Published by Marius on 03 Aug 2008 at 02:27 pm
Build your own custom Vista installation DVD - Integrating drivers (part 2)
The long-awaited tutorial is here - integrating drivers into your unattended Vista setup! 
It’s a simple task, but first you need to read part 1 of this tutorial.
Since I have a nVidia system (motherboard and video card, sound… etc.) I will use those drivers as an example. You can use any drivers as long as they follow some rules (I will show you what I mean).
1. Go from step 1 to step 9 from part 1. Now you should have a basic understanding of how you can use WAIK.
2. Create a folder on your root drive, mine is C:\Drivers. Extract from your driver package (if it’s a zip or exe archive) all the files into C:\Drivers. My Forceware (video) drivers will be extracted to C:\Drivers\Forceware96.85, so I will end up with this:
Be careful! You MUST have driver-specific files, like .sy(s), .inf, .cat, .dl(l) and so on, NOT archives like .rar or .zip (the way you usually download them from the Internet).
If your driver comes as an .exe file only, and you can’t extract the files, try with WinRAR (worked for Forceware driver, which actually came as a single .exe file). If that doesn’t work, try to find some .zip files on the Internet matching your driver. Vista Setup will NOT install a .exe or a .zip driver, it looks for .inf files.
Repeat this for every driver you need to install, by creating a directory in C:\Drivers for each driver and extracting there the files.
As an example, I added nForce drivers for my motherboard: sound card, network card (and others), ending up with this folder structure:
I also renamed Forceware96.85 folder to Video, so it can be more obvious about what it contains.
C:\Drivers\AudioDrv contains:
C:\Drivers\Ethernet contains:
C:\Drivers\Video contains:
C:\Drivers\GART contains:
C:\Drivers\IDE contains:
C:\Drivers\MemCtl contains:
C:\Drivers\SMBus contains:
3. Now do the steps 11 -> 13 from part 1.
4. Copy directory C:\Drivers to C:\Mount\.
5. Do step 14 from from part 1.
6. Go to Components in Windows System Image Manager -> PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE -> DriverPaths and add PathAndCredentials to Pass 2 offlineServicing.
Add some string value to Key, like myDrivers and X:\Drivers to Path.
You must end up with this:
7. Continue with step 15 from from part 1 and it’s all done! Install your custom Vista and enjoy!
» Build your own custom Vista installation DVD - Unattended Setup (part 1) Windows Made Easy on 03 Aug 2008 at 2:42 pm #
[...] Here is part 2. Share: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]
waltharius on 03 Aug 2008 at 10:46 pm #
Hi,
Thanks for nex greate howto. But what about other programs, like winrar, firefox or games? Can we add this programs to unattended setup, like with nLite for windows XP?
Marius on 03 Aug 2008 at 11:03 pm #
Hello! Thanks for appreciation
Yes, it is possible, but you have to do some “hacks” on the software. If the software supports silent install, as the .msi installers have, it’s easy to integrate.
Else, you have to manually create an “installer”.
I will cover software integration later, due the lack of time. I wish the day had 50 hours
Merkin on 25 Sep 2008 at 11:07 pm #
Great HOW-TOs. Thanks for the effort. I have what might be a stupid question. I too have nvidia chipset and display. If I integrate the nvidia display drivers does the control panel get installed as well? I also plan on integrating my audio and chipset drivers. My on-board sound is soundmax. Will the soundmax control panel get installed as well if I include all the files from the extracted setup application? To make the questions simpler, does process of integrating drivers install just the device drivers, or does it install the device drivers and the software to control the devices?
Thanks again for the effort.
Marius on 26 Sep 2008 at 1:10 am #
Hello Merkin, thanks!
Well, it depends. If the .inf file instructs the installer (Windows Setup) to install other applications with the driver, yes it will. Windows Setup only looks for that .inf file, which makes the whole installation. So it depends on how the driver is built.
To make yourself an idea about what files will be installed, take a look at your .inf file for a section named [SourceDisksFiles].
Yes, Nvidia Display driver installs its Control Panel.
reuphong on 17 Nov 2008 at 1:47 am #
Shortcut:
imagex /mountrw C:\WIM\install.wim 1 C:\Mount
Create Folder “Drivers” in Mount folder (ex: C:\Mount\Drivers)
Copy all folders that have drivers are extracted (ex: “Nvidia”,”Agere”,”Intel”…) into “Drivers” folder
Go to Components (in Windows System Image Manager)
-> PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE
-> DriverPaths
Then add PathAndCredentials to “Pass 2 offlineServicing.”
Add some string value to Key, ex: “myDrivers”
Path = “X:\Drivers”
imagex /unmount /commit C:\Mount
Follow this shortcut if you’ve already done all step in part 1
kidman on 20 Nov 2008 at 5:32 pm #
Why path=x:\…. , if You have drivers on local disk should be c:\…..
Marius on 20 Nov 2008 at 11:26 pm #
Hi kidman!
Yes, you can do that also, but since we want all our drivers to be included with the DVD, we’ll use X:\, because that’s the drive letter (root folder) assigned to files that are on the DVD, by the Windows Setup.
So if your DVD has a folder called Drivers, you can arrive to it during the installation by using X:\Drivers.
kidman on 21 Nov 2008 at 6:57 pm #
i wanted to add some boot-critical drivers to prepare installation for different hardware.
i use PnpCustomizationsWinPE -Driverpath in section “1 windowsPE”.
will it works?