Ultralite Mk5 and Windows 7 compatibility

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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
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electrik
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2022 2:24 pm
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Ultralite Mk5 and Windows 7 compatibility

Post by electrik »

Hi, is anyone able to test/confirm if the new Ultralite Mk5 will work under Windows 7 64bit? (Cubase/asio). Officially it is Windows10 or higher, however recent devices will often say this but still work with Windows 7 etc.

The v5 drivers and software install ok, cuemix runs ok, driver files say WindowsNT, software is actually 32bit/x86… apparently other users on other forums have got the M4 working after manually installing the drivers via device manager. The 828es also runs on win7 (probably would have bought this if it wasn’t for current supply issues).

Hope someone can help with confirming as am itching to pull the trigger on the UL :)

Thanks!
electrik
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2022 2:24 pm
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: Ultralite Mk5 and Windows 7 compatibility

Post by electrik »

So I bit the bullet and bought the Ultralite Mk5 :) After some experimentation and debugging errors, the short answer is YES it works under Windows 7 - this requires a fairly simple process of modifying a few lines in the inf files which accompany the drivers, putting Windows into test mode, then manually installing the drivers. I've not had any luck with the usb MIDI driver as yet (not needed in my case) but the asio and usb network drivers both install successfully and the device works perfectly (including connecting to Cuemix) and is very stable at low latencies as advertised. Firmware updater requires Win10 though, so just run this from a Win10 laptop.

Few points to note:
1) Windows will need to stay in test mode if you want the drivers to work, if you want you can put it back into normal mode for security purposes when installing other software, on internet etc.
2) You'll need to update the driver/INF file each time you install a software/driver update.
3) If you prefer you can update the copies of the INF files which are installed at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository (little bit trickier to find, however these are the driver files you see when you update the driver and select 'Let me pick from a list of available drivers', so updating these will avoid having multiple copies)

I've detailed the required steps below if anyone is interested, also attached are my modified INF files after my last driver update.

Cheers!


Steps to update drivers:

1. Put Windows into test mode. (From command prompt run: bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON and enter. Reboot. you should now see a small 'Test Mode' in the bottom right hand of the screen).
2. Locate the copies of the driver files from the driver setup/installation process at C:\Program Files (x86)\MOTU\Gen5\x64\DriverPackages
3. Make a backup copy of the above folder
4. Edit the MOTUgen5NULL.inf (for Generic USB Driver) and MOTUgen5ECM.inf (for USB Network Driver) using Notepad, making the below changes and save.
5. Manually update each device driver by pointing them to the above directory with the driver .sys files and accompanying modified inf files. (Open Device Manager, right click on each MOTU device driver, choose ‘Update Driver’, ‘Browse My Computer for Drivers’ and locate/select the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\MOTU\x64\DriverPackages)


INF file Changes

File: "MOTUgen5NULL.inf" (for Generic USB Driver)

Replace text:

Class=USBDevice
ClassGuid={88BAE032-5A81-49f0-BC3D-A4FF138216D6}

with

Class=USB
ClassGUID={36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}


File: "MOTUgen5ECM.inf" (for USB Network Driver)

Replace text:

[ControlFlags]

with

; ================= Device section =====================

[ControlFlags]
ExcludeFromSelect = *

[DestinationDirs]
DefaultDestDir=12



Then under ‘MOTU USB Ethernet Adapter’ section, replace text:

[MOTUgen5ECM.ndi]
Characteristics = 0x4 ; NCF_PHYSICAL (USB)

with

[MOTUgen5ECM.ndi]
BusType=15 ; PNPBus
Attachments
gen5_win7infs.zip
(8.37 KiB) Downloaded 57 times
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