Deleting ENUM entries in the registry (W2K)

[videobruce]

Device drivers that are uninstalled still leave entries in the registry under ENUM which I believe are Device Manager entries that can't be deleted. If I have a problem with a driver I like to completely uninstall it and start from scratch, but I can't since these entries are permanently entered into the registry with no apparent way to remove them. I have encountered times where that causes problems since the driver is really already there and no conformation boxes appear when you go to reinstalled them they way they did when they wereinstalled the first time. Especially with video devices where it is more critical.

Without reinstalling a previous image file (if there is one), how can these entries be deleted? I use Registry Crawler to find these left over entries of which there usually are many. This is running 2k w/sp3 and logged in as a administrator.

[jdharm]

Provided you have admin privleges, in my experience Win2K only refuses to give up a registry entry when the device or its software is in use. In Win2K, you have several places that you need to check to make sure the device you are wanting to reinstall is completely cleaned out. I'm sure I am repeating some stuff you already know, but the trick with Win2K is thoroughness, so I'm going to lay out everything anyway.

1) Check and see if any services were installed that are associated with the device. You will have to stop and disable the services before deleting the device if everything is to be cleared. Also check for startup items associated with the device and delete them.

2) Get the device driver details (file names) from the device properties. Then remove the device from the device manager, don't just disable it.

3) Sometimes driver packs show up in Add/Remove Programs in Win2K. Check here to un-install driver packs before manually deleting the drivers.

4) Delete any remaining drivers manually.

5) If possible you should physically remove the device and reboot after having cleaned out the drivers, services, and startup applications. If you can start the computer with the device not present, its associated services not running, and no associated processes starting up you should have no problem with any registry keys.

The thing with Win2K is that there are several places in the OS that the device interacts with, not just the drivers themselves. So you have to get everything shut down or deleted to release the keys.

Josh

The proceeding was from the "For What It's Worth" files, which by definition may be worthless. Take with a grain or ten of salt.

[f_jo]

use regedt32 (start>run>regedt32) instead of regedit. There's no search facility in regedt32 so write down the key's address, then if it still refuses to be removed, on menu bar click security>permission then modify the permissions configuration on the key u want to delete.

hope that helps

[videobruce]

I was also told to use Device Manager and check 'show hidden devices' and remove them from there which seems to be in line with those ENUM entries.

[f_jo]

yes, u should check some devices that registered in those ENUM entries. Or just remove them from device manager. I think both does the same thing. But if you're intend to remove some protection/lincense manager or services from a software installation, there's no other way than using regedt32