Add Drivers to XP Images (with Sysprep.inf)
Adding drivers to Sysprep before capturing your Windows image for later deployment is what you want to do to have Windows installs automatically install drivers after deploying an image, so you don’t have to manually do it. This can be a huge time saver with your Windows installs.
Some techs like to use “Driver Packs” (often with 3rd party programs to mass install them) but personally have never used these, and don’t we all like getting the latest driver direct from the OEM? These methods won’t be covered here, however I have found a guide on integrating Driver Packs on msfn.org here.
The traditional method of integrating drivers into a Sysprep prepared image is outlined in Microsoft KB 314479 under the Sysprep section.
The meat of the idea is that after you install Windows, and before running Sysprep:
- Create a directory on the C: drive named whatever, e.g. C:\Support\Drivers
- It is IMPORTANT that you DO NOT put your drivers folder inside the Sysprep folder, else it will fail to recognize them!
- Inside the directory, extract whatever drivers you wish to integrate into subdirectories, e.g. C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs
- The drivers MUST be extracted, no .zip files! e.g.
- C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs\whatever.inf
- C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs\whatever.cat
- C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs\whatever.sys
- etc. etc.
- The drivers MUST be extracted, no .zip files! e.g.
- Edit your Sysprep.inf file and under the [Unattended] section, you want to add these lines: (not all of which relate, but you want these lines anyway)
- OemSkipEula=Yes
- DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
- UpdateInstalledDrivers=Yes
- OEMPnPDriversPath=\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs;\Support\Drivers\BroadcomNICs
- There are two driver paths above, but add as many paths as necessary for each driver you wish to include.
- Separate each new driver path with a semi-colon, which is this thing ” ; “ and NOT this thing ” : “
- There is NO need to use C: before the path, as the %systemdrive% variable is added automatically by Sysprep.
- If your OEMPnPDriversPath will be longer than 4096 characters, this will not work. I have two suggestions:
- First you could shorten the length of your path names!
- So instead of: “C:\Support\Drivers\RealtekNICs”
- You could try: “C:\Drvr\Rtk” and “C:\Drvr\Bdcm” and so on…
- Alternately, instead of creating this line in the Sysprep.inf file:
- Use this 3rd party utility from Vernalex.com to add your driver paths.
- You MUST remove this line from Sysprep.inf if you already created it before using the utility linked above!
- First you could shorten the length of your path names!
Don’t have a Sysprep.inf file yet? You can view or download a copy of my personalized Sysprep.inf (only for XP), which you should rename to remove the .txt extension if you download it to use as a template.
Network Boot Guide
- Install WDS (Windows Deployment Services)
- Add Vista/7 Images to WDS
- Add Drivers to boot.wim (for Vista/7 Images)
- Add Drivers to XP Images (with Sysprep.inf) <- You are here!
- Add XP or Modified Vista/7 Images to WDS
- Install Syslinux
- Troubleshooting Issues
Latest News
-
d7x v21.4.20 Release Notes Fixed an issue with d7x updates failing when d7x.exe is...
Read More -
d7x v21.4.2 Release Notes Fixed: d7x should now extract the correct product key from...
Read More -
New Release: dSupportSuite and dSS Mgmt Console v21.3.27.1 with ShadowGuard! dSupportSuite, our White-Label Automated Maintenance app / Business Card with...
Read More -
d7x v21.3.24 Release Notes Added new “Battery Report” to reports options (using powercfg /batteryreport)...
Read More -
New app: EC2Tool (for use with AWS) EC2Tool is a utility designed for two purposes: Amazon EC2 Backup...
Read More -
d7x v21.3.2 Release Notes Added list of ‘Installed Apps’ and ‘Installed Store Apps (Non-Microsoft)’...
Read More -
d7x v21.2.27 Release Notes For the new Windows Updates (DISM Wrapper) – updated install...
Read More -
d7x v21.2.26 Release Notes Added d7x function to enable Windows System Restore, which is...
Read More -
d7x v21.2.19 Release Notes Registry Hive backup function now backs up registry hives to...
Read More -
d7x v21.2.16 Release Notes Fixed an issue with dUninstaller (UI) failing to uninstall programs...
Read More