/build/static/layout/Breadcrumb_cap_w.png

Creating a Windows 7 sysprep image without having to install any drivers with post install tasks

With a windows 7 syspreped image I can found a method that has not failed yet.  I have only 2 admin images, one 32bit and one 64bit and one base 32bit academic image.  I discovered by placing any missing drivers I have to install post sysprep back on my master machine in the windows\inf structure that model computer will then find the driver by itself next time.

Under windows\inf I created on subdirectory called tmccdrivers and then created subdirectories for each model.  I put only the drivers I had post install in here to keep it's size down.  Under most of the models I have audio, video.  then some I need mei heci tpm.  I even have 10 models of laptops this works for.   currently my images suppport 18 pc/laptop models from gateway, dell, hp and lenovo.

When we get a new model staff deploy's a image to it.  They find the missing drivers and place them on a share named imagedrivers by model\type directories.  I have a midlevel task that copies this directory structure to c:\windows\inf\tmccdrivers.  They deploy the image again to that model and the drivers are found without me having to create a new master immediatly.  When I update the master (usually monthly) I move the drivers from the share to the master to save copy time during imaging.

Once I did have to copy the drivers for a video card from the temp folder vs the install folder, something to do with compressed files if I remember.

Because our master is hardware independant I now base all my images on software/licensing and they work in any classroom even if all the machines are not the same model.


Comments

  • Can you confirm if you are using the 100MB System Partition that Win 7 creates?

    Your method above works fine except when using an image with the 100MB system partition and deploying to HW that has a different sized Disk 0 to the Master Image PC. Under these circumstances it appears the bootsector code does not get copied across correctly or even at all. - squashedrex 11 years ago
  • I do not have any machines with the 100mb partition, we dump partition on first image - SMal.tmcc 11 years ago
  • Have you had any issues with no having a boot partition? We run the standard 100 and 800 (64bit) boot partitions on our images and have no experienced any issues at all, much less what Squash is describing. - aaronr 11 years ago
    • I dumped the 100 meg partition, gave more problems then it helped. - SMal.tmcc 11 years ago
  • I would like to find out how to get rid of the 100MB partition in my deployments. Does formatting the partition before creating your master image stop the creation of this extra partition? - jsunderman 10 years ago
    • Manually create one big partition on the drive you create master image on prior to install. - SMal.tmcc 10 years ago
  • Are you doing just hdd and nic drivers or literally every missing driver on the system? What is your image size currently at? - aaronr 9 years ago
    • any where from 8.5 gig to 29 gig compressed as a WIM. My C:\windows\inf\tmccdrives directory is currently about 5 gig in size. My smallest HDD in the field is 250 gig, - SMal.tmcc 9 years ago
  • Are you ran sysprep and make from that the image ? when I tried that and load it on a different hardware at all - another MB, I got a BoD.
    What is the right way ?
    10X - avishalomf 9 years ago
  • I do a similar thing by creating a local driver store on my image build (for example: C:\Dell\Drivers) and place all my drivers in there. Then just append that path (separated by a semicolon) to the 'DevicePath' string in the registry. "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" - jjvillani 8 years ago
This post is locked

Don't be a Stranger!

Sign up today to participate, stay informed, earn points and establish a reputation for yourself!

Sign up! or login

Share

 
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site and/or clicking the "Accept" button you are providing consent Quest Software and its affiliates do NOT sell the Personal Data you provide to us either when you register on our websites or when you do business with us. For more information about our Privacy Policy and our data protection efforts, please visit GDPR-HQ