A service installation section in this INF is invalid [Fix]

If you see A service installation section in this INF is invalid error while installing or updating a device driver on Windows 11/10, then this post is sure to help you.

What causes A service installation section in this INF is invalid error?

This error occurs if you try to manually install a Driver using a .INF File in Windows using the “Install” option in right-click context menu. This error might be caused due toa corrupted .inf driver file or a mismatch between the device and the driver. This error is reported to occur with MTP device driver, Wi-Fi driver, or any other driver for that matter.

Fix A service installation section in this INF is invalid error

To fix this error, re-download the .inf driver file to a different location and try installing it to see if it works. Here are some suggestions to help you resolve this error.

Reinstall the device driver.
Manually update the driver.
Manually install the missing driver files.
Use a third-party driver updater to automatically update your driver.

Before trying the below fixes, run an SFC scan to fix potentially corrupted or missing system files and see if the error is fixed or not. If not, you can move ahead with the below fixes.

1] Reinstall the device driver

You can uninstall and then reinstall the problematic device driver to check if the error is fixed. This fix has proven to be effective for several users. So, you can try doing the same and see if the error is resolved.

First, open the Device Manager app from the Win+X menu. After that, locate the problematic driver and right-click on it. From the context menu, select the Uninstall device option and then follow the prompted instructions to complete the process.

When the above command is finished, you can restart your computer.

Now, connect your device to your computer and let Windows automatically install the missing device drivers. If Windows cannot download and install the drivers automatically, you can download the drivers from the official website of the device manufacturer and then install them on your system.

Read: The driver detected an internal driver error on DeviceVBoxNetLwf.

2] Manually update the driver

You can also try manually updating the problematic driver via Device Manager and see if the error is fixed. Here are the steps to do that:

First, press Win+X to open up the shortcut menu and then choose Device Manager.
In Device Manager, locate the driver with which you are facing this error and right-click on it.
Now, from the appeared context menu, select the Update driver option.
Next, click on Browser my computer for drivers and then provide the driver location. Or, you can select the Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer option and then click on Next.
After that, follow the prompted instructions like selecting the device, hardware type, etc., and complete the driver installation.
Once the driver is successfully installed, you can reconnect the device and check if the error is fixed.

See: A driver (service) for this device has been disabled (Code 32).

3] Manually install the missing driver files

This error could be a result of missing driver files. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, you can manually install the missing driver files and then check if the error is fixed.

If you are facing this error with the USB drivers, it might be the case that the mdmcpq.inf or usbser.sys file is broken or missing. So, in that case, you can install them using the below steps:

First of all, you need another computer without this error. So, go to another computer and move to the following location:

 C:\Windows\INF

Now, locate the mdmcpq.inf file and copy and paste it to an external drive. After that, move to the below location:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers

From the above location, copy the usbser.sys file to the same external drive that you used previously.

Next, connect the external drive to the problematic computer and copy both files to their respective locations. Copy and paste the mdmcpq.inf to C:\Windows\INF and the usbser.sys file to C:\Windows\System32\drivers.

You can now reconnect your device and check if the error is resolved.

Another way to install a missing driver file to fix this error is as follows:

First, disconnect your USB device and move to the C:\Windows\INF location in your File Explorer. Now, right-click on the wpdmtp.inf file and choose the Install option from the appeared context menu. Next, wait for the process to finish. Once done, reconnect your device and check if the A service installation section in this INF is invalid error is fixed or not.

Read: The INF file you selected does not support this method of installation

4] Use a third-party driver updater to automatically update your driver

The next method to fix this error is to automatically update device drivers using third-party driver updater software. There are plenty of such software that automatically detect outdated drivers on your system and updates them. You can try WinZip Driver Updater if you want a free one.

Useful reads: