Importing third-party drivers into a sysprep.inf file for use with a master image

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

How do I create a Sysprep file that will install any drivers that aren't included on the master image machine?

Symptoms

Note: The information below is provided "as is" and Symantec will not be able to assist with the setup of a Microsoft Sysprep answer file.

Support requests for the Microsoft Sysprep utility should be addressed to Microsoft.

After restoring a master image a machine of a different hardware configuration, the devices do not install.

Environment

GSS 3.x

Cause

The drivers, although included within a folder on the master computer, have not been called in the sysprep.inf file.

Resolution

Specify a custom hardware drivers folder for the image to use.

1. Create a custom hardware drivers folder for any drivers needed for the target system, for example, C:\Drivers.
2. Open the "C:\sysprep\sysprep.inf" file in Notepad and add the following lines to the relevant sections (if the heading doesn’t exist, create it):
   
   [Unattended]
   DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
   UpdateInstalledDrivers=Yes
   OemPNPDriversPath=drivers\hardware_cat\driver_dir\driver_inf;(repeat);
   
   [SysPrep]
   BuildMassStorageSection=Yes
   
   [SysprepMassStorage]
   
   Note: OemPNPDriversPath points to the C:\Drivers folder created earlier.
   
   
3. For organizational purposes, split up any custom driver files based on category.
   1. For example, all video drivers go under:
      • C:\Drivers\video and network drivers under C:\Drivers\network.
      • In each of those folders, the specific driver bundles are placed with their driver inf files.
        
        
   2. The latest nVIDIA drivers would go into:
      • C:\Drivers\video\nVidia\.
      • The last part would include the name of the .inf file.
        
        
   3. For example, for the latest nVIDIA driver, the path would be:
      • C:\Drivers\video\nVidia\nv4_disp.inf.
        
        
4. In "sysprep.inf", the path would be written as "OemPNPDriversPath=drivers\video\nVidia\nv4_disp.inf"
   Note: Do not forget the semi-colon as a separator.
   
   
5. For the next driver, repeat the procedure by placing the path after the semi-colon without leaving a space. Once all the drivers are added, save the file.
6. If mass storage devices have been added, run "Sysprep.exe -bmsd" to populate the [SysprepMassStorage] section with the Plug_and_Play_ID = path_to_device_inf_file entries from the driver *.inf files.

Technical Information

If the [SysprepMassStorage] section header exists in Sysprep.inf, and you run the Sysprep -bmsd command, then Sysprep populates the [SysprepMassStorage] section with the Plug_and_Play_ID = path_to_device_inf_file entries corresponding to the Plug and Play IDs of mass-storage devices specified in the Machine.inf, Scsi.inf, Pnpscsi.inf, and Mshdc.inf files. Sysprep builds the list of mass-storage devices; it does not install these devices in the critical device database or do any other processing.

After using the Sysprep -bmsd command to generate entries in the [SysprepMassStorage] section, you can delete items from this section before running Sysprep -reseal or Sysprep -factory. Installing a smaller number of items in the critical device database reduces the time required for this image to reboot into the operating system.

Do not use the -bmsd parameter with any other command-line parameters.