Windows 8.1/10 Hates QMI... Ideas anyone?

IoT Modules MC/EM Series
1

So, I’ve noticed that Windows 8.1/10 doesn’t seem to like QMI interfaces all of a sudden now and it had caused a massive headache for most of us because as soon as Windows sees a QMI interface, it throws a fit and forces the device to expose the MBIM interface… and ONLY the MBIM interface. As we still rely on the Serial ports for development (Not to mention the QMI interface), I was wondering if there are any Windows Guru’s out there that might know of a fix to prevent Windows from doing this? Whether it may be in the registry or a driver alteration. Im just throwing this question out there in hopes to see if anyone knows?

There is a fix to switch the device back to QMI mode that can be obtained at this thread [url]https://forum.sierrawireless.com/t/my-mc7710-cant-work-on-linux-after-plug-in-it-to-windows8/7986/1] but it requires linux and once you plug the device into windows again, it does the same thing all over and your back at square one.

2

I’m not much of a Windows user, but I installed the latest driver package in Wine so I could look at the registry settings it adds. And there is at least one very interesting candidate (in addition to the USBCOMP setting which you have found out how to modify on the installer command line):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Sierra Wireless Inc\DriverInstallOptionsUsed\DisableUsbCompAutoUpdate

I verified that it can be changed to 1 by rerunning the driver installation as

GenericDriverSetup_Build4277.exe DisableUsbCompAutoUpdate=1

But I cannot test the effect of this setting (no real Windows :slight_smile:, so who knows… Looks very promising at least.

3

Ok well i gave it a go but no luck. Interesting enough, i found the Registry section pertaining to Sierra Wireless software, however i have tried installing with various parameter combinations but none of them seem to be able to prevent Windows from switching the modem. So i have a sneaky feeling the entry responsible is elsewhere in the registry somewhere. I’ve exported the section of my registry to a text file for those that may be interested, and perhaps someone else might see the solution where i might have overlooked it by accident?
Sierra_Registry_Entries.txt (8.88 KB)

4

Strange. I see

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Sierra Wireless Inc\DriverInstallOptionsUsed]
“DisableUsbCompAutoUpdate”=dword:00000000

in that file. Did you not set this option for this install?

In any case, I believe those settings are exactly what the section name suggests: Simply the settings used by the installer. The registry settings used by the installed applications and drivers are spread over per-application sections. When I tested this on Wine, I also got a setting like this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Sierra Wireless Inc\SwiService\UsbComposition]
“DisableAutoUpdate”=dword:00000001

which I believe is what should make SwiService run without updating the UsbComposition. The odd thing is that I don’t see any UsbComposition section at all under SwiService in your registry dump. Have no idea why. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere else, or maybe something went wrong.Or maybe I’m just completely wrong on all of this. That’s definitely possible… I’m unable to test this on a real Windows install with an actual modem.

5

OMG thankyou! I spent a few hours going through the registry and i have no idea how i missed it… "-_-

I added the parameter DisableUsbCompAutoUpdate=1 along with WIN8BUSDriver=1 to the parameters and it seems to have resolved the issue!
I’ve been running it in Composition 6 for a day now with no complaints from Windows anymore!! Thankyou so much dl5162! :smiley:

I updated my post in the thread [url]https://forum.sierrawireless.com/t/my-mc7710-cant-work-on-linux-after-plug-in-it-to-windows8/7986/1] to include the parameters to the instructions there.

Again, Thankyou!