- Sep 11, 2012
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As you may have discovered, the newest version of AMD catalyst available for Windows Vista
is Catalyst 13.12. Now there are many reasons why you might want to run a newer version
of Catalyst.
For example:
And to rub salt into the wound, 13+ year old Windows XP are still currently supported
with the newer drivers.
What do you do?
You modify the driver package of course.
Easy step by step
As of 10-14-2014 here is a working method to install Cataylst 14.x or newer drivers on Windows Vista.
Note: Catalyst 14.12 ("Omega") needs additional work to use on Vista
Before we start we need to make sure your version of Windows Vista is updated to service pack 2
and also confirm if you are running Windows Vista 32 bit or 64 bit.
Step 1:
Check your Vista version.
Click start and right click "Computer" and select "Properties"
which will bring up the system information screen.
Pay special attention to your Service Pack and bitness of your OS.
If you are running SP1 or no SP you should update through Windows Update
before continuing.
Step 2:
Download the driver package.
Go to http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
As you normally would when downloading drivers
Select your graphics type e.g. "Desktop Graphics"
Select your graphics card family.
Select your graphics card series.
Now important! Do not select "Windows Vista" as an operating system as would seem obvious. Select Windows 7 32 Bit if you are running Vista x86 or Windows 7 64 Bit if you are running Vista x64
Click "Display Results" and then select the Download button next to the "Catalyst Software Suite"
listed. Although beta drivers will likely work I am staying with the standard release for this tutorial.
It may take a while to download depending on your internet speed since it will likely be 200-300MB
Step 3:
Begin the install.
64 Bit only: You will likely need to reboot now and while Windows is starting tap F8 and select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" (more on why later)
-end 64 bit specific-
Now run the Catalyst installer you just downloaded.
It should open a Window prompting to install/extract Catalyst.
It will probably look something like this:
Important! Take note of the destination folder. I would suggest copying it
and pasting it into notepad or something. You will need to go there later.
The normal Catalyst install manager should start.
Select "Next"
If you get a window prompting to Install or Uninstall then select "Install"
(http://s9.postimg.org/tzpd6w8lb/install.jpg)
Toggle the "Custom" selection and click "Next"
Let it analyze the system as usual
Now you should come up to the custom component install screen.
Most likely the display drivers will be missing from the list
but its okay. Go ahead and leave everything checked and click next to let it update the runtimes and CCC
When it finishes it may say that some parts failed to install. This generally isn't fatal
so lets not worry about it.
Step 4:
Modifying the driver to install on Vista.
This part is slightly more complicated.
Open the destination folder that you noted above.
From there navigate to Packages\Drivers\Display
The next folder may be named differently but for my package it was WB_INF
I think there should only be one so enter it.
You will notice there are several INF files. INF files
specify what device and OS a driver is compatible with and how Windows should install the driver.
Windows Vista uses a similar WDM (Windows Driver Model) as 7
and thus as far as I know all Windows Vista drivers work on 7 and many Windows 7 drivers
work on Vista. Luckily AMD display drivers are one of those that work.
The Windows NT version strings are as follows:
NT 5.0 = Windows 2000
NT 5.1 = Windows XP
NT 6.0 = Windows Vista
NT 6.1 = Windows 7
NT 6.2 = Windows 8
NT 6.3 = Windows 8.1
NT 6.4 = Windows 10 (?)
Open each .inf file in notepad and do a search for this line:
which specifies which driver set to install for Windows 7.
To also use that set for windows Vista, add
immediately before that line.
Like this:
Be sure to save the .inf file when you are done editing it.
Note down the full path to the folder with the inf files as you will need it.
Step 5:
Manual installation of display driver.
Go to start -> right click on "Computer" just like above to bring up the system information panel
Click "Device Manager".
Expand the "Display adapters" category
Right click your graphics card entry
Select properties and go to the "Driver" tab and click "Update driver"
Click browse my "Browse my computer for driver software" followed by "Let me pick from a list"
It might take a few moments depending on how large your driver cache is and how fast your HDD is.
Make sure the "Show compatible hardware" checkbox is ticked
then select "Have disk"
In the have disk dialog select browse:
In the browse dialog navigate to the folder that you were working on in step 4 with the mod'ed inf files.
Select one of the inf files you modified and click open and then ok.
With some luck the driver list should only show the name of your device and should show as an unsigned driver like this:
If you don't see your device listed or you get an error at this point then try a different INF. If you have
tried them all and still cannot find your graphics device, you probably made a mistake in the modification of
the .inf file. Or perhaps you are on x64 and forgot to disable signature enforcement. Please re-check your work
If it shows up as expected, then you should be good to install. Select it and click "Next"
The driver install process should start.
There is good chance that you will get a warning about an unsigned driver installation either immediately or a few seconds in.
It should look like this:
That is because the AMD drivers are signed for 7 and not Vista. Since these are the official drivers they are
perfectly safe so go ahead and click "Install this driver software anyway". Windows X64 is more of a pain about this.
If it doesn't allow you to proceed maybe you are on x64 and forgot to disable signature enforcement.
Driver installation might take a few minutes and the screen might blank out and/or change resolution several times.
At the end of installation you should get a successful installation message.
At this point I had to reboot my system to fix some strange display corruption but haven't had any such issues since.
Step 6:
Test and (hopefully) enjoy up to date drivers
After rebooting, you should check CCC and or the device properties as shown above to make sure the driver
version and date are as you expect for new drivers.
Remember any GPU overclock will be reset with new drivers.
I also suggest starting up a game or benchmark to make sure everything is working how it should.
The result
,,
is Catalyst 13.12. Now there are many reasons why you might want to run a newer version
of Catalyst.
