Reference the Catalog File in the .Inf file

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use this procedure to configure a driver package .inf file to refer to a catalog file of your choice. You must include or modify this reference before creating the catalog file.

Note

If the driver package was previously signed by someone else, such as the device manufacturer, then a .cat file already exists, and you can use it without modification. Signing the catalog file with your certificate replaces the original signature with your own.

The installing computer reads the .inf file in the driver package to determine the name the .cat file containing the signature. So you must place a reference in the .inf file to specify the name of the .cat file. The Signability tool uses the .inf file to determine what name to give the .cat file it creates. It also reads the .inf file to determine the list of files that make up the device driver package. Signability calculates a hash for each file, and stores the hash in the .cat file. The hash is used by the receiving computer to verify that the files were not changed by anyone after the package was signed. The .inf file itself is included in this hash process, so you must make any changes to the .inf file before creating the .cat file with the hashes.

Any user account can be used to complete this procedure.

Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.

To create a .cat file reference in the driver package .inf file

  1. Open the .inf file using a plain text editor, such as Notepad.

  2. Find the section of the file that begins with the text: [Version].

  3. Remove any existing lines in the section that begin with the text: CatalogFile

  4. Add a new line to the [Version] section as shown below. Replace filename with the actual name of the catalog file that you want to create.

    CatalogFile = filename.cat

  5. Save your changes, and then close the editor.

After making this modification to your .inf file, you can use Signability to create the .cat file. See Create the Catalog File to Contain the Signature.

Additional considerations

An .inf file can reference multiple catalog files in support of multiple processor architectures, such as x86, x64, or IA64-based computers. The procedure shown here uses the single catalog file example. For more information about supporting multiple catalog files, see Operating-System Versioning for Drivers in the WDK documentation at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82259.