Monday, March 22, 2010

Error: "data is invalid" when installing a device driver eg, Printer under WindowsXP

Error: "data is invalid" when installing a device driver eg, Printer under WindowsXP?

This error appears to be due to a protection problem in the Windows registry and can occur with a variety of drivers (sound cards and SCSI drivers have been reported). To fix this problem, go to Start, Run... and type "regedit" without the quotes to run the Registry Editor.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ENUM\PCI as shown below.

Now right click on PCI and select “Permissions…”, as shown below.

Now highlight the SYSTEM entry, and make sure that “Allow” is selected for both Full Control, and Read, as shown below.

Now select the “Advanced” button, and in the “Advanced Security Settings” view, make sure that “Replace permission entries on all child objects …” IS selected, and that “Inherit from parent the permission entries …” is NOT selected, as shown below.

Hit “Apply”, then “OK”, and close the various Regedit dialog windows.

Go back to Device Manager, and Select “Reinstall Drivers”, and they should install OK.