA_AR-SA = 24, \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore\AR-SA ;
COPYMETADATA_JA-JP = 24, \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataStore\JA-JP ;
. . .

[DeviceInstall.ntx86]
CopyFiles=COPYMETADATA_EN-US
CopyFiles=COPYMETADATA_AR-SA
CopyFiles=COPYMETADATA_JA-JP

[COPYMETADATA_EN-US]
GUID1.devicemetadata-ms,,,0x00000800 ;COPYFLG_NODECOMP
[COPYMETADATA_AR-SA]
GUID2.devicemetadata-ms,,,0x00000800 ;COPYFLG_NODECOMP
[COPYMETADATA_JA-JP]
GUID3.devicemetadata-ms,,,0x00000800 ;COPYFLG_NODECOMP
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