Install drivers after OS?

[RSD-Tech]

Hi all, I'm new to posting here, but I've been reading and following the guides here for a couple weeks now. The lab is really coming along now, I've got most things working like PXE boot, OS deployment, Windows Updates, and applications being deployed successfully, and I have a pretty solid Task sequence ready for deploying a machine from box to desk, except for the drivers!

 

Luckilly, Windows 7 includes enough drivers for network connectivity, but there are a lot that dont work, Video, Wifi, and sound mostly, so it hasnt been an issue for my testing purposes that the machine doesnt have all of its drivers installed, but I'd definitely like to get them installing.

 

Most of the driver related topics I've found and read involve installing the drivers during the initial OS deployment task sequence. Since that generally takes so long to execute, I was wondering if its possible to separate the task sequences, so I have 1 that will install the OS to a base state, then another task sequence that I can run afterwards to test my driver installation package. This would let me more rapidly test the driver installation task sequence until I can get it right and then of course re-integrate it into my deployment sequence.

 

Will this work at all, or am I making my problems worse for myself?

[Peter van der Woude]

There reason for creating two Task Sequences for that... what would be the difference between them??

[RSD-Tech]

I could run the (long) OS deployment TS that I know works (except for the driver installation) first, and have a working test bed machine.

 

Then I can advertise and run the shorter Driver TS while I am testing it (I'm having quite a time getting the drivers to install properly)

 

Once I know I have the driver package set up correctly, I could go back and put that back into my original OS deployment TS.

 

I was just trying to make sure it was even possible to install drivers from a TS other than the OS deployment or if I was wasting my time?

 

I hope that makes sense, thanks for the response.

[Peter van der Woude]

I would keep it in one Task Sequence and just temporary disable the steps you don't need..

[RSD-Tech]

That seems to make sense. So, I should be able to install the drivers via a Task Sequence after the OS has been installed? I think my problem lies in the driver package, not the task sequence or advertisement, but I was hoping to confirm that the task sequence approach I was taking would work at all. Thanks!

[RSD-Tech]

So, the only enabled step in my Task Sequence is "Apply Driver Package", I deleted my old package and recreated it with just one driver - which I know is the correct working one because I manually installed it and it worked (I then uninstalled and deleted the files). I keep getting this error and it doesn't seem to make any sense to me, any advice?

 

"The task sequence execution engine failed executing the action (Apply Driver Package) in the group () with the error code 50

Action output: . The operating system reported error 50: The request is not supported. "

 

I haven't seen any setting for the "group()" I have specified a valid collection in the advertisement, but still getting the error.

[RSD-Tech]

Same issue as reported in this thread:

 

http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1842-apply-drivers-package-task-sequence/

 

I tried adding a reboot to the task sequence before the driver installation step as suggested.

 

The client rebooted properly, but still failed to install the drivers after rebooting. Same error message.

[glen8]

certain drivers just don't work via the OSD TS. HP Laptops are a known pain with their drivers.

Basically I would create a driver folder for the various machines and import the drivers into them. Then highlight them all within the desired folder and assign to a collection. Then in the OSD TS use the apply drivers rather than the driver pack and tick the approriate collection. This also saves disk space as you dont have to put the drivers into the DPs as packages. The drivers are available anyway so why use HDD space when you don't need it.

 

This will get your machine imaged and once it's booted up check to see what's missing. You'll probably have the weird and wonderful ones.

 

We had an HP ProBook 4520 which just wouldn't install certain drivers. We had to script the install after windows had booted. Worked great for us. You might find the drivers are actually applied but the device is still yellow in device manager. This is why sometimes you have to script it after the first boot. This way it saves you having to remove the device and doing a pnp scan.

[RSD-Tech]

I'm trying to work on a HP ProBook 4525s, and for now just focusing on the Broadcom WiFi driver. I'm still unable to make any headway on these drivers, it fails almost instantly with "The operating system reported error 50: The request is not supported" Not even sure which log I should check to track down where the problem is, would it be on the client or the server? Is it an account/permission issue, I used the same accounts I specified in my software packages but I havent modified any of the security permissions on the driver folder it created in my drivers share.

 

I created a new folder underneath Drivers called HP ProBook 4525s, and moved my WiFi driver into it, made a Category, and assigned it to it. I then modified my Task Sequence to "Auto Apply Drivers" and selected "Limit driver matching to only consider drivers in selected categories" and then ticked the wifi category I had made.

 

Still getting the "Request is not supported" error. It doesn't seem to be copying anything into the C:\Windows\System32\CCM\Cache folder on the client either.

 

Thanks so much for the advice, I cant wait to get SCCM humming along on our live network once I demonstrate its powers in this lab!

[glen8]

Yeah, we had the same issue.

 

Wifi

Audio

Biometric reader

Shock Management Thing

 

Download all four from HP and extract with winrar into their own seperate folders. Then put them all into a software package. Tomorrow when I'm back at work I'll post the scripts we used to get them all working.

Basically they just won't work from the OSD but I managed to find a way around it. You add a task from the OSD TS to install the software package which is just a script which copies the four driver folders locally. Then you copy a script to the all users startup. Once the machine has been imaged and boots up it will run the script once to install all four drivers silently. This was the only way we could get everything working as it should.

 

I'll post the scripts tomorrow.

[RSD-Tech]

I just happened to find this post about HP SoftPaq manager, and I'm trying Robbie's suggestion now, it sounds just about like what you're suggesting I think, except this SoftPaq manages keeping the drivers up to date and such.

 

http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3279-hp-laptops-how-to-use-hp-system-software-manager/

 

I'll check back in tomorrow and let you know how things are working. Thanks again!