INF file

In computing, an INF file or Setup Information file is a plain-text file used by Microsoft Windows for the installation of software and drivers. INF files are most commonly used for installing device drivers for hardware components. Windows includes the IExpress tool for the creation of INF-based installations. INF files form part of the Windows Setup API and of its successor, Windows Installer.

This article is about setup files. For help files, see Information Presentation Facility. For other uses, see INF (disambiguation).
Setup Information file
Filename extension
.inf
Internet media type
text/plain
Type of formatConfiguration file

The \windows\inf directory contains several such .inf files.[1]

Structure

The structure of an INF file is very similar to that of an INI file; it contains various sections that specify the files to be copied, changes to the registry, etc. All INF files contain a [Version] section with a Signature key-value pair specifying the version of Windows that the INF file is meant for. The signature is commonly $CHICAGO$ (for Windows 9x) or $WINDOWS NT$ (for Windows NT/2K/XP). Most of the remaining sections are user-defined and contain information specific to the component being installed. An example of an INF file might have something like this:

[autorun]
open=example.exe

What this would do is open the example.exe file automatically whenever the media containing the file (in its root directory) is connected to the computer. This can be dangerous, as there is no way to tell whether such a file exists before inserting the media. Since Windows XP, however, this feature has been replaced with a menu forcing the user to choose which action to take.

INF Files can sometimes be dangerous on Windows 2000 as they may allow viruses to autorun without prompting. They are blocked on Windows 7, but can be worked around. [2]

[autorun]
open=example.bat
icon=cd.ico

icon=*.ico command replaces any old or default drive icon with the specified one. [autorun] can be replaced by [AutoRun] or [Autorun].

gollark: Costs nothing but several thousand coal, about 2500 glowstone and a bit of copper!
gollark: I have preemptively obsoleted your design with my 1000% 9x9x9 one.
gollark: We can check THEIR modlists.
gollark: Wait, some other person had the same issue, right?
gollark: I wonder what's doing it, then.

See also

References
  1. Norton, Peter; Mueller, John Paul (1997). Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Windows XP. Pearson Education. ISBN 9780132715386. Retrieved 2014-08-31. Look in the \WINDOWS\INF directory, and you'll see a set of INF files.
  2. "How To Auto-Launch Apps With A USB Stick [Windows]".
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