To operate an instrument, measurement software is required to operate the instrument. Besides the measurement software, a special driver is required to interface between the software and the instrument. This driver takes care of the low level communication between the computer and the instrument, through USB.

When the drivers are no longer required on the computer, they can be removed. How this is done, depends on how the drivers were installed on the computer.

This page refers to the Handyscope HS3, the Handyscope HS4, Handyscope HS4 DIFF and the TiePieSCOPE HS805. The Handyscope HS3 is used as an example.

When the drivers were installed using the pre-install utility (see driver installation), removal of the drivers can be started in the Add or Remove Programs applet in the Windows Control Panel.

To remove the driver successfully, it is essential that the instrument is disconnected from the computer, prior to starting the uninstall utility. When the instrument is used with an external power supply, this must be disconnected too.

To start the uninstall utility:

• Click the Windows Start button
• Click Settings
• Click Control Panel
• Click Add or Remove Programs
• From the list of programs that is shown, select TiePie engineering <instrument name> driver
• Click Remove

The uninstall utility is now started. It will first check if an instrument is still connected. If so, the following warning will be shown:

It is highly recommended to disconnect the instrument before continuing, otherwise the driver removal may fail. Clicking No will terminate the uninstall utility, clicking Yes will continue the utility.

If Yes is clicked or if no instrument was detected, the uninstall utility will continue with the following screen:

Clicking No will terminate the uninstall utility, clicking Yes will continue the utility and remove the drivers.

When removal of the drivers is finished, the final screen is shown.

Before the pre-install utility that is described on the page about driver installation was introduced, driver installation was done by placing all driver files on the computer and manually point the New Hardware Wizard to that location for the drivers. No uninstall utility was installed on the computer. In order to remove the drivers, a small "universal" uninstall utility was developed, to remove the drivers for a TiePie engineering USB instrument from the computer.

This universal uninstall utility can be downloaded here:

Name	Size	Download
USB driver uninstall utility	370 KB

To remove the driver successfully, it is essential that the instrument is disconnected from the computer, prior to starting the uninstall utility. When the instrument is used with an external power supply, this must be disconnected too.

Depending on which USB drivers are installed, one or more check boxes are enabled. Only check the instrument of which the USB drivers has to be uninstalled, in this case the Handyscope HS3. Click the Continue button to uninstall the drivers. Depending on the Windows version, a system reboot may be required. Make sure to do so when instructed.

The drivers are now removed from the system.

Sometimes, the uninstall utility cannot (completely) remove the installed drivers correctly from the system. This can be recognized by the fact that when an instrument is plugged in, it is recognized as a Handyscope HS3 and not as an unknown USB device.

In that case, the drivers will have to be removed manually. To do that, follow the instructions below:

1	Disconnect the Handyscope HS3 from the computer. When the Handyscope HS3 is used with an external power supply, this must be disconnected too.
2	Open the Windows file search utility and search for files with the following names: Handyscope HS3   Handyscope HS4   Handyscope HS4 DIFF   %WINDIR%\INF\hs3*.inf    %WINDIR%\INF\hs4*.inf    %WINDIR%\INF\hs4d*.inf    %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\hs3*.sys    %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\hs4*.sys    %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\hs4d*.sys    %WINDIR%\INF\tiepie2k.inf              %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\usbtp.sys              %WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\usbhs3.sys              These files may be hidden and some are system files, so make sure to search for hidden files and system files. Delete any of the files that are found.
3	Open the Windows file search utility and search for files with a name that matches OEM*.INF and that contain one or both of the following text strings: Handyscope HS3   Handyscope HS4   Handyscope HS4 DIFF   VID_0E36&PID_0008    VID_0E36&PID_000A    VID_0E36&PID_000E    VID_0E36&PID_0009    VID_0E36&PID_000B    VID_0E36&PID_000F    The character 0 in the table is a zero. Write down the names and locations of all the files that are found.
4	Go to the locations where the files found in point 3 are located. Each of the files that are found should have a corresponding file with a name matching OEM*.PNF, where the * represents a number. Delete both the OEM*.INF files and the corresponding OEM*.PNF files.

The drivers are now removed from the system.