Im new to linux so speak to me as if i'm an idiot basically while trying to install ndiswrapper 1.42 on mandriva 2007 free with kernel 2.6.17-5 i keep getting the error since it seems to be my kernel build files so i dowloaded the tarball of my kernel and extracted it but thats as far as ive got as i didn't want to touch the kernel all help appreciated

Coombes,
(a n00b)

I had the same issue recently with OpenSUSE 10.2 (2.6.18). I had inadvertently de-selected the kernel source packages when I installed. From that aspect you did right by grabbing the kernel source for your ver. However it looks like some of the build files themselves, which are generated during installation of Linux, are missing, thus the error. I'm not sure how to correct that problem non-destructively.

The only solution I've come up with is a re-install and making sure you have the kernel source installed. I don't know how Mandriva handles package management or package selection during install. OpenSUSE uses YAST, which made it easy for me (simply selecting the package and it regenerated the build files with the kernel source dir). You may try hitting the Mandriva forums for specific answers on resolving the build file problem.

Once you have that done you should be able to install as root. (That's another tip: try installing as root and it may resolve the package dependency issues).

Gryyphyn, out.