Video Hook Driver [Driver Installation Failed]

[theFATangel]

SO I spent WAY too much time trying to figure out how to get the Video Hook Driver installed in UltraVNC Server. I tried all the other suggestions I could find to no avail. For those out there with my same problem here is the solution I found; unique to the others out there. May it serve you well.

This applies to installation of the Video Hook Driver on both the Ultimate and Home Premium flavors of Vista x64 [although untested, my guess is that it will work on the other flavors as well. Not so sure about other versions of Windows though - probably some slight modifications needed]. This was tested in both a VMWare Virtual Machine and a real nuts-and-bolts HP box.

Assuming you have installed and configured UltraVNC server to your liking and have it running well:

I found the video hook drivers in the UltraVNC install directory [ C:\Program Files (x86)\UltraVNC\drivers.zip ] to work perfectly. Locate this zip archive and extract it to the root of your C:\ drive. Navigate inside the extracted directory and then inside the vista64 directory [or the directory appropriate for you OS version and type]. Once inside you should have the following:

driver [directory]
install.bat
install_silent.bat
license.txt
setupdrv.exe
uninstall.bat
uninstall_silent.bat

Right click setupdrv.exe and choose CREATE SHORTCUT.
Right click the newly created "setupdrv.exe - shortcut" and select PROPERTIES
select the SHORTCUT tab near the top of the newly appeared properties window.
In the text box to the left of Target: add " install" after the listed path to setupdrv.exe. [eg. mine reads C:\driver\vista64\setupdrv.exe install]. That is one space between setupdrv.exe and install.
Next click the ADVANCED button below and in the new window select RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR.
Click the OK button to close the Advanced Properties window, click the APPLY button in the main properties window that reappears and finally click OK to close this window.
Finally double-click the "setupdrv.exe - shortcut" icon.
You may be prompted at this point to trust/accept installation of the driver which, of course, you want to accept.
It may take a few minutes to install and the screen may flicker. There will be no confirmation of success or failure.
To confirm right click the WinVNC eye icon in your system tray and select PROPERTIES.
In the window that pops up press the CHECK THE VIDEO HOOK DRIVER button. If you get a message saying the "driver is not active" this means it is present and installed - success!
Check the VIDEO HOOK DRIVER box to the left of the button, click APPLY below and then click OK.

You are now rolling with the Video Hook Driver installed and active!

I was able to do this successfully with the server actively running from a remote computer while connected using VNC several times with no problems.

My guess is that at some future date, if I want to install and upgraded driver I will use the method above substituting "uninstall" for "install" in the shortcut properties window to remove the old driver first. You will most likely need to reboot and then proceed as above to install the new driver.

FYI even though I was logged into the Administrator account, I kept getting "Driver Installation Failed" before using the method outlined above.

I Hope this proves useful for the others out there stumped like I was!

[floepie]

Thanks! I was scratching my head over this one too. Apparently, the main exe doesn't really do anything in and of itself. It needs a parameter as you've laid out. I think install.bat was intended to do the same thing as your shorcut trick, as you can easily see by opening it. However, perhaps the syntax is wrong in the batch file? I think either a .exe must be appended onto the name of the app, or the full path of the exe must be indicated. I'm not entirely sure though...

[floepie]

I now have two instances of the video driver in the 'device manager'. Is that normal?

[theFATangel]

To answer some of the questions you bring up floepie:

I think install.bat was intended to do the same thing as your [shortcut] trick, as you can easily see by opening it. However, perhaps the syntax is wrong in the batch file? I think either a .exe must be appended onto the name of the app, or the full path of the exe must be indicated. I'm not entirely sure though...

The only reason my method works is because we are installing the driver with the elevated privileges of the Administrator. The path to the file and the *.exe extension have nothing to do with it from my experience troubleshooting this driver installation.

I now have two instances of the video driver in the 'device manager'. Is that normal?

I do not have two instances myself and question whether this is acceptable. It may make sense if you have two displays extended over one desktop or possibly mirrored (not really sure if having two displays would necessitate two instances of the driver though, just guessing). Also having two graphics cards may be a logical reason.

