Driver Files Created by Microsoft System Information Tools

When you use some of the tools in the Microsoft System Information utility, the necessary virtual device driver (.vxd) files may not be created until the tool is used.

Files with .vxd extensions are 32-bit, protected mode, Windows-based drivers that manage a system resource, in order to allow more than one program access to the resource at the same time. The ActiveX control (.ocx) associated with the utility creates and updates the file with a .vxd extension in the <drive>:\<Windows>\System folder, where <drive> is the drive letter and <Windows> is the folder where you installed Windows 98. For the Dr. Watson, Hardware Info, Microsoft System Information, and Windows Report Generator tools there are 3 files created with the .vxd extension:

• Drwatson.vxd
• Hwinfod.vxd
• Msisys.vxd

The files are created by the tool's associated .ocx file the first time the tool is used and updated each time the associated tool is used. The .vxd files cannot be extracted from the Windows 98 CD-ROM or diskettes.

NOTE: The DrWatson.vxd is deleted when Dr Watson is exited. A new one is created each time the utility is started.

Windows Millennium Edition (Me) does not install Winrep by default. You can still use Winrep, which you can run from the \Tools\Pssutil folder on the Windows Me CD-ROM.

For more information about the System Information tools, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: