kickarse

Not using sysprep, using Driveforge, not deleting the drivers folder, either. Source is USB or CD, destination is folder at root of local system drive. Today I found that by modifying the registry back to the %systemroot%\INF folder, then restarting, then rediscovering hardware after removing the yellow exclamation points, it discovered them correctly. I don't know why, it seems like DriveForge maybe installed drivers for the monitor that didn't work correctly, then the default INF just made it a plug and play monitor, maybe, and that was better or something. Also, IDK why driverforge leaving the default driver folder to the uncompressed drivers means that it can't recognize things as simple as a USB key w/o changing it back to the INF folder. Anyway, I can't really give the computer back to a client w/o switching the registry back to the INF folder, so that'll be cool when that tweak is done, IMO. tslug, which version of driverforge are you using ? kickarse is already working on solving the devicepath issue, so he will probably release it very soon. but if I am not mistaken he is also adding a couple of new improvement which could explain that the version has not been released yet. until then you can simply script the modification in the registry i.e. save devicepath status run driverforge restore devicepath I advise you to save/restore because in most of the cases you will have %systemroot%\inf but in some rare cases the device path might already contain different values.. so save/restore covers all cases Cheers, R. I'm definitely almost finished. I've been on hiatus, bought a house, so I've been and am quite busy at the moment. But it'll be out soon

Thanks for the links but I have a basic idea of how to do the unattended itself but adding this multitude of drivers and how to make them all be detected and installed if needed. We are allowed to use ghost but that would require me to make about 20 ghost images of each model number then double that one for unclassified laptops and 1 set for classified because of security issues. Anyone else have any idea or suggestions If you can write a script enumerate all folders with the INF files in them and then write them to the registry you can do it with Sysprep and ONE image for the de classified models. Look at the utility Sysprep Driver Scanner from Vernalex. Do a google search. Also the forums for driverpacks.net has a wealth of information. While you may not be able to use driverpacks you would be able to still use the concepts. I have 1 image for 6 different models of laptops. I could build it for more if I needed to. So it is possible.

The only thing I can really add is http://unattended.sourceforge.net/ http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/ Because your hands are fairly tied. I'm assuming that you wouldn't be budgeted or allowed to use imaging software?

http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?pid=16121#p16121 and http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=2034

this is an interesting idea. the only thing is that it might be difficult for Kickarse to know what each file stands for. most of us are using driverpacks file.. but I also use my own pack.. and the driverpacks are updated so the filename might end up changing. about this point you are right. I am sure Kickarse will modify that. on my test the devicepath is "c:\windows\inf;c:\drivers\3\mo\a;c:\drivers\3\mo\b...................." but to be on the safe side the devicepath should not be set to "c:\windows\inf", but %systemroot%\inf (to cover the installation in a different folder), or even better, restore the previous value.. R. Oh that's a good point about resetting the path. It should grab what the value is initially and then after it's finished it should reset it back. I'll add that. Ultimately it'd be nice to add the option to scan a directory for compressed files. Show a listing all compressed files. Add an option to select all, de-select all, or select individual packs (like it was at one time but not as flexible as I wanted). But that's a bit in the future, it was planned, but I wanted to get the initial stuff working.

www.driverpacks.net You could've used the search function buddy.

Sarcasm to the 10 100th power

Well there are these programs that will change the laser mw intensity setting on your cd or dvd rom and burn you cd or dvd. Melting it... believe me it happened. So you gotta be EXTRA SPECIAL careful. Take's a _special_ person to be extra special careful.

Now if only I could adapt this setupldr.bin to change the hal on a syspreped machine!

I'll get you my take on Acronis Workstation Echo and Snap Deploy 2.0

Ahh yes I run ccleaner to get rid of most of that. Except that I was told in a whitepaper that hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys get deleted when you run sysprep anyways.

Just getting a handle on what everyone does before they use Sysprep and create the image. I delete file within Driver Cache and dllcache, remove any infcache.1 file from everywhere and set permissions on my sysprep and drivers folder. Some people say to remove the oem*.inf files from the Windows\INF folder but I've found this not necessary.

v4.0 released!

I don't know... heh... just curious. You mean SP3 RC, right... Possibly because it's a pre RTM?

Any updates on getting .cat files as well? It'd be nice for .pnf as well.

The crap is contained inside the driver itself. Core SYS file alone is 4 Megs. Maybe there is a way to modify the UAA so that it accepts ALC8xx. Basic audio output is enough. An enthusiast or audio expert would need proper soundcard anyway. Is there a way to extract it some how?

If you have the KB888111 installed then you can just use Hardware Manager to install the driver from a specified location. It should just install the driver and not the extra crap.

I'll think about it Oh and v3.5 is out!

Release, DriverForge v3.3!

Hi Ideas, Are you asking to have compressed AND uncompressed drivers on the same removable drive? From where you'd want to copy the uncompressed drivers to a local folder on the hard drive, then extract the compressed and copy it to the same folder?? Or... are you just asking if you can put a folder in the root of the DriverForge program folder and then point it to that? 7zRoot=Y 7zRootLoc=folder\on\root\of\drive\and\program\folder\and\folder\your\looking\for DriverRoot=N DriverRootLoc=Path\To\Uncompressed\Folder DriverExtract=C:\Drivers 7zLoc= 7zLoc will be filled in automatically with X:\folder\on\root\of\drive\and\program\folder\and\folder\your\looking\for

Hey the program has moved to this location... http://www.msfn.org/board/DriverForge-v32-...er-t110783.html and no it hasn't been yet. But try it out and let me know!

v3.2 Up!

I see... I might be able to add an option to show a small progress bar. But I'm not going to be able to add what driver/hardware is being installed specifically at each moment. That's not what the utility was designed for (blunt driver installer). I don't know if I'd even be able to add that option in the future even if I wanted to. I don't even know if I will add command line options (archaic but useful). Just a note, the program functionality though isn't going to change much from this point forward. Just tweaking and such. The latest version adds a completely silent mode though. Probably upload it tomorrow.

1. Yes it can use a already mapped network drive, either for compressed or uncompressed. Treating it as a local drive. 2. It searches all folders recursively of the folder you specify to find the uncompressed drivers, NOT the compressed ones though. All compressed drivers must be in ONE folder. However, all uncompressed drivers can be in folders within folders. 3. Silent mode, you mean no gui? Because currently there is unattended mode which requires no user interaction. (*edit* the 7zip utility won't allow me to hide it, but I'll see what I can do)

Thanks for the nice words!