Driver Hell - Please Help

[jfo1976]

Firstly - a hello and I hope someone can help. I've been working on automated builds for a while and its nearly done but.......

I'm creating an automated XPSP2 build which is designed to work on 10 different types of hardware but there is a problem with 2 drivers.

The build completes but on one machine the modem (on one laptop) and NIC (on a workstation) driver isn't installed correctly, its picked up as the right device but there is a question mark next to it. I would of thought the driver was incorrect but if you ask it to update it then overcomes the problem and all works fine.

I don't understand!!!! The drivers are in the image, they work outside of the automated build and there are no duplicates of older versions.

Any ideas would be appreciated, I'm pulling my hair out and I don't have much of it left as is!

Thanks,

JFO1976

[tguy]

Can you post a copy of your WINNT.SIF file and a brief description of the directory structure where your drivers are located?

One quick thing to check is to make sure:

OEMPreinstall=Yes

is set in your unattend file.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

[jfo1976]

The drivers are all copied under the following driver structure: C:\pnpdrvrs\manufacturer\model\driver - copied as part of the build from $OEM$\$1

OEM preinstall is set in the .sif file ([unattend] section below):

UnattendSwitch=Yes

DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

FileSystem = LeaveAlone

OEMFilesPath="Z:\path\$OEM$"

OEMPnPDriversPath="PnpDrvs\etx etc etc"

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

OemSkipEula=Yes

OemPreinstall=Yes

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

AutoActivate=No

DisableDynamicUpdates=Yes

Hibernation=0

DUDisable = Yes

WaitForReboot=NO

I'm a little confused as to why it won't work when automated (there are no error boxes and it does sort of install the hardware - doesn't request drivers) yet when searching for a new driver (and pointing it to the same folder it uses in the .sif and sysprep.ini file everything is fine.

There are a lot of drivers in this build and 90% of them work but 2 are driving me mad.

Thanks for your swift response.

JFO1976

[max75]

The only things I can think of are:

The failing drivers are in a directory or contain filenames containing "abnormal" charaters. (Like é).

During the Text en GUI setup I whitnessed strange behavior on such characters.

There are spaces in the directory structure.

I also read somwhere that the path after $oem$\$1 should not contain over 31 characters.

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

I also read somwhere that the path after $oem$\$1 should not contain over 31 characters.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting... Where did you read that?

[jfo1976]

The only things I can think of are:

The failing drivers are in a directory or contain filenames containing "abnormal" charaters. (Like é).

During the Text en GUI setup I whitnessed strange behavior on such characters.

There are spaces in the directory structure.

I also read somwhere that the path after $oem$\$1 should not contain over 31 characters.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've checked the path and there are no spaces or strange characters so that shouldn't be causing the problem. As for the $oem$ path lenght, parts of it are over 31 characters but that doesn't seem to be causing a problem (I would have thought usual windows rules would apply).

All other ideas and suggestions welcomed - getting desperate.

Thanks

Matt

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

Please check if any driver files for these particular devices are missing!

[jfo1976]

All drivers are present and if you click update driver it finds the correct/installs correctly.

I did have a strange thought which you may be able to answer:

I'm explicitly declaring the path as required but is it possible for the file required to be in c:\windir\system32???? Does the process of automating the build only refer to the paths you specify or does it automatically look in the system directory.

Thanks for your help so far.

Matt

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

HAWN????????????

WTF..............

Explicitly declaring the path? WRONG

C:\windir\system32? WRONG

WTF are you doing?

You should use RELATIVE paths, and nothing should be pointing to %WinDir%\system32!!!

I suggest you read this page again...

[jfo1976]

Nice to see a moderator who is kind and understanding!!!!! WTF and WRONG...... you should consider a career in teaching.

I've followed the initial guide you have (to the letter) but things aren't working which is why I was asking more obscure questions.

Nothing wrong with saying you don't know the answer!

M

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

I'm sorry for my language... But I don't know where in the world you got that info from? Could you please post your winnt.sif file? (more particularly your OemPnPDriversPath) and additionally, could you add a screenshot of your folder structure? (folder structure of the drivers you added)

[jfo1976]

Not a problem.

I've managed to work around the problem. As bizarre as it may sound I've reverted to an older driver on one machine (problem sorted) and on the other I've added the setup.exe for the driver as a post build step after identification of the machine and all seems to be working nicely.

Thanks

JFO