I want to be able to deploy a project to some of my users the requires a USB-serial adapter. The hard way is to give them the drivers and tell them to plug in the adapter and when prompted, they will have to locate the files manually. I don't want to do that.
Most install shields know how to do that automatically - you install the software, plug in the new hardware and windows will automatically install the correct drivers. This is the solution I want, only without an install shield. What are my options?
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FAQ: Information about Driver Install Frameworks Tools
InstallShield has support creating installers that leverage DIFx ( Driver Installation Framework ). If you don't want to buy/use InstallShield, you can also take a look at Windows Installer XML (WiX). It also has extensions that support DIFx.