Using the SetupAPI Log File

In Windows XP, the SetupAPI.log found under %Windir% is a plain text log file that you can use to troubleshoot issues with installing devices. Beginning with Windows Vista, this log is moved to %Windir%\Inf and consists of two separate log files: SetupAPI.app.log and SetupAPI.dev.log. Each log file is made up of distinct sections, with each section representing one device install.

The INF file for the device driver controls device installation, and the SetupAPI logs record a series of entries corresponding to each instruction in the INF file, along with whether the action succeeded or failed. When parsing these logs to troubleshoot device installation issues, a good place to start is looking for problem descriptions such as "device did not install" or "wrong driver installed" or a message saying "Exit status: FAILURE".

The following example illustrates a device installation problem reported in the SetupAPI logs.

>>> [Device Install (Hardware initiated) - USB\VID_045E&PID_00BD\{0D51C6EB-7E08-D342-
9E60-177B6A619B96}]
>>> Section start 2006/08/17 13:40:16.348
    ump: Creating Install Process: DrvInst.exe 13:40:16.348
    ndv: Retrieving device info...
    ndv: Setting device parameters...
    ndv: Building driver list...
    dvi: {Build Driver List} 13:40:16.645
    dvi: Searching for hardware ID(s):
    dvi: usb\vid_045e&pid_00bd&rev_0100
    dvi: usb\vid_045e&pid_00bd
    dvi: Searching for compatible ID(s):
    dvi: usb\class_ff&subclass_ff&prot_ff
    dvi: usb\class_ff&subclass_ff
    dvi: usb\class_ff
    dvi: Enumerating INFs from path list 'C:\Windows\INF'
    inf: Searched 0 potential matches in published INF directory
    inf: Searched 34 INFs in directory: 'C:\Windows\INF'
    dvi: {Build Driver List - exit(0x00000000)} 13:40:16.818
    ndv: Selecting best match...
    dvi: {DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV} 13:40:16.819
    dvi: No class installer for 'Microsoft© Fingerprint Reader'
    dvi: No CoInstallers found
    dvi: Default installer: Enter 13:40:16.821
    dvi: {Select Best Driver}
!!! dvi: Selecting driver failed(0xe0000228)
    dvi: {Select Best Driver - exit(0xe0000228)}
!!! dvi: Default installer: failed!
!!! dvi: Error 0xe0000228: There are no compatible drivers for this device.
    dvi: {DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV - exit(0xe0000228)} 13:40:16.824
    ndv: {Core Device Install}
    ndv: Device install status=0xe0000203
    ndv: Performing device install final cleanup...
    ndv: Queueing up error report since device installation failed...
    ndv: {Core Device Install - exit(0xe0000203)}
    ump: Server install process exited with code 0xe0000203 13:40:16.832
<<< Section end 2006/08/17 13:40:16.837
<<< [Exit status: FAILURE(0xe0000203)]

The problem reported is failure to install the Microsoft Fingerprint Reader, and the cause of the problem is reported in the error message "There are no compatible drivers for this device."

By default, Windows Vista and later versions log device behavior in the SetupAPI logs at a more verbose level than in previous versions of Windows. You can use the following DWORD registry value to configure the verbosity level for these logs:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\LogLevel

The default setting for this value is 0x2000ffff. For information on how to configure logging levels for the SetupAPI logs, see the white paper, "Debugging Device Installation in Windows Vista," found at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/install/diagnose.mspx.