How to set up FEZConfig on a computer without Visual Studio

Currently there is no separate installer for the GHI USB Drivers and FEZConfig.
The only way to install them, is installing the complete SDK, which requires Visual Studio to be installed.
With some help from John (GHI) I discovered how to install the drivers on a blank computer.
But simply copying FEZConfig does not work, because it throws a lot of error messages.
But now I finally figured out how to setup everything, so FEZConfig can be used on a blank computer without having Visual Studio installed.

Here are the step by step instructions to do so:

[ul]1. Locate the SDK installation folder on your development computer.[/ul]
This is normally located at:
C:\Program Files (x86)\GHI Electronics

[ul]2. Copy the files to the target machine[/ul]
Copy the whole “GHI Electronics” folder to your target machine, lets say the “C:\GHI Electronics” (or just to the same folder as on the development machine.
From the “GHI Electronics\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK” we Need only the “Firmware” Folder. “Libraries” and “Documentation” can be deleted. Same for 4.2 if you need it.

[ul]3. Prepare drivers for installation[/ul]
Go into the driver folder “GHI Electronics\GHI USB Drivers” and move the files from “GHI Bootloader Interface” and “GHI NETMF Interface” up by one folder directly into the “GHI Electronics\GHI USB Drivers” (this will spare some time later)

[ul]4. Get the dpinst.exe from the WDK[/ul]
It is part of the Windows driver development kit which you can download here: (DIFx Guidelines - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn
It’s normally located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Redist\DIFx\dpinst after installation. Make sure you get the correct one: x86 and x64 are different.

[ul]5. Install drivers[/ul]
Put dpinst.exe into the “GHI Electronics\GHI USB Drivers” Folder.
Now run dpinst.exe by double clicking it. By this both Drivers will be installed.

[ul]6. Get registy entries for FEZConfig[/ul]
FEZConfig uses some registry entries you need to recreate on the target machine.
Unfortunately these are slightly different for x86 and x64 machines.
x64 machines use the registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics]
for x86 it’s just [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics]
The easiest way is to export the whole “GHI Electronics” key to a file.
Now open the file with a test editor and change the “Firmwares Path”, “Install Path” and “Libraries Path” values in “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.…\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK” according to the folder on the target machine you have copied the files to.
Also make sure that for all key names the “Wow6432Node” is there for x64 target machines, or is removed for x86 target machines.
Now run the .reg file on your target machine.

Tada :clap: here you go. You can now use FEZ Config on this computer:

Here follows my directory structure (with a couple of script files) for FW 4.3.3 on a x64 target machine, where everything is copied to “C:\GHI Electronics” folder.

C:\GHI Electronics\
  GHI FEZ Config\
    <all FEZConfig files>
  GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\
    Firmwares\
      <all Firmware files>
  GHI USB Drivers\
    x64\
      dpinst.exe (x64 Version)
    x86\
      dpinst.exe (x86 Version)
    GHI_Bootloader_Interface.cat
    GHI_Bootloader_Interface.inf
    GHI_NETMF_Interface.cat
    GHI_NETMF_Interface.inf
    SetupDrivers x64.cmd (see below)
    SetupDrivers x86.cmd (see below)
  GHIx64.reg (see below)
  GHIx86.reg (see below)

SetupDrivers x64.cmd

copy x64\dpinst.exe .
dpinst.exe

SetupDrivers x86.cmd

copy x86\dpinst.exe .
dpinst.exe

GHIx64.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK]
"Install Path"="C:\\GHI Electronics\\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\\"
"Libraries Path"="C:\\GHI Electronics\\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\\Libraries\\"
"Firmwares Path"="C:\\GHI Electronics\\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\\Firmwares\\"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions]
"Libraries"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\Cerb-Family]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\EMX]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\FEZ Hydra]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\G120]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\G400]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

GHIx86.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK]
"Install Path"="C:\\GHI Electronics\\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\\"
"Libraries Path"="C:\\GHI Electronics\\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\\Libraries\\"
"Firmwares Path"="C:\\GHI Electronics\\GHI NETMF v4.3 SDK\\Firmwares\\"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions]
"Libraries"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\Cerb-Family]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\EMX]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\FEZ Hydra]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\G120]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GHI Electronics\NETMF v4.3 SDK\Versions\G400]
"Loader"="4.3.3.0"
"Firmware"="4.3.3.0"

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