Mouse Installer Problems

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev (More info?)

I have a Logitech cordless optical mouse that has had no
problems at all. Last night my mouse ran out of
batteries. I got some this afternoon and I couldnt get my
mouse to work again. When I try to update the
driver/reinstall the mouse I get an error message saying:

Windows could not load the installer for Mouse. Contact
your hardware vendor for assitance.

I have looked everywhere for help and can find none. I
hope someone here can help???

Thank you very much for your time.

There have been a number of proposed 'fixes' to the problem, like cleaning the registry, reloading drivers, updating of the BIOS, etc. and they are all WRONG. The only supposed 'fix' that worked was reinstalling Win XP. Well, that WILL fix the problem, not because Windows was fundamentally broken, but because the reinstall puts back the SFCFILES.DLL file, and voila, it's magically fixed.

Fortunately, when I followed that bozo's bad advice, I didn't delete the file, but renamed it to SFCFILES_disabled.DLL. A simple rename got it back.

If you don't have a handy source for the SFCFILES.DLL file, you can google for the name and find web sites with a free download of the file. I found one at

http://www.dlldump.com/download-dl [...] nload.html

I checked this against my 'renamed' dll and it was identical.

I just happen to trip over someone's post where the solution was found, and I wanted to pass along the solution to anyone needing it.

Robert Hodge
tech@email.quatras.com