Historically we’ve always recommended using the Win32baseboard product value to control driver injection (MDT or SCCM). MDT sets this value to%product% when running the Gather script. Oct 11, 2013 The configuration in MDT 2013 is that you first create two folders inside Out-of-box drivers, for example named Windows 7 x64 and Windows 8.1 x64. Then you create subfolders for each model you have. Then you download and extract the drivers for each model, and per operating system. Import the Drivers in MDT 2013. Identify your Laptop/Workstation Model and import the drivers in MDT 2013. Find all the details in the following article. How to add drivers in Windows ISO with MDT 2013 Create New Task Sequence. After import the Windows OS and add drivers we must create the Task Sequence for the Deployment. MDT Drivers use HP SystemSKUNumber So I am helping my friend integrate drivers into their MDT setup and one of the issues is that they have a combo of different manufacturers. When it comes to the HP systems I know those are a trip to get working. Sep 25, 2016 MDT is able to handle drivers in different manners. The basic default option is to throw all drivers into the same folder at the root OOBD directory. With that, a deployment task will search the entire OOBD store for the right drivers. This increases the chance of the wrong driver being selected.
This HowTo is how to control what drivers get installed per model when you deploy an image with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.
Note: If using ADK10 then substitute the folder name WinPEx64 and WinPEx86 for WinPE10x86 WinPE10x64.
Note: If your using MDT 8443 then see the link below for fixing the capture bug.
https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/138246-how-to-fix-mdt-8443-missing-capture-screen
10 Steps total
Step 1: Gather You Drivers
Please visit the vendor's website for the drivers to your PC or laptop models.
I recommend never visiting these rogue sites for drivers. Make a driver repository on your network to keep them in a safe place so you will have a backup.
Step 2: The Boot Image
Navigate to the Out of Box Drivers node and create a folder called WinPEx86. If you use x64 then make a folder called WinPEx64. The only drivers we will need to this folder normally are the NIC drivers. But we need to structure things before we add in the nic driver.
On each model PC you have while you’re at the desktop click start and go to a CMD. Type in the command wmic and press enter. Now type computersystem (all one word). Scroll to the right side and what you are looking for is the maker/model of that computer. You need make a note of the maker/model exactly how it shows. Case sensitive and space sensitive.
To make the structure for the boot image you will want to make a structure with the exact Model name. I usually create a NET folder and put the driver in it. WinPEModel is a must.
Step 3: The Boot Image (Continued)
Here is another pic with all my models in it. Again this is only adding the NIC driver into the boot image so it can support all models.
Step 4: Setup A Selection Profile For The Boot Image
You will need to continue to structure your WinPE folder this way per model computer you have until all the nic drivers per model are in there. We need to create a selection profile for the WinPE folder or folders you made.
Navigate to the Advanced Configuration node. Right click on Selection profiles and create new selection profile. You will need the name of the folder WinPEx64 or WinPEx86. Whichever architecture your using. Select the WinPE folder as you see in the pic. Click next and finish.
You have completed the structure and added the NIC drivers for the boot image. That is all there is to it there.
The final step in this process is to go to the properties of your deployment share > WinPE tab, choose your platform type, then click Drivers and Patches tab. Select the WinPE selection profile so MDT knows where to get NIC drivers for the boot image to inject. Close the properties windows and update your deployment share by right clicking your deployment share and choose Update.
The boot images will get created with the NIC drivers you specified in the selection profile. The boot images will reside at the deploymentshareboot folder. If you wish to PXE boot you can import the boot image from WDS to look at the boot folder.
Step 5: Adding Base Drivers
Now that you know the maker/model of your computers we need to setup the same structure so MDT will inject all the drivers for the computers when it needs it. Let’s setup the structure.
Navigate to the Out of Box Drivers node and create a folder called Dell Inc. (Just like the computer showed you when you ran the wmic> computer system command).
Inside the Dell Inc. folder create a new folder and call it the exact model (case sensitive and space sensitive) of your computer. (just like the computer showed you when you ran the wmic> computer system command).
At this point most people just dump the drivers into that model folder. You can do this as well. I avoid duplicates when it shows me duplicates.
Continue performing these steps for all dell models. The same procedures for the HP models as well. I think the maker for HP is spelled out as Hewlett-Packard when you run the wmic > computer system command.
