[Bug]: Silent Installation not possible?

[Ahuge]

Which OS?

Win11 Home

Which release?

24H2

Driver Version

24.12.24

Device Specifications

No response

Describe the bug

I am trying to install VDD in a headless way.

I first tried using the installer with:
start /WAIT C:\Temp\VDD\Virtual.Display.Driver-v24.12.24-setup-x64.exe /VERYSILENT /NORESTART"

But that hung on a headless server.

I then tried installing the manual method (based off of my installer from VDD-23.12

• Downloading the Signed-Driver-v24.12.24-x64.zip
• Extracting it to C:\VirtualDisplayDriver
• Running pnputil /add-driver "C:\\VirtualDisplayDriver\\MttVDD.inf" /install
  (Previously we had to run installCert.bat but that is missing in new releases)

And I get Failed to add driver package: The publisher of an Authenticode(tm) signed catalog has not yet been established as trusted

Are you able to help with the correct installation method in a headless way?

Steps to reproduce

No response

Expected behavior

No response

Log File

No response

Contact Details

No response

[bud3699]

Silent is broken in the installer right now. And you can't use pnputil. Pnputil allows for installing drivers not devices. You'll need to use either devcon or nefcon

and the bat was only to install the cert since we werent officialy signed. Now we are

[JonasHablitzel]

Hello,

first of all thanks for the great work!
I am having a similar problem and therefor wanted to ask if the silent installation is a planned feature @Ahuge @bud3699 ?
What would be the recommended workaround for Insallation. Would it be to use devcon?

[bud3699]

Devcon or Nefcon will be the workaround

Also a note: I'm no longer part of the team so I can't say what features are or aren't planned. But I'd take a pretty good guess it will be planned

[lvde0]

I encountered the same problem. Quickly cobbled together (uhmm... "vibe coded") a script that installs it for headless environments. Figure that it might be useful for others too.

Note: devcon is not available by default, but it can be extracted from the Windows SDK. DevCon-Installer does exactly that. You need to adjust the hash to download a version that fits your OS/Architecture.

# PowerShell script to download and install MttVDD driver

# Create temporary directory
$tempDir = Join-Path $env:TEMP "VirtualDisplayDriverInstall"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $tempDir -Force | Out-Null

# Create local directory for DevCon
$devconDir = Join-Path $tempDir "DevCon"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $devconDir -Force | Out-Null

# Download DevCon Installer
$devconUrl = "https://github.com/Drawbackz/DevCon-Installer/releases/download/1.4-rc/Devcon.Installer.exe"
$devconPath = Join-Path $tempDir "Devcon.Installer.exe"
Write-Host "Downloading DevCon Installer..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $devconUrl -OutFile $devconPath

# Run DevCon Installer with the specific hash parameter and local directory
Write-Host "Installing DevCon..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Start-Process -FilePath $devconPath -ArgumentList "install -hash B85A2B81E1518EABCC4AFDEE145304CAD9708778C0EBFC177A2DB2847D7FB355 -update -dir `"$devconDir`"" -Wait -NoNewWindow

# Define path to devcon executable
$devconExe = Join-Path $devconDir "devcon.exe"

# Download driver package
$driverUrl = "https://github.com/VirtualDrivers/Virtual-Display-Driver/releases/download/24.12.24/Signed-Driver-v24.12.24-x64.zip"
$driverZipPath = Join-Path $tempDir "Signed-Driver-v24.12.24-x64.zip"
$driverExtractPath = Join-Path $tempDir "DriverFiles"

Write-Host "Downloading virtual display driver..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $driverUrl -OutFile $driverZipPath

# Extract driver package
Write-Host "Extracting driver files..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Expand-Archive -Path $driverZipPath -DestinationPath $driverExtractPath -Force

# Install the driver using the local devcon
Write-Host "Installing virtual display driver..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Push-Location $driverExtractPath
& $devconExe install .\MttVDD.inf "Root\MttVDD"
Pop-Location

Write-Host "Driver installation completed." -ForegroundColor Green

[zjoasan]

@lvde0 Nice bit, PR it to the scripts-folder. So we could reference others to use it, instead of referring to a post in an Issue-thread?

