You are my hero! It worked like a charm. -----Original Message----- From: Niki Blowfield [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: January 29, 2008 4:45 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: sysprep and dell oem
I've never had a lot of joy using the sysprep file to specify driver locations, but I found another solution that has worked very well for us You can avoid the need to use sysprep to specify driver paths by adding the driver paths directly to the registry key that windows uses to search for drivers it finds on first boot (the mini-setup stage after a machine has been sysprepped) All devices need to be deleted prior to being sysprepped, i.e. if a device appears under "other devices" with a yellow question mark, windows will not try and load a driver for this device. You need to actually delete the devices you wish to scan for on first boot, for me these are the video card, the network card, and the sound card, so whether drivers are loaded or not, i delete these from device manager before sysprepping Then load all your drivers into C:\drivers, and add in each individual driver path to the following registry key; HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DevicePath I managed to find a utility that will scan your c:\drivers folder, note down the locations of all INF files, and then add each path to this registry key http://www.vernalex.com/tools/spdrvscn/index.shtml Now when windows first boots, and finds hardware without drivers loaded, it will scan every folder specified in the above registry key to find a suitable inf file. I believe the author of the above utility suggests removing C:\windows\inf from the list of search locations so that standard windows drivers aren't loaded, but I'm not entirely sure of the consequences of doing this We had a lot of success with this before opting to use BDD2007 and its method of injecting drivers Nik -----Original Message----- From: Ben Scott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 28 January 2008 22:10 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: sysprep and dell oem On Jan 28, 2008 10:27 AM, Ara Avvali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I guess there is a 4096 byte limitation in length ... It depends on the version of Windows. I think NT4 had something stupid like 80 characters. Microsoft keeps making it bigger with each successive release. You'd think they'd take the hint and use dynamic allocation, but.... ~shrug~ http://catb.org/jargon/html/C/C-Programmers-Disease.html > ... isn't it smart enough to automatically scan subfolders? No. On Jan 28, 2008 11:18 AM, Ara Avvali <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Then I copied all files to c:\drivers and point the sysprerp to > it. Basically no more folder structure, everything runs from root folder. You can do that, and sometimes it even works. However, sometimes different drivers include a file of the same name but different contents, so everything-in-one-folder doesn't always work. Also, one occasionally runs into situations where certain hardware needs certain drivers/revisions, or is allergic to same. By using different folders for each driver, one can just specify different "answer files" and use one driver distribution tree. If you're targeting a single machine type, these are less of a concern. But for our RIS tree, it's a big help. -- Ben ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~ ------------- This Email together with any attachments is confidential and intended solely for the Person to whom it is addressed. The unauthorised use, distribution, copying or alteration of the Email is forbidden and may be unlawful. If you have received this in error, please advise the sender immediately by returning the Email and then delete it from your system. As Internet communications are not secure, Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this Email or attachments. Furthermore, you should carry out such Virus and other checks as considered appropriate to ensure that the opening and/or use of this Email and any attachments do not adversely affect other systems or data, for which Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Limited can accept no legal responsibility. Martin-Baker Aircraft Company Ltd, Registered No. (England)868042, Registered Office Lower Road, Higher Denham, near Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB9 5AJ. ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~ ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
