How to add Plug and Play drivers to an image which has been prepared using sysprep

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Question

Instructions on how to add Plug and Play device drivers to an image which has been prepared using sysprep.

Answer

First of all you need to add the driver files to the image by opening the image either with Altiris ImageExplorer (*.img) or with Ghost Explorer (*.gho). You can then add the driver files to the C: drive of the image using the following format:

C:\drivers\audio\...
C:\drivers\video\...

You then need to add the driver paths to the following registry value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DevicePath

Note: Any path entries in OemPnPDriversPath (sysprep.inf) will be ignored when you distribute an image which has been prepared using sysprep. This parameter is only evaluated when you create (prepare) an image using sysprep. This is why you need to add the driver paths in the registry of the image.

Note: There is a tool available to simplify the task of gathering the driver paths before adding them to the registry. Please have a look at the following website for further details:
SysPrep Driver Scanner
http://www.vernalex.com/tools/spdrvscn/index.shtml
Download:
http://www.vernalex.com/tools/spdrvscn/resource/v1.3.2/x32/spdrvscn.exe

In order to change the registry value "DevicePath", open the "syspreped" image with Image Explorer (from the Deployment Server console) and extract the following file:

%WINDIR%\system32\config\software

Then execute the following steps:
1) Run regedit.exe
2) Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE with the left mouse button
3) Select "File" (Top menu bar) and then select "Load Hive..."
4) Browse and select the extracted file "software" and give it a temporary hive name (e.g. "temp")
5) Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\temp\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion and add the driver paths to "DevicePath" (semicolon separated list).
6) Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\temp with the left mouse button
7) Select "File" (Top menu bar) and then select "Unload Hive..."
8) Add the file "software" back to the image: %WINDIR%\system32\config\software

Now you are ready to deploy the image using a Distribute Disk image job after ensuring that the option "Prepared using Sysprep" is enabled.