Update NIC driver on all PCs

[neonetman]

Godo morning all,

 

I have the need to update the NIC driver on all of our staff machines (the current driver is 6 years out of date). I've tried puttign the driver into a package and deploying using a task sequence in SCCM, but this doesn't work.

 

Can anyone suggest an easy way of pushing this update out

[Oaktech]

can the installer be batch scripted silent as that is often more immediate. Bearing in mind that as it is a NIC you probably want to copy the payload to the machine first and run it locally

[RLR]

Are they all Dells? You can try installing Dell | Command Update and run that from command line to look for new drivers and install them. I believe HP have something similar: HP Image Assist.

[DavR]

Is there a particular functional reason why you'd want to update the NIC driver, like performance or features? Something like that I'd be inclined to leave alone, if it's working, and just use the new driver next time they're rebuilt.

 

That said, if you still want to do it, the problem you'll have to be careful of is network disconnection whilst the driver updates. For that reason, I'd be inclined to use a startup script in group policy, rather than an SCCM package which might interrupt a user.

Startup script would step as follows:

 

• IF condition to check whether the update is needed
  
• Copy installer files to Temp location
  
• Run silent install
  
• Delete temp files
  

 

That way, any interruption in connection would be pre user experience, and should reconnect again by the time you hit login screen.

 

EDIT - @Oaktech beat me to it, and more succinctly!

Edited November 12, 2021 by DavR

[neonetman]

We're having a number of issues with netowrk performance, which testing suggests is resolved by the updated driver.

 

I have scripted it as a startup script now using pnputil and a check for a flagfile to see if it has been done

 

THank you all for your input and help

[chazzy2501]

in the WSUS update settings you can allow it to collect drivers as well. (be aware drivers include firmware updates)