After the above is completed the structure should be:
Out of box drivers > Dell Inc. (if you use HP then it would be Hewlett-Packard) > Models of computers. I am using Toshiba as an example in the pic.
Step 6: Setup Selection Profiles For All Models
Setting up Selection profiles for all models. The process is the same that you did for the WinPE. Here is a pic of my model with a selection profile. Name the selection profile the exact same name as the model. The important thing you select the correct maker/model and all is named correctly.
I have a good amount of Dell machines in my deployment share as you can see in the pic.
Step 7: End Result of Selection Profiles Once Made
See pic.
Step 8: Editing The Default Client Task Sequence
Open your task sequence that you have been using. Navigate to the Preinstall > Inject Drivers step. Click the drop down menu and choose “Nothing” for the selection profile. This will disable the pnp so we can take control of the driver injection.
While the Inject Drivers step is highlighted look at the top and click ADD > General > New Task Sequence Variable. At the top of the page you will need to move this new step right above the “configure” step as you see in the pic below. Name the step a name of “Set Driver Path” and for the task sequence variable to DriverGroup001 and the value to %Make%%Model% Click OK to save the change.
Step 9: Inject Driver Step Change
Look a couple steps down in the Task sequence and you will see the Inject Drivers step. We should change this to 'NOTHING' for the selection. At this point watch the deployment and you should see where it is install the drivers right after the format of the C drive. Do not forget to update the deployment share and add the boot file that MDT makes to the WDS server if you use WDS for PXE booting.
Step 10: Configure MDT to Create Boot Image
You should change the default for the boot image creation process to point to your selection profile called WinPEx64. This is located in the properties of your deployment share.
You should see the drivers that you specified per model being injected during the deployment. MDT will no longer need to take the time to try and figure out the best driver (PnP) because you have taken Total Control.
27 Comments
- PoblanoJudopunch Jan 12, 2017 at 05:09pm
Thanks for this! This is a great learning resource! I'm just starting in IT and this was very helpful!
- HabaneroJago Wu Jan 13, 2017 at 12:32pm
I am glad the doc helped you out Justin. Thanks
- AnaheimAutumnBreeze Feb 3, 2017 at 04:55pm
This was helpful for me as well. I have access to paid training, but nothing that explained how to practically apply this information. -Thank you!
- HabaneroJago Wu Feb 3, 2017 at 05:00pm
You're welcome Autumn. I am glad the doc helped you out. Thanks
- PimientoJath Aug 30, 2017 at 05:49pm
Question for you Jago. Using the Total Control method of driver injection with MDT, there is one model that is not getting it's drivers injected properly. The Dell Latitude 7480 is not. Now, on the laptop, we have ran 'wmic csproduct get name' and it comes out to Latitude 7480. Under the path for Out of box drivers, I have a folder with drivers in it named Latitude 7480.
What could be the reason that? It looks like everything is setup just the same as other models and the other models work just fine.
Thank you.
Edit: Wanted to edit to add more information.
It doesn't even attempt driver injection, which makes me think that it's not detecting the model the same as I have the folder named, even though the wmic command says it's that model.
- HabaneroJago Wu Aug 30, 2017 at 05:58pm
I only injected some of those drivers in MDT from the .cab file from Dell. The rest of the drivers I downloaded the .exe packages and extracted them.
Then created a batch file that calls for those setup.exe and install.exe and tested via CMD line. The batch file is in the root folder that was created from the extraction. Inside the batch is a simple command to call the silent install. Once completed I imported each into MDT as an application.
Then edited the Rules as such for the injection:
[Settings]
Priority=TaskSequenceID,Model,Default - PimientoJath Aug 30, 2017 at 06:18pm
Ahhh, okay. Yeah, I did the total control where you import the .cab into MDT's out-of-box driver folder structure, E.G. Windows 10>x64>Latitude 7480, and then in the Task Sequence I did the Set Drivergroup as Windows 10>x64>%Model%. It works for everything but the Latitude 7480, so I didn't know if you knew anything about that or not.
Alas, the search continues. Thank you!
- HabaneroJago Wu Aug 30, 2017 at 06:22pm
Honestly the reason why I have noticed is some hardware need the full setup package and will not accept just the .inf files.
You could turn on logging in the Rules of MDT and then review the log to see what happened.
https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/111518-how-to-enable-logging-of-mdt-deployments-for-troubleshooting
- JalapenoMikeCS Jan 26, 2018 at 08:25pm
This an awesome post. I have the task of setting up MDT in our infrastructure and definitely needed some tips and how-to's.