Personally I would make sure only one display and graphics card is present in the machine and then check the device manager. If two instances still appear, then I would uninstall both, and then reinstall the driver once using the method I described above. I hope this helps, keep us up to date. =)

[floepie]

Well, it turns out the install.bat works just fine to install the driver. But, here's the odd thing: It will only work from a rights-elevated cmd prompt (C:\path to file\install.bat). But, it will not install if you run the install.bat as an admin (right-click 'run as admin'). I really thought running the install.bat as an admin would do it, but apparently not, and I have no idea why it does not work in that manner. It probably has something to do with the admin not having the "full" admin token, but then, that doesn't explain why you can do it from the cmd prompt.

And, I did remove that second instance of the video driver. My only beef with the video driver is that the Vista interface reverts to the "basic" theme from the "Aero" theme. There is an option to keep the theme as Aero, but that only works if the video driver is NOT installed. Anyone know how to retain the Aero theme AND use the video hook driver?

[buckfoss]

Remarkably, I followed the above procedure and I still got a "driver installation failed" message. Just for grins and giggles, I ran the shortcut in the Run as Administrator mode, and god forbid, it actually worked. I HATE VISTA. If my machine had xp drivers, I'd downgrade before I could hit cntr-alt-del

[cdj]

Worked fine for me on XP. Thanks. Gadzooks that's a deployment FAIL.

They should use that as the prime example in software design books.

[war59312]

Nice! Though I had to run the shortcut three times before it worked.

And yes kills Aero. Thankfully easy to get back...

1.) Right Click My Computer > "Properties"

2.) Click "Advanced system settings" under "Tasks" on left-side bar

3.) Click the "Settings" button under "Performance"

4.) Scroll to very bottom and un-check "Use visual styles on windows and buttons" and click the apply button.

5.) Recheck option in step 4 and again click apply. Now Aero is back.

[sate]

I have tried the OPs method without success.
Using the install.bat while logged in as admin I do in fact see a delay, then the screen flashes as one would expect and the cmd window vanished. After that when I check the device manager I see the hook driver listed. Sounds good right? but when I use the "Check the video hook driver" button it says not installed/not present etc.., and lists garbage characters after vncdrv.dll Version.

I'm trying to use uvnc over my home LAN and performance is very poor hence I'm trying to get the mirror driver going. Whats maddening is that realVNC performs GREAT on my lan (but doesnt work with Vista 64 =/)

uvnc Server is Vista 64 Ultimate
Phenom 2.4ghz/ 2gb Crucial ballistix/790GX chipset ASUS mobo

uvnc viewer is Dell Vostro laptop w/WinXP Home
1.8ghz core2 duo/etc

[mattice06082]

You should "Check the video hook driver" while you have a connection (viewer to server) established.

[Newbie_from_NJ]

Thank you... This worked flawlessly!! I was having display issues (delay on right-click menus, to be exact) on my Windows Server 2008 SP2 X86.

I tried installing the driver by running setupdrv.exe from default location:
C:\Program Files\UltraVNC

BUT nothing would happen. The install wouldn't run nor would I get any notifications that anything happened.

I followed your instructions and now I'm running perfectly on Server 2008!

By the way, I also installed the driver using a remote computer without any issues whatsoever.

Thanx again.

[b-group]

I try to deploy UltraVNC to over 600 PCs with SCCM from MS, but unfortunately the driver doesn't want wo be installed.

I also tried the exe-Installation files, which I downloaded from another thread here in the forum.

Normally the driver should already been installed through the UltraVNC setup.
I used the script from the following thread to re-compile the program with the corresponding drivers and "Add-Ons".
But everything doesn't work.

But the strange is, that when I manually install the software without any deployment, it works correctly and the driver is installed.
The user which runs the task is also an administrator, so I can expect, that it's not caused by insufficient rights.

Regards
Michael

[Mal]

If that's what it takes then I'd rather shoot myself in the face than use this program.

[msalinger]

I have used the install.bat while on an administrator account to be able to proceed without problem but have noticed a certain delay with the accomplishment of the driver installation.

I have earlier installed a similar implementation on another machine and there were no problems with that one, though with this one, the command prompt seems to be flashing a lot of times halfway through it.