CM_Uninstall_DevNode() reporting success on Windows 98SE, but actually failing to deleting the DevNode \ VOGONS

CM_Uninstall_DevNode() reporting success on Windows 98SE, but actually failing to deleting the DevNode

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First post, by red-ray

Posted on 2026-02-02, 21:40

red-ray Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1899
Joined: 2019-05-21, 07:08
Location: England

I noticed some of my Windows 9x systems had a lot of 👻 Devices and AFAIK the way you are meant to delete them is to boot into Save mode and use the device manager in the system properties panel which is tedious. I wondered if the SIV Menu->System->👻 Devices panel would work on W98SE, so I built a SIV32L with it enabled and it did, but when I selected a device and pressed [Exorcise] it claimed to have deleted it, but didn't.

The root cause of the issue is with CM_Uninstall_DevNode() which works on W2K and later, claims to work on W98SE, but doesn't, is there a way to make it work?

My plan B was to do RegDeleteKey( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, ... ) on W9x so I changed the code and that worked at the first time of asking, I don't like doing it this way, is there any other way?

Current code that I have

1        GetWindowText( ihl, tnb, numbof( tnb ) );                               // get the PnP ID
2
3        if( CR_SUCCESS != ( sts = CM_Locate_DevNode(                            // Unable to Locate the Device Node ?
4                                             addrof( dvi ),                     //
5                                                     tnb,                       //
6                               CM_LOCATE_DEVNODE_PHANTOM ) ) )                  //
7        {                                                                       //
8          stprintf( twb, TEXT( "Status %d, "                     )              // yes, set to whinge
9                         TEXT( "Failed to Locate the %s DevNode" ),             //
10                                        sts,                                    //
11                                        tnb );                                  //
12          break;
13        }                                                                       //
14
15        if( MODE_W2K & mode )                                                   // Windows 2K and later ?
16        {                                                                       //
17          if( CR_SUCCESS != ( sts = pCM_Uninstall_DevNode( dvi, 0 ) ) )         // yes, Unable to Uninstall the DevNode ?
18          {                                                                     //
19            stprintf( twb, TEXT( "Status %d, "                        )         // yes, set to whinge
20                           TEXT( "Failed to Uninstall the %s DevNode" ),        //
21                                        sts,                                    //
22                                        tnb );                                  //
23            break;                                                              //
24          }                                                                     //
25        }                                                                       //
26        else                                                                    //
27        if( MODE_W98 & mode )                                                   // Windows 98 and later ?
28        {                                                                       //
29          if( ERROR_SUCCESS != ( sts = RegDeleteKey( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,        // yes, RegDeleteKey failed ?
30                                         ( stprintf( tkb, TEXT( "Enum\\%s" ),   //
31                                        tnb ), tkb ) ) ) )                      //
32          {                                                                     //
33            stprintf( twb, TEXT( "Status %d, "                     )            // yes, set to whinge
34                           TEXT( "RegDeleteKey( HKLM\\%s ) Failed" ),           //
35                                        sts,                                    //
36                                        tkb );                                  //
37            break;                                                              //
38          }                                                                     //
39        }                                                                       //
40        else                                                                    //
41        {                                                                       //
42          stprintf( twb, TEXT( "Not Supported on %s, "              )           // else whinge, not supported
43                         TEXT( "Failed to Uninstall the %s DevNode" ),          //
44                                        sgb->win_osn,                           //
45                                        tnb );                                  //
46          break;                                                                //
47        }                                                                       //

Below you can see the exorcised ghost's PCI ID no longer has any children.

file.php?id=235607

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