[Resolved] – A Service Installation Section in this INF is Invalid Error

Are you trying to connect your Android smartphone to your PC but cannot access it because of the “A service installation section in this INF is invalid” error?

The issue probably lies with your device’s USB drivers or the internal USB drivers that allow proper connectivity between your smartphone and the PC are corrupt. In both cases, the driver is the culprit. 

Let us learn some easy and effective solutions to fix the issues. But before we skip to the solutions, let’s quickly look at the problem and understand when it occurs. 

What is A Service Installation Section in this INF is an Invalid Error?

When you try to connect your Android smartphone to an MTP USB device, the device is not on the PC. Thinking it might be a driver issue, you head to the Device Manager to update the drivers. 

But when you look for the device, you find it listed as an MTP device with a yellow exclamation sign. Thinking that this is another prompt to show that the issue is with your smartphone’s drivers, you open the update driver utility. 

However, when opening the update driver option in the Device Manager, you encounter the error A service installation section in this INF invalid. Now, what does that mean? 

This means that the issue is not limited to smartphone drivers; the internal USB driver files that help an MTP device connect to the PC are also compromised. 

Ways to Resolve Error~ A Service Installation Section in this INF is Invalid

After realizing the problem, you should immediately look for ways to fix it. The ideal way to resolve the issue is to find other ways to update the drivers. You need not worry about finding them alone, as we have listed all the alternatives below. Check them out!

Fix #1 – Download the Driver Updates Using Advanced Driver Updater (Recommended)

It can be frustrating to be unable to download driver updates after all the efforts. Many driver updater applications are available to help you minimize the hassle and finish updating the device drivers easily. However, not all of them can work through such errors.

If you have encountered the “A Service Installation Section in this INF is Invalid” error message, Advanced Driver Updater seems to be the best solution. It has a perfectly balanced algorithm that detects all the connected devices (even if they are facing errors) and tries to fetch driver updates for the same. 

Here’s how the tool works – 

Step 1 – Download the tool from the link below. 

Step 2 – Install the tool using the downloaded setup file. Run it once the installation finishes.
Step 3 – You can find the Start Scan Now option on the tool’s home screen.

Step 4 – Click on the option to start the scan. Let the scan run, as it will help you fetch the status of all the drivers on your PC. 

Step 5 – Once you know about the outdated drivers, click on the Update All option to finish the updates. 

Let the process finish. Once it is done, restart your PC so drivers can activate it. Connect the device again, and your problem should be solved!

Fix #2 – Install Drivers Manually [Via Windows Driver Update Utility]

Another way to handle the situation is by manually using the Windows Driver Update utility. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do so – 

Step 1 – Press Windows + R to open the Run Dialog
Step 2 – Use the Command devmgmt.msc to open the Device Manager.  Step 3 – Spot the MTP device with the yellow exclamation in the Device Manager.

Step 4 – Right-click on your affected device and click on update driver.
Step 5 – In the opened updater utility, choose to browse my computer for driver software. Step 6 – In the next step, click Let me pick from a list of available drivers on this computer. This will give you access to the driver files available on your PC.Step 7 – If your smartphone device is detected as an MTP device, the list will show you the defined hardware drivers for the MTP device. Step 8 – Once you have selected the device drivers to be installed, you must wait for the process to finish.
Step 9 – Disconnect and reconnect the device to check if the PC is now detecting your smartphone. 

If this approach fails, chances are that the issue lies in your PC system files. Check out the next fix for the same. 

Must Read: 10 Things You Wish You Knew Before Updating Device Driver

Bonus Fix – Replace Internal USB Driver Files on Your PC

If both the automated and manual methods to update drivers on your PC fail to fix the error “A service installation section in this INF is invalid,” chances are that your PC’s system USB driver files, mdmcpq.inf, and usbser.sys are either corrupt or missing. 

Here’s how you can replace these files using another PC – 

Step 1 – First, you need to access a PC that is not displaying such issues. After that, open File Explorer from the desktop and navigate to C:\Windows\INF. Step 2 – In the folder, look for the file mdmcpq.inf  Step 3 – Copy the file from the destination to an external drive.
Step 4 – From there, navigate to the folder – C:\Windows\System32\drivers to find the file usbser.sysStep 5 – Copy the file to the external drive once you have found it.
Step 6 – After you have both files, simply connect the external drive to the PC with the error.

Step 7—Go to the respective destination folders, i.e., C: WindowsINF and C: WindowsSystem32drivers. Copy mdmcpq.inf  and usbser.sys files and replace the existing files as they are corrupt.

After performing the above steps, restart the PC and let the changes sync. 

The MTP USB Device Error is Now Resolved!

Any of these 3 fixes will ensure that the “A service installation section in this INF is invalid” error disappears.

With that, we have reached the end of this post. If you have any questions or confusion about the maneuvers shared, please drop them in the comments section below. That’ll be all for this post! 

Thanks for reading!

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