Here is my experience of finding INFCACHE.1 in Win 8.
Share it to anyone who need it.
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First, it's known that:
In the legacy MS OS, such as win 2k(out of our discussion), xp and 2k3, even vista and 2008 (no r2)
%systemroot%\inf\INFCACHE.1 is the driver cache file ( we can also think it as a driver index database).
From win 7 to 2008 r2,
The driver cache file is moved to the following directory, and some new files appeared.
%systemroot%\System32\DriverStore\INFCACHE.1
%systemroot%\System32\DriverStore\drvindex.dat
%systemroot%\System32\DriverStore\infpub.dat
%systemroot%\System32\DriverStore\infstor.dat
%systemroot%\System32\DriverStore\infstrng.dat
If these driver cache files is missing, corrupted or incorrect, those device based on the default drivers built-in system will not work properly.
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From win 8 to the latest widows version,
It seems that MS removed the driver cache which existed as files in the past.
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We've spent some times, and it's not easy to find the new way MS store the driver cache msg in win 8, there has none MS offical explanation.
After win 8.1 is released, we still insist on looking for the driver cache storage location,
Misled by the old version of windows, we think the driver cache should exist as file format as before, and we get nothing from file comparison and tracking.
Then we try to find a new ideas to get new progress, and try to search any helpful msg from MS or Search Engine.
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Finally, one day I found someone said he believe it's functionality has been moved to the registry as HKLM\Drivers, and that the HIVE is loaded on demand.
But I can not find this registry in my win 8.1 or win 8,
After reinstall the os, at the first time while system is ready to use(System Initialization), Press [Shift]key + [F10]key to call the cmd wnd,
Then run "regedit", okay! the HKLM\DRIVERS is exists here! Export it now.
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Here to share its data structures:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS]
There are 4 sub-items under HKLM\DRIVERS:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DeviceIds]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DriverFiles]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DriverInfFiles]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DriverPackages]
I don't know why it will disappear soon.
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And there also has a registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase]
Which has the same data structures as HKLM\DRIVERS, but theirs content is different.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DeviceIds]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DriverFiles]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DriverInfFiles]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\DRIVERS\DriverDatabase\DriverPackages]
So I export it too.
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After gather the registry above, I heard someone told me there has another file exists in the OS:
%systemroot%\system32\config\drivers
Well, just extract it from the System Installation Disk now!
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OK, let' make a summary now.
The "%systemroot%\system32\config\drivers" can be extracted from System Disk easily, and the registry need to be exported at the System Initialization.
After replace them to your OS, a sysrem reboot is needed to to take effect.