I have a question about the selection profiles. I understand creating the WinPE10x64 selection profile with just the ethernet drivers, however, when we create selectopn profiles for the ret of the drivers for each model, do we need to create a separate boot file and save it to WDS as the specific model?
Probably a stupid question but I am getting a little confused..
- HabaneroJago Wu Jan 26, 2018 at 08:38pm
When you say 'the rest of the drivers' are you talking about the Windows drivers (Sound, Video, chipset, etc)?
- JalapenoMikeCS Jan 29, 2018 at 01:38pm
Sorry for the confusion and all the typos. It was Friday afternoon.. ;-)
In your post you created a WinPE10x64 folder in the Out Of Box Drivers section and added just the ethernet drivers, created a Selection Profile called WinPE10x64, selected the folder WinPE10x64 form the Out Of Box section with all the ethernet drivers for the boot file.
You then updated the Deployment Share to only use the WinPE10x64 Selection Profile in the Drivers and Patches section within the WinPE section.
I then created the secondary folder in the Out Of Box Drivers section for those remaining system drivers.
I was confused on how the Sound, Video, chipset, etc drivers, get installed afterwards if we are only injecting the ethernet drivers during the boot process.
But, after a little more digging, I think I needed to add those remaining system drivers into a new Selection Profile (for each specific model). Then in a install new image Task Sequence I created, I use that new Selection Profile within the Inject Drivers section.
Does this make more sense and is this the correct process?
Thank you for your help!
- HabaneroJago Wu Jan 29, 2018 at 01:44pm
Correct. Add the remaining drivers and make selection profile for each model. For them to get injected in the TS follow step 8.
- JalapenoMikeCS Jan 29, 2018 at 02:41pm
Wow, how did I miss those steps...
Sorry to bug you and thank you for clarifying my oversight..
- HabaneroJago Wu Jan 29, 2018 at 02:43pm
No problem. Let us know if you got it working. Thank You
- Jalapenohenryarroyo Feb 23, 2018 at 09:52pm
I have a number of Insprion models and noticed that Dell only provides the CAB packs for Optiplex, Precision, XPS, and Latitude systems. I know that I can just look up the models I have and individually import their drivers into MDT, but I was wondering if you might know of a quicker way to do this.
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Drivers are a big part of getting Windows to work properly. Anyone who has ever had to troubleshoot a piece of hardware on Windows knows this. When generalizing an installation of Windows for capture with sysprep, all but the most basic drivers are removed. This makes the captured image applicable to many different types of hardware. During a task sequence, MDT runs a plug and play check, for hardware at a couple of different points to determine what drivers, if any, are needed. When a matching driver is found, it is injected into the image before it is applied to the computer’s hard drive. To do this, MDT has a folder/section in the deployment share that is dedicated to organizing and storing drivers. It is called “Out-of-Box-Drivers” (OOBD).
The basic INF files are what MDT needs for driver injection. Many drivers are distributed as packages, which come in the form of an executable. This is not what we need. If an executable is the only way a driver is available, it must be imported as an application into MDT, and installed via task sequence. Fortunately, OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, HP, and even Microsoft make bulk downloads of model-specific drivers available from their sites. Dell hardware drivers come in the form of a CAB file, which can be opened with the expand command, or with a compression/decompression utility like 7-zip.
Bulk-driver Download Sites for Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Microsoft (Surface)
I create a folder structure on the MDT server similar to “DriversWindows ##VendorModel.” For example: D:DriversWindows 7DellOptiPlex 990
I do not delineate between x86 and x64 versions of drivers in my folder path because nearly all of my OS deployments are 64-bit. Dell combines x86 and x64 drivers in the same download. Many Dell drivers can be used on both platforms. Lenovo drivers will try to extract to their own, specified path, but that can be changed at runtime. Complete, downloaded driver packs can be between 300MB and 1,000MB in size, except for WinPE driver packs which are very small.
Using the expand command, I’ll extract the drivers to my folder structure.
