Windows Vista does not use the driver that you specified during Windows Vista installation for the storage device

Consider the following scenario. You use a Windows Vista installation disc to install Windows Vista. Additionally, you have media that includes a storage device driver. This storage device driver is certified by Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL). When you install Windows Vista, you use the advanced settings in the Windows Vista Setup program to specify this storage device driver.

In this scenario, the storage device driver that you specified during Windows Vista installation appears to load. However, after the installation of Windows Vista is complete, Windows Vista does not use the driver that you specified. Instead, Windows Vista uses the driver that is included in the Windows Vista installation disc.

When this problem occurs, storage device features are not available in Windows Vista for the driver that you specified during Windows Vista installation. The storage device features are not available even though Windows Vista appears to use the .inf file that corresponds to the storage device driver that you specified during Windows Vista installation.

This problem occurs because the Function member of the SCSI_PNP_REQUEST_BLOCK structure is not set to SRB_FUNCTION_PNP when Windows Vista calls the HwBuildIo routine. Therefore, the driver that is included in the Windows Vista installation disc cannot be unloaded completely.

The Windows Vista Setup program continues because the Windows Vista Setup program can access the hard disk drive. The Windows Vista Setup program accesses the hard disk drive by using the driver that is included in the Windows Vista installation disc. Therefore, the Windows Vista Setup program still uses the driver that is included in the Windows Vista installation disc.

To work around this problem, load the specific driver again. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Insert the Windows Vista installation disc into the CD drive or into the DVD drive, and then restart the computer from the installation disc.
   
   Note Some computers may require that you modify the basic input/output system (BIOS) settings before you can start the computer from the Windows Vista installation disc. For information about how to modify the BIOS settings, see your computer documentation.
2. Insert the media that includes the new storage device driver.
3. Use the advanced settings to configure the Windows Vista Setup program to use the specific driver.
   
   Note To configure the Windows Vista Setup program to use the specific driver, click Load Driver to load the specific driver from the media that you inserted in step 2.

When you load the specific driver again, the driver that is included in the Windows Vista installation disc can be unloaded completely. Therefore, Windows Vista Setup program uses the specific driver that is included in the media that you insert in step 2 in the "Workaround" section.