Integrating drivers into WDS boot.wim

[Gantlett]

Hello everyone,

I'm running Windows Deployment Services on a Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 system. Currently, we have two boot.wim images on the server which are working fine. These boot.wim files were taken "as is" from Windows 7 ISO's. We have a 32-bit one and a 64-bit one.

The problem is that we bought a shiny new Dell workstation (OptiPlex 980), and when I PXE-boot this baby into WDS, WinPE starts to boot, starts loading the GUI with the blue Windows 7 background and then says that network drivers cannot be found.

This brings us to my problem: I tried integrating the correct NIC driver into the boot.wim image, but I'm experiencing some issues.

Here are the two methods I've tried integrating the drivers and their respective results:

Method 1:

1. I installed WAIK for Windows 7 on a Windows 7 workstation.

2. Copied the original Windows 7 ISO boot.wim file to a local folder.

3. Ran the "Deployment Tools Command Prompt" (DISM) as Administrator

4. Fired off the following commands in the following order:

a. DISM /Cleanup-Wim

b. Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_dell\boot.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount

c. Dism /image:C:\WinPE_dell\mount /add-driver /driver:"C:\Users\erez\Desktop\Optiplex 980 Drivers" /recurse /forceunsigned

b. Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Commit

The result: Immediately after selecting the boot image in the PXE menu, a black screen appears complaining about a recent hardware change and saying Windows cannot start.

Method 2:

1. Using the same WAIK for Windows 7 on the same Windows 7 workstation.

2. Fired off the following commands in the following order:

a. DISM /Cleanup-Wim

b. copype.cmd amd64 c:\WinPE_dell

c. copy "c:\program files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64\imagex.exe" c:\WinPE_dell\iso

d. Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_dell\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount

e. dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-setup.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-setup_en-us.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-scripting.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-scripting_en-us.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-setup-client.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-setup-client_en-us.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-setup-server.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-setup-server_en-us.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wds-tools.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-wds-tools_en-us.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wmi.cab"
   dism /image:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-wmi_en-us.cab"

f. dism /image:C:\WinPE_dell\mount /add-driver /driver:"C:\Users\erez\Desktop\Optiplex 980 Drivers" /recurse /forceunsigned

g. Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Commit

The result: WinPE starts to boot, starts loading the GUI with the blue Windows 7 background and then says that the setup language cannot be determined.

Can anyone please point me to what I'm doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance!

Edited August 3, 2010 by Gantlett

[cluberti]

According to Dell, the Optiplex 980 is using the Intel Q57 chipset, meaning it most likely has an Intel 82578DM network chip. Do you have drivers specifically for that in your drivers folder? You really only want to integrate absolutely necessary drivers into a WinPE WIM.

[leen2]

I notice that you are using the 64-bit WAIK for a 64-bit image. I believe the 64-bit OS kernel requires signed drivers and will ignore any unsigned drivers. I would suggest obtaining the signed drivers from Dell for this and remove the /forceunsigned switch. I could be wrong, but it might help.

[Gantlett]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The driver I got is definitely from Dell - it's from the 980's driver downloads page.

I'll try your suggestions and see if I get lucky!

Edited August 4, 2010 by Gantlett

[Gantlett]

OK - I found an amazing solution!

Did some more research and it turns out that my whole approach is wrong.

The way to deploy Windows in our day and age is by using an additional tool together with WDS, and that is Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010. The idea is to use MDT2010 to create custom installations with drivers, applications and an install script, and use WDS purely as a PXE boot server to fire-off the custom install.

I have to say, MDT2010 is the most amazing tool I have ever seen released by Microsoft! It's dead easy to use and does everything through an easy to use GUI! It just takes care of everything and I'm simply impressed by the incredible job they've done with the whole Windows deployment process (as far as Windows 7 is concerned).

Just read through these simple guides to gain an understanding of how the two fit together and how to achieve super-easy deployments:

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Deploy-Windows-7-The-Easy-Way-Using-WDS-MDT-and-AIK-Step-By-Step/

http://www.the-d-spot.org/wordpress/2009/11/01/windows-7-lite-touch-installation-with-mdt-2010/

http://www.the-d-spot.org/wordpress/2009/11/16/windows-7-lite-touch-installation-with-mdt-2010-part-2/

I used MDT2010 to create a custom install process which includes the injection of the NIC and SATA drivers required for my new Dell 980's and it worked like a charm!

Cheers!

Edited August 4, 2010 by Gantlett

[cluberti]

Good to hear! We've been suggesting MDT to people for a few years now (since it was MDT 2008), but 2010 Update 1 is really pretty polished.

Good to hear you got it working.

[Gantlett]

On an interesting note, looking at the NIC driver in the “Out-of-Box Drivers” section of the MDT2010 deployment share, it would appear that this driver is unsigned: the “This driver is WHQL signed” checkbox is un-ticked. This is not the case with the MassStorage drivers though - those are signed.

So in that case, this means that if I wanted to integrate the NIC driver to the Windows 7 DVD boot.wim using any of the methods described at the first post in this thread, I would have to use the "/forceunsigned" switch, meaning the whole idea of using DISM is doomed for failure anyway... Just a thought.

Edited August 4, 2010 by Gantlett

[cluberti]

You might want to consider getting the latest NIC drivers for that chip from Intel rather than Dell, as those are signed.

[robdog1955]

Sort of on this topic, I have my WDS server running and waiting for a new PC to ask for the install image. The closest I've gotten is the Windows 7 background with a message that says the drivers are missing. I have read in so many places that I need to use a boot.wim from a Vista or Server 2008 DVD, but the drivers I need do not come with this .wim. I have been using MDT2010 for several months now. I boot with my thumb drive and all works great. I just need WDS for multcasting. When I try to use the boot.wim that I use in my MDT2010 set up, I cannot create a discovery wim. It goes through the process and finishes with no errors. But I get nothing. No image is created. Should I pursue the Vista boot.wim and try to inject drivers or pursue the MDT2010 boot.wim that has the correct drivers in it. I have 96 PCs to image and I do not wish to burden our network with too many images at once.

[Tripredacus]

I'm not certain how MDT works, but you definately do not want to use the Vista wim to deploy Windows 7 installs. The install method is different between the two. You could try it, but don't hang your hat on it if it works.

[jfmartel]

Been trying since yesterday to integrate this driver into my boot.wim image without any success. It still tells me that it couldn't reach the share and failed to get the device "PCI\VEN_8086&SUBSYS_305917AA&REV_06" working.

I tried the NDIS61, NDIS62 from Intel Proset 15.5.

What am I missing?

[Tripredacus]

Been trying since yesterday to integrate this driver into my boot.wim image without any success. It still tells me that it couldn't reach the share and failed to get the device "PCI\VEN_8086&SUBSYS_305917AA&REV_06" working.

I tried the NDIS61, NDIS62 from Intel Proset 15.5.

What am I missing?

Nevermind. You already have a thread about this. Do not hijack thanks.

[cluberti]

This last bit is being wokred on here already.

[n1cepeg]

Method 1:

1. I installed WAIK for Windows 7 on a Windows 7 workstation.

2. Copied the original Windows 7 ISO boot.wim file to a local folder.

3. Ran the "Deployment Tools Command Prompt" (DISM) as Administrator

4. Fired off the following commands in the following order:

a. DISM /Cleanup-Wim

b. Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_dell\boot.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount

c. Dism /image:C:\WinPE_dell\mount /add-driver /driver:"C:\Users\erez\Desktop\Optiplex 980 Drivers" /recurse /forceunsigned

b. Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Commit

The result: Immediately after selecting the boot image in the PXE menu, a black screen appears complaining about a recent hardware change and saying Windows cannot start.

Try to repeat method 1 but use index 2 instead index 1.

It should work like a charm!

bye bye

[waqqas31]

Method 1:

1. I installed WAIK for Windows 7 on a Windows 7 workstation.

2. Copied the original Windows 7 ISO boot.wim file to a local folder.

3. Ran the "Deployment Tools Command Prompt" (DISM) as Administrator

4. Fired off the following commands in the following order:

a. DISM /Cleanup-Wim

b. Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_dell\boot.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount

c. Dism /image:C:\WinPE_dell\mount /add-driver /driver:"C:\Users\erez\Desktop\Optiplex 980 Drivers" /recurse /forceunsigned

b. Dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\winpe_dell\mount /Commit

The result: Immediately after selecting the boot image in the PXE menu, a black screen appears complaining about a recent hardware change and saying Windows cannot start.

Try to repeat method 1 but use index 2 instead index 1.

It should work like a charm!

bye bye

@n1cepeg:

Thanks for the tip. Worked first time!