Change a value in the driver INF file

Question

Driver: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 - x64

Purpose: Changing the Channel of wifi

For knowing which files are being used by the above mentioned driver, I used a tool called DriverExtractor. The result are these files:

athrextx.cat
athrx.sys
netathrx.inf

defaultIbssChannel is the value in the netathrx.inf that I'm interested in:

[adhocchannelselect.reg]
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     ParamDesc,                      0,        %adhocchannel%
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     default,                        0,        "10"
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     min,                            0,        "1"
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     max,                            0,        "11"
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     step,                           0,        "1"
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     base,                           0,        "10"
HKR, Ndi\params\defaultIbssChannel,     type,                           0,        "int"
.
.
.
HKR, ,                                  defaultIbssChannel,             0x00002,  "11"

There's no key or value in the registry as defaultIbssChannel So I searched my whole Windows drive and find netathrx.inf in these places:

C:\Windows\inf
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\netathrx.inf_amd64_neutral_11fc8a486f2a66fd
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\netathrx.inf_amd64_neutral_594f4aa1786993fb
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\netathrx.inf_amd64_neutral_e4fa711280ff8fd4
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\netathrx.inf_amd64_neutral_fd83bf6c5bba7e25
C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_netathrx.inf_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_cf0144fd71b44a1a

Finally my question is that: Which of the netathrx.inf files in above locations should be edited so that the new value takes effect?

Update 1: The netathrx.inf files in the C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\...are the most recent one, but other locations hold the older version of the file.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 25 '15 at 22:05

Opening an administrator command shell and typing netsh wlan show drivers will give you the currently used driver for that interface.

Interface name: WiFi 2

    Driver                    : TP-LINK Wireless USB Adapter
    Vendor                    : TP-LINK
    ...
    INF file                  : C:\Windows\INF\oem20.inf
    Files                     : 1 total
                                C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\athuwbx.sys
    Type                      : Native Wi-Fi Driver
    ...

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '15 at 13:37

0

Connect to a wireless router on a different channel. The channel on which you'll broadcast your ad hoc network will also change.

answered Sep 26 '15 at 13:37

John Strood

127

Change a value in the driver INF file

2 Answers2