Drivers Mdt Software
expand C:UsersjasonrwDownloads990-OptiPlex-ABCDE.cab -f:* “D:DriversWindows 7DellOptiPlex 990”
The command prompt window will scroll really quickly and end with the prompt returning. Now, we can import them into MDT. MDT is able to handle drivers in different manners. The basic default option is to throw all drivers into the same folder at the root OOBD directory. With that, a deployment task will search the entire OOBD store for the right drivers. This increases the chance of the wrong driver being selected. WMI is great, but it is not perfect. Another option is to break down the OOBD store by manufacturer/vendor or by operating system version. Creating folders for Windows 7 and Windows 10, respectively can help minimize the chance of a wrong driver being installed. I take it one step further, actually a couple of steps further. I still use MDT’s WMI hardware-querying capabilities, but I tell it exactly where to look.
I create a specific folder structure under OOBD that matches a specific WMI query I pass on to the deployment task. For example, Windows 7: Out-of-box-driversWindows 7Dell Inc.OptiPlex 990
The bottom two folder tiers each correspond to variable in a WMI query, Make and Model. To find the make or manufacturer of an OEM PC, run the following command from a command prompt.
wmic computersystem get manufacturer
Drivers Mdt Hp
The returns for Dell and Lenovo are “Dell Inc.” and “Lenovo”
To get the model, run the same command as above, but replace “manufacturer” with “model” Top that off with a folder for OS version and platform, and you have something to use. In the task sequence, a task variable can be inserted into the PreInstall phase, before the inject drivers step to tell the task sequence exactly where to look. The variable is “DriverGroup001”, and the value is “Windows 7 x64%Make%%Model%” This will allow a task sequence to correctly use a WMI query to find the drivers for the exact make and model being imaged.
The Inject Drivers step has its own settings that needs to be configured. For our purpose, the selection profile has to be set to “Nothing” with all drivers from the selection profile being used.
Selection profiles are the ultimate step toward driver control. They are a pre-defined selection of drivers that may encompass and individual model, or manufacturer. MDT ships with a few pre-defined selection profiles, but more can be created to suit any need. Given the exact control this approach provides, there is one detraction, it limits task versatility. Since a selection profile tells a task sequence exactly which drivers to use, MDT doesn’t query for them. The default setting for Inject Drivers is to query the entire OOBD store, but when “Nothing” is set, they querying is off. If it is desired that a task sequence only serve one or two makes of computers, this might be a good approach. I support about a dozen different models from two manufacturers, and I’d like my task sequences to be applicable to all.
I do use a selection profile to organize the drivers I use for my MDT Windows PE ISO/WIM files. Dell and Lenovo make drivers just for Windows PE available as a download too. I use the same approach as above to download, extract, and import the Windows PE drivers into MDT. Then, I create a selection profile for the Windows PE drivers and use that for my ISO/WIM file drivers.
To import drivers into OOBD, make your folders as desired, right-click the folder for the computer model, and choose “Import drivers.” A wizard will open, walking you through the process of importing the drivers from where they were extracted. It is real easy.
After the driver import, the deployment share must be updated. By default, MDT uses the all network and system drivers it has in the OOBD store for the Windows PE ISO/WIM file. This can be changed, as I described above, with a custom selection profile, but it is not mandatory. Still, note, that each time drivers are added and removed, the deployment share should be updated for those new drivers to be used. Some drivers are clearly depicted whether or not they are x86 or x64. In reality, many single drivers can be used on both platforms, but the descriptor files do not always indicate that to MDT. Thus, MDT will import the driver and override the specified platform. This is noted after all of the drivers have been imported for that operation.
I, personally, write down the name of each driver with a warning, and disable them after the wizard ends. Disabling/deleting a driver is easy, just right-click it in the MDT workbench and choose the appropriate option. Drivers must be disabled from their property sheet. Disabling a driver is a safe approach before it is determined that deletion is necessary. Only ever delete a driver from the MDT workbench. DO NOT go into the driver store via the file system and delete it that way.
Again, when disabling or deleting a driver, you must update the deployment share to take it out of Windows PE.
Mdt Drivers License Renewal
Finding, downloading, extracting, and importing drivers into MDT is a big part of MDT configuration, which takes a great deal of time. If it is done with forethought and planning, it can minimize the driver problems a deployment share might have, and need only be done once. I note the name and date of the driver files that I download and import into MDT. Then, I can periodically check for updates from the vendor’s web-sites. The older a model is with the manufacturer, the less-frequent they tend to update the drivers packs for that model. If the manufacturer does not make a driver pack available for your model, it is possible, though very tedious, to download each driver, and extract them individually. I try to avoid doing that.
Thanks!