windows driver disappears after reboot

[depeschzeu]

Hi! There is an issue on windows 10. I've installed the windows adlmidi driver and it dissappears each time I reboot the pc.
I have no idea what happens and why.

[Wohlstand]

That's a known problem of Windows 10 since some version (I don't remind which, @nukeykt knows): it started to automatically remove every "improperly" installed driver on reboot. I hadn't figured yet on how to make it installed "properly" as Windows 10+ wants.

[depeschzeu]

Oh I see. Windows 10 updates are getting dangerous. As an example, I've got a soundcard with ASIO drivers that began causing system crash after some of major win10 updates. I also do not remind exact version of it. So I have to avoid using ASIO or else I get BSOD. Since I've got a very good soundcard I do not have plans buying new one just because Microsoft does such things. First they removed midi mapper, so this is impossible to use classic MIDI sequencers, while they keep system garbage and applications they didn't update since win98 or so. And when they ruined file search (usual file search box in explorer doen't work anymore) I start to believe MS is going to get even worse. It takes hours to search for a file on 4GB/s NVMe disk, while 3d party search apps do it within a millisecond. Bravo, Microsoft. So I do not update Windows anymore unless I have a very good purpose. Unfortunately they tend to force you updating.

[Wohlstand]

Just some facts:

• I do use Linux Mint since 2014 by myself
• In my family, all hardware computers that has Windows, has Windows 8.1 with OpenShell installed. Nobody wants Windows 10 because of built-in spyware and lots of other problems related to compatibility and general convenience.
• I do use Windows 10 and Windows 11 at VM only for debug purposes only.

[depeschzeu]

I've been using windows 8.1 for years and didn't have any plans moving to w10. just like I've been using win7, xp and 98se till it start to rot. New doesn't equal better.
Problem is that I have to use quite a lot of specific professional software that doesn't work with win8.1 and not cross-platform as well.
With pain and curses I had to move to win10. And keep cursing.
When I got an abusing popup message 'hey cmon get windows 11!', I just said f/k you Microsoft and blocked all update related services.

[Wohlstand]

You probably could check how good that professional software would work on favourite Linux distro through the Wine. If luck comes, and it works successfully with no faults, then you could just use Linux rather than Windows.

[depeschzeu]

I should give it a try. I have not much experience with Linux.
Regarding the bug with the driver I found out that coolsoft virtual midisynth installs and works normally on Windows 10. It doesn't disappear after reboot.
I do not know if this helps, but maybe some expert examination of it may help you. I do not know much of programming, maybe you know how to find out how it's done.
Here is the link to it.
https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

[NY00123]

In case of having problems, the 32-bit counterpart might work better. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1041258#p1041258

[depeschzeu]

In case of having problems, the 32-bit counterpart might work better. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1041258#p1041258

Could you be more specific which distribution version is mentioned (some link to it)?

[NY00123]

Could you be more specific which distribution version is mentioned (some link to it)?

Exact behaviors may depend on the build of Windows in use and/or other factors. But I've referred to a 32-bit build of the libADLMIDI WinMM driver.

[boomercore]

In case of having problems, the 32-bit counterpart might work better. https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1041258#p1041258

Could you be more specific which distribution version is mentioned (some link to it)?

https://github.com/Wohlstand/libADLMIDI/releases/download/v1.5.1/libADLMIDI-winmm-driver-prexp.7z
This is surviving reboots for me on Windows 11, and I presume this will work for 10 as I was plagued with this issue when I used 10 but don't think I ever tried this til recently. x64 and x86 both seem to get deleted every reboot though. If this doesn't work, maybe try testsigning and disable_integrity_checks in bcdedit.exe, though that comes with risks.

[Wohlstand]

The "-prexp" is the version for the Windows 2000, not for modern platforms.

[Wohlstand]

This is surviving reboots for me on Windows 11,

wow

[boomercore]

This is surviving reboots for me on Windows 11,

wow

The "-prexp" is the version for the Windows 2000, not for modern platforms.

I don't get it either but it seems to work.

[Wohlstand]

Anyway, during recent experiments, I found that my local build on Win10 VM crashes player (and reports that it can't open audio output device for unknown reasons). After my recent update of driver's code I attempted to investigate for the reason of this mess.

[boomercore]

I can confirm that prexp works, persists after reboot, and adlmidiconfig affects midi playback in realtime on both Win11 & Win10 x64. Of note, it installs in SysWOW64 despite being prexp.

[Wohlstand]

The "prexp" is 32-bit only thing, so, 64-bit apps won't see it as I know 🤔

[Wohlstand]

The normal package requires installing both 32-bit and 64-bit version on 64-bit machine to let all 32-bit and 64-bit apps to see the thing (if install 64-bit only, 32-bit apps won't see it, or opposite)

[Wohlstand]

The difference between "modern" and "prexp" is the used compiler: normal package used MinGW-w64, and "prexp" used one of old vanilla MinGW versions that's still compatible with old Windows.

[boomercore]

Any way you could whip up a binary of x64 in a similar fashion?

[Wohlstand]

Easy? nope, the vanilla MinGW compiler was always 32-bit only and had no 64-bit version for a long time. About the 64-bit version, I think, I have some mistakes that I didn't debugged yet, and once I figure for the reason, I can produce a working thing.