USB 3 - x64 Unattended

[hydroeon]

Greetings everyone!!

I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to install Windows 7 x64 SP1 unattended from a USB 3 drive.

I've tested the drive and it's actual read speed fluctuates around 200MBps when connected to USB 3 so I'm rather keen on finding a workaround.

Is this even possible at the moment? I mean obviously if M$ integrated the drivers in WinPE then it should be possible but I've yet to hear anyone actually do this.

Any ideas?

[cdob]

No, there are no USB 3 drivers integrated by default.

Which USB3 controller do you use?

Use DISM and integrate USB 3 drivers to boot.wim.

[cdob]

Add and Remove Drivers Offline

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744355%28WS.10%29.aspx

Example: NEC/Renesas USB3.0 Host Controller

http://www2.renesas.com/usb/en/index.html

Create a directory c:\mount

Get NEC/Reneseas USB3 drivers.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3315

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/nec.htm

Expand files and move driver files to C:\usb3\

Result:

C:\usb3\Files\x86

C:\usb3\Files\x64

A wim file can contain several images.

Apply drivers to all images.

First read wim image contents

Dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:U:\sources\boot.wim

U:\ refers your Windwos 7 source drive at a writable media.

Adjust this to your drive letter.

Read your output, example could be

Name: "Microsoft Windows Setup (x64)"

Should refer to boot.wim index 2.

Mount the boot.wim

Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:U:\sources\boot.wim /Name:"Microsoft Windows Setup (x64)" /MountDir:c:\mount

Add the drivers

Dism /Image:C:\mount /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\usb3\Files\x64

Unmount

Dism /unmount-Wim /mountdir:c:\mount /commit

In addition feel free to repeat the steps for all images inside boot.wim, install.wim and <install.wim>\Windows\System32\Recovery\winRE.wim.

That way USB3.0 drivers are available after installation and at a recovery.

[hydroeon]

Thanks everyone for your input!

I'm still stuck as certain things are just not working at the moment for whatever reason.

The points I'd like to clarify are as follows:

1) The boot.wim is what's actually important when it comes to booting with drivers since install.wim happens after and may not include any drivers for the purpose of simply installing the OS?

2) The boot.wim MUST include ONLY 32 bit drivers EVEN if the OS to be installed is 64 bit? (So you always need to have x86 and x64 drivers for things to work properly?)

I think point 2 may be the reason things are not working so well on this side

[IcemanND]

Whatever Boot.wim version you are using x86 or x64 is the version of the drivers you need to integrate.

There have also been reports from some manufacturers with issues with USB3 and devices plugged in at boot up not showing up correctly or causing boot issues, most have released bios updates to solve the issue. Make sure your BIOS is up to date.