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    Making a single, hardware-independent image

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    • M
      mcgonigiggle
      last edited by

      What’s the best way to create one master image and be able to deploy it to different hardware sets? This is what I hope to be able to do:

      *Make one image
      *Add all software
      *Add drivers for Hardware Set B (Dell Inspiron 1545) to an image being created on Hardware Set A (Dell Latitude D630) (i.e., the EXE files to setup the drivers)
      *Have Windows 7 Pro x64 be able to find the appropriate drivers in the folders specified and install them with as little administrative overhead as possible.

      Any suggestions are highly appreciated. I’m not even sure when to begin with this and Google hasn’t been helpful.

      Thanks in advance!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • d4rk3D
        d4rk3
        last edited by d4rk3

        (This works on Vista/7/8/8.1/10 and Server 2008 R2/2012/2012 R2)

        All you need to do for drivers in images is this:

        1. Put all desired drivers in a folder. I use “C:\Drivers”.

        2. Run this in an elevated command prompt (if you want to use a different directory simply replace the bolded C:\Drivers with your driver directory):

        reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion” /v “DevicePath” /t “REG_SZ” /d “%SystemRoot%\inf;C:\Drivers” /f

        1. Profit???
        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          mcgonigiggle
          last edited by

          Is it really that simple? Man I overthink things way too much! Thanks for the fast reply; I shall let you know how it goes!

          d4rk3D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • d4rk3D
            d4rk3 @mcgonigiggle
            last edited by

            @mcgonigiggle It is really that simple 🙂 enjoy the many hours you’ll save with this trick ;D

            M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • d4rk3D
              d4rk3
              last edited by d4rk3

              I should mention that the Dell .exe driver packages will not work as-is. Make sure you extract them first.

              This is the driver folder structure I use for all of my images:

              AHCI
              Audio
              Chipset
              LAN
              Video
              WiFi

              Wayne WorkmanW 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • M
                mcgonigiggle @d4rk3
                last edited by

                You are way too good to me. Where did you obtain all the drivers from?

                d4rk3D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • d4rk3D
                  d4rk3 @mcgonigiggle
                  last edited by d4rk3

                  @mcgonigiggle The manufacturer’s site, silly 😛

                  If you’re only using those two Dell models just grab the drivers for both, extract them to your folder, run the reg add command and you’re done.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • M
                    mcgonigiggle
                    last edited by

                    Well I figured that one, silly! 😛 I was hoping you had zipped files! XD

                    I wish your user name was “Ferris Bueller” so I could appropriately say, “Ferris Bueller, you’re my hero.”

                    d4rk3D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • sudburrS
                      sudburr
                      last edited by

                      See: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753716.aspx

                      Inclusion of a driver package in a folder referenced by the DevicePath registry entry does not remove any prompts created by the signature on the package. If the package is not signed, or signed by an unknown or untrusted publisher, then the user is still presented with dialog boxes to accept the publisher. Inclusion of the certificate used to sign the driver in the Trusted Publishers certificate store removes this additional prompt. For more information, see the documentation about signing device drivers on the Microsoft Web site

                      https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544865(v=vs.85).aspx
                      https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd919238(v=ws.10).aspx

                      Unsigned drivers are one of my many banes.

                      [ Standing in between extinction in the cold and explosive radiating growth ]

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • d4rk3D
                        d4rk3 @mcgonigiggle
                        last edited by

                        @mcgonigiggle I don’t have any right now, but I know a guy…

                        Just download 7zip and then right click any Dell driver .exe file and extract 🙂

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • Wayne WorkmanW
                          Wayne Workman @d4rk3
                          last edited by

                          @d4rk3 said:

                          I should mention that the Dell .exe driver packages will not work as-is. Make sure you extract them first.

                          This is the driver folder structure I use for all of my images:

                          AHCI
                          Audio
                          Chipset
                          LAN
                          Video
                          WiFi

                          I do something similar already - but I have other folders too… like
                          Smartboard
                          NiNite
                          NAPS2
                          eStudio_Drivers
                          FOG
                          CannoScan
                          Insight

                          and so on.

                          Please help us build the FOG community with everyone involved. It's not just about coding - way more we need people to test things, update documentation and most importantly work on uniting the community of people enjoying and working on FOG!
                          Daily Clean Installation Results:
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                          https://fog-external-reporting-results.fogproject.us/

                          d4rk3D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • d4rk3D
                            d4rk3 @Wayne Workman
                            last edited by

                            @Wayne-Workman Yep, the sky’s the limit as far as drivers go 🙂 Customize your little heart out lol…

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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