Introducing INF Files

Before you develop a Windows NT or Windows 95 setup application, you will probably want to create an information (INF) file.

An INF file is made up of different types of sections. Each type of section has a particular purpose; for example, to copy files or to add entries to the registry. Each line in a section contributes to that section s purpose. The number and type of sections used in an INF file depends on the installation procedure.

Each section type has a particular format. The setup functions use this format to retrieve information from the INF file. This format is described in the following topics.

To be used by the operating system installer, an INF section must contain one or more items.

In addition to the formatted INF sections, an INF file can contain private sections. You can use a private section to store specialized information required by your setup application. The format of a private section will depend on your application.

The Setup API includes low-level functions that you can use to retrieve information from these private sections. Low-level setup functions, such as the SetupGetLineText3WY0_H_ and SetupGetIntField1MIVAHG functions, retrieve information from the INF file at the line and field level.

Additional sections types are used when installing device drivers. For more information about these other sections, see the DDK Programmer s Guide.