For example:
To take advantage of the newest fixes and improvements in newer drivers
To support a new game that isn't optimized under the old drivers
To support a new graphics card that isn't properly support with the old drivers
And to rub salt into the wound, 13+ year old Windows XP are still currently supported
with the newer drivers.
What do you do?
You modify the driver package of course.
Easy step by step
As of 10-14-2014 here is a working method to install Cataylst 14.x or newer drivers on Windows Vista.
Note: Catalyst 14.12 ("Omega") needs additional work to use on Vista
Before we start we need to make sure your version of Windows Vista is updated to service pack 2
and also confirm if you are running Windows Vista 32 bit or 64 bit.
Step 1:
Check your Vista version.
Click start and right click "Computer" and select "Properties"
which will bring up the system information screen.
Pay special attention to your Service Pack and bitness of your OS.
If you are running SP1 or no SP you should update through Windows Update
before continuing.
Step 2:
Download the driver package.
Go to http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
As you normally would when downloading drivers
Select your graphics type e.g. "Desktop Graphics"
Select your graphics card family.
Select your graphics card series.
Now important! Do not select "Windows Vista" as an operating system as would seem obvious. Select Windows 7 32 Bit if you are running Vista x86 or Windows 7 64 Bit if you are running Vista x64
Click "Display Results" and then select the Download button next to the "Catalyst Software Suite"
listed. Although beta drivers will likely work I am staying with the standard release for this tutorial.
It may take a while to download depending on your internet speed since it will likely be 200-300MB
Step 3:
Begin the install.
64 Bit only: You will likely need to reboot now and while Windows is starting tap F8 and select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" (more on why later)
-end 64 bit specific-
Now run the Catalyst installer you just downloaded.
It should open a Window prompting to install/extract Catalyst.
It will probably look something like this:
Important! Take note of the destination folder. I would suggest copying it
and pasting it into notepad or something. You will need to go there later.
The normal Catalyst install manager should start.
Select "Next"
If you get a window prompting to Install or Uninstall then select "Install"
(http://s9.postimg.org/tzpd6w8lb/install.jpg)
Toggle the "Custom" selection and click "Next"
Let it analyze the system as usual
Now you should come up to the custom component install screen.
Most likely the display drivers will be missing from the list
but its okay. Go ahead and leave everything checked and click next to let it update the runtimes and CCC
When it finishes it may say that some parts failed to install. This generally isn't fatal
so lets not worry about it.
Step 4:
Modifying the driver to install on Vista.
This part is slightly more complicated.
Open the destination folder that you noted above.
From there navigate to Packages\Drivers\Display
The next folder may be named differently but for my package it was WB_INF
I think there should only be one so enter it.
You will notice there are several INF files. INF files
specify what device and OS a driver is compatible with and how Windows should install the driver.
Windows Vista uses a similar WDM (Windows Driver Model) as 7
and thus as far as I know all Windows Vista drivers work on 7 and many Windows 7 drivers
work on Vista. Luckily AMD display drivers are one of those that work.
The Windows NT version strings are as follows:
NT 5.0 = Windows 2000
NT 5.1 = Windows XP
NT 6.0 = Windows Vista
NT 6.1 = Windows 7
NT 6.2 = Windows 8
NT 6.3 = Windows 8.1
NT 6.4 = Windows 10 (?)
Open each .inf file in notepad and do a search for this line:
Code:
[ATI.Mfg.NTx86.6.1]To also use that set for windows Vista, add
Code:
[ATI.Mfg.NTx86.6.0]Like this:
Be sure to save the .inf file when you are done editing it.
Note down the full path to the folder with the inf files as you will need it.
Step 5:
Manual installation of display driver.
Go to start -> right click on "Computer" just like above to bring up the system information panel
Click "Device Manager".
Expand the "Display adapters" category
Right click your graphics card entry
Select properties and go to the "Driver" tab and click "Update driver"
Click browse my "Browse my computer for driver software" followed by "Let me pick from a list"
It might take a few moments depending on how large your driver cache is and how fast your HDD is.
Make sure the "Show compatible hardware" checkbox is ticked
then select "Have disk"
In the have disk dialog select browse:
In the browse dialog navigate to the folder that you were working on in step 4 with the mod'ed inf files.
Select one of the inf files you modified and click open and then ok.
With some luck the driver list should only show the name of your device and should show as an unsigned driver like this:
If you don't see your device listed or you get an error at this point then try a different INF. If you have
tried them all and still cannot find your graphics device, you probably made a mistake in the modification of
the .inf file. Or perhaps you are on x64 and forgot to disable signature enforcement. Please re-check your work
If it shows up as expected, then you should be good to install. Select it and click "Next"
The driver install process should start.
There is good chance that you will get a warning about an unsigned driver installation either immediately or a few seconds in.
It should look like this:
That is because the AMD drivers are signed for 7 and not Vista. Since these are the official drivers they are
perfectly safe so go ahead and click "Install this driver software anyway". Windows X64 is more of a pain about this.
If it doesn't allow you to proceed maybe you are on x64 and forgot to disable signature enforcement.
Driver installation might take a few minutes and the screen might blank out and/or change resolution several times.
At the end of installation you should get a successful installation message.
At this point I had to reboot my system to fix some strange display corruption but haven't had any such issues since.
Step 6:
Test and (hopefully) enjoy up to date drivers
After rebooting, you should check CCC and or the device properties as shown above to make sure the driver
version and date are as you expect for new drivers.
Remember any GPU overclock will be reset with new drivers.
I also suggest starting up a game or benchmark to make sure everything is working how it should.
The result
,,
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