[mdt] Pulling drivers from a client

[googlemad]

We have several different types of motherboards etc as most of you probably do!

 

Anyway I know MDT lets you import drivers from a directory etc to 'inject' into clients during imaging. Which works fine, as I tested it on a laptop sitting on my desk. However, after imaging a couple of smaller things were missing (Fingerprint driver) and a couple of things were out of date, both of these problems resolved after Windows Update.

 

So rather than digging around for CDs / downloads for all our different types of motherboards is there some method of which to extract the driver store from a Windows 7 client then import into MDT? As then we can be sure all the relevant drivers will be available on the server then.

 

In more basic terms:

 

Stick a Win 7 DVD in a client, factory install, ensure all drivers installed and updated then pull the drivers off into a directory which can then be imported into MDT.

[strawberry]

Double driver FTW

 

BooZet Freeware | Double Driver - backup and restore installed drivers

[googlemad]

Excellent!

 

Thank you very much, that'll save me a lot of time

[googlemad]

Not having much luck, used the utility after doing a full update and all drivers installed, pulled them off and into MDT

 

Try deployment and fails to install the Fingerprint sensor (laptop!) and comes up with a message after deployment 'Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device' NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

 

Any ideas?

[strawberry]

only thing i can think of is the driver signed?

[morganw]

I've been using DriverMax to get drivers for use in MDT2010, not had any problems. For Nvidia drivers I think you can just download them and from the website and import directly into MDT. I've also had a few instances in the past where it was beneficial to put the drivers through a different filesystem (like a FAT32 memory stick) so that any weird permission stuff or 'this came from the internet' type warnings get reset.

[googlemad]

DriverMax managed to resolve the fingerprint issue.

 

But that pesky nVidia driver still won't work! I've tried downloading the package from nVidia and putting straight into MDT but that doesn't work either.

 

Any more ideas on that?

[morganw]

Whatever you are importing into MDT, check that it will manually install with no issues by point the windows pnp wizard the the relevant .inf driver definition.

[googlemad]

Turns out they did install but don't appear to install until a reboot, also lacking the nVidia Control Panel although that is no huge loss.

 

Not too worried as we only have a handful of computers with dedicated graphics anyway