[fanfan42]

Hello, the script is nice but still not a "silent" install. When the driver installs for the very first time, a security window appears asking if you have trust on the publisher (signPath Foundation). In case of automatic installation, it will fail because the user has to "Authorize" the publisher in its local certificates. Here is a more "silent" install script derived from the community script in this repository:

# Create temp directory
$tempDir = "C:\VDDInstall";
New-Item -ItemType 'Directory' -Path $tempDir -Force | Out-Null;

# Download and create devcon.exe file
$devconPath = Join-Path $tempDir 'Devcon.Installer.exe';
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/Drawbackz/DevCon-Installer/releases/download/1.4-rc/Devcon.Installer.exe' -OutFile $devconPath;
# The hash is for Windows 11 23H2 but also works windows 11 24h2
Start-Process -FilePath $devconPath -ArgumentList "install -hash 6ECFAF7042C525DDB6C0BF0501BECFBCE85CBDF2A33B1BCA67734FEA567AF3B8 -update -dir "$tempDir"" -Wait -NoNewWindow;
$devconExe = Join-Path $tempDir 'devcon.exe';

# Download and unzip Virtual Display Driver only
$downloadUrl = 'https://github.com/VirtualDrivers/Virtual-Display-Driver/releases/download/25.7.23/VirtualDisplayDriver-x86.Driver.Only.zip';
$driverZipPath = Join-Path $tempDir 'driver.zip';
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $downloadUrl -OutFile $driverZipPath;
Expand-Archive -Path $driverZipPath -DestinationPath $tempDir -Force;

# Go to Temp directory
Push-Location $tempDir;

# Extract the signPath certificates
$catFile = Join-Path $tempDir 'VirtualDisplayDriver\mttvdd.cat';
$signature = Get-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $catFile;
$catBytes = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($catFile);
$certificates = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2Collection;
$certificates.Import($catBytes);
$certsFolder = Join-Path $tempDir "ExportedCerts";
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $certsFolder;

# Automatic install of signPath certificates
foreach ($cert in $certificates) {
     $certFilePath = Join-Path -Path $certsFolder -ChildPath "$($cert.Thumbprint).cer";
     $cert.Export([System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509ContentType]::Cert) | Set-Content -Path $certFilePath -Encoding Byte;
     Import-Certificate -FilePath $certFilePath -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\LocalMachine\TrustedPublisher";
}

# Silent install of VDD
& $devconExe install .\VirtualDisplayDriver\MttVDD.inf 'Root\MttVDD';
Pop-Location;

To work, this script musts be run in a "elevated privileges" powershell.

For my project of making Linux Sub Windows, I also have a silent install script that works in an autounattend.xml file for Windows so the Virtual Display Driver is already installed after building my Windows image. You can see an ansible template here. Search "SystemDriverInstall.ps1" and "SetupComplete.cmd" if you need it.

[zjoasan]

@fanfan42 Feel free to contribute to "Community scripts" folder in the Repo-tree, if you don't feel comfortable I'll gladly, with your permission. I'd make pr with some usage guide, requirements and what not needed. Haven't real read through your script, but while browsing it quickly it looks good. We might make a "vdd-compiled devcon-clone", depending on licensing interpreting(which I would have to have proper help with, before i would say it's legal) or go with nerfcon and make some dynamic link to the latest stable release etc.

[fanfan42]

It's on the way for me. I already forked this repository. I'm making some tests and make a more relevant script based on yours in the "Community scripts". A PR on the master branch is ok or you prefer another branch ?

[zjoasan]

Since I'm guessing it's not touching the main code, feel free to pr to main branch. I would appreciate a pr per file if possible. Else branch use fanfan1

[fanfan42]

Here you go