Driver Installation Tools with BIOS and Driver Management

Step-by-step guide to Driver Installation Tools with BIOS and Driver Management, including configuration, deployment, troubleshooting and practical

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Driver Installation Tools Overview

Pnpunattend.exe is more reliable and faster than pnputil.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Registry Key Creation

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Specify the path where the registry keys are located

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

$CheminDrivers = "C:Drivers"
New-Item -Path "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionUnattendSettingsPnPUnattendDriverPaths" -Name 1 -Force
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionUnattendSettingsPnPUnattendDriverPaths1" -Name Path -Value $CheminDrivers -Force

Pnpunattend in Windows 10:

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

PnPnpunattend is native to Windows 10, so no installation is required.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Driver Audit:

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

If you only want to view the drivers to be installed without actually installing them, use the argument /s

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

pnpunattend.exe auditsystem /s /l

Driver Installation:

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

pnpunattend.exe auditsystem /l

Driver Installation Tools Overview

Dpinst is no longer supported with Windows 10. The official tool is pnputil. Here are some command examples for pnputil.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

c:windowssystem32pnputil.exe /add-driver c:drivers*.inf /subdirs /install

pnputil /add-driver x:driver.inf       <- Ajouter le package de pilotes
pnputil /add-driver c:oem*.inf        <- Ajouter plusieurs packages de pilotes
pnputil /add-driver device.inf /install <- Ajouter et installer le package de pilotes
pnputil /enum-drivers                   <- Énumérer les packages de pilotes OEM
pnputil /delete-driver oem0.inf         <- Supprimer le package de pilotes
pnputil /delete-driver oem1.inf /force  <- Forcer la suppression du package de pilotes
pnputil /export-driver oem6.inf .       <- Exporter le package de pilotes
pnputil /export-driver * c:backup      <- Exporter tous les packages de pilotes

Driver Installation Tools Overview

DPinst allows for the installation of drivers via command line (before Windows 10).

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Dpinst is available with Microsoft’s “Windows Drivers Kit” and can also be found in certain drivers.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

If you are creating master images under Windows 8.1, some of the drivers do not work in PnP mode (due to drivers not certified for Windows 8.1). This tool will allow you to force the installation of these drivers.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

To install a driver

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

dpinst.exe /path "c:driversWin8_1" /q /se

Note: The tool is not recursive (subfolders are not taken into account)

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Set Fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set Shell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")

Const S_DP = "c:pnpdrivers"

CopyInf(S_DP)

Sub CopyInf(dossier)
        Set fs=fso.GetFolder(dossier)
        'traitement des fichiers
    Trouve = 0
        Set collfiles = fs.Files
        For Each File In collfiles
            If Right(UCase(file.name),3) = "INF" And UCase(file.name) <> "AUTORUN.INF" Then
        Trouve = 1
    End If
        Next 'File
    If Trouve = 1 Then
      wscript.Echo dossier
      If FSO.FolderExists("C:WindowsSysWOW64") Then
        CodeRetour = Shell.run(chr(34) & GetPath & "x64dpinst.exe" & chr(34) & " /path " & chr(34) & dossier & chr(34) & " /q /se",,True)
      Else
        CodeRetour = Shell.run(chr(34) & GetPath & "x86dpinst.exe" & chr(34) & " /path " &chr(34) & dossier & chr(34) & " /q /se",,True)
      End If
    End If

        'traitement des sous dossier
        Set collfolders = fs.SubFolders
        For each folder in collfolders
      curfolder = dossier & "" & folder.name
      call CopyInf(curfolder)
        Next
End Sub

Function GetPath()
   Dim path
  path = WScript.ScriptFullName
  GetPath = Left(path, InStrRev(path, ""))
End Function

The script allows scanning of subfolders and launching dpinst for each folder containing inf files.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Caution, you will need to change the driver path in the script.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Driver Installation Tools Overview

Ajouter des drivers en mode offline dans une WIM

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

  • You can list available images in a WIM
dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:c:fichier.wim

Disable your antivirus to prevent blocking the WIM during dismounting

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

  • Mount Wim

The /Name option can be replaced by the /Index option

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:c:fichier.wim /Name:"Windows Offline Image" /MountDir:c:mount
  • Add Drivers
Dism /Image:c:mount /Add-Driver /Driver:c:Drivers /Recurse
  • Saving the image
Dism /Unmount-Image/MountDir:c:mount /Commit

Driver Installation Tools Overview

One solution is to use the DISM tool in the WinPE environment to force the installation of drivers in Windows. Here is the command line:

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

dism /image:c: /Add-driver /driver:ServeurChemin /recurse /forceunsigned

C: => Partition containing the Windows folder

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Driver Installation Tools Overview

I finally found a simple solution to force unsigned drivers with pnputil.

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

  • In the drivers, it’s the CAB file that interests us. When you right-click on this file
  • In the ‘Digital Signature’ tab, click on ‘Details’.
  • Then, in the new window under the ‘General’ tab, click on ‘View Certificate’.
  • In the next window, under the ‘Details’ tab, click on ‘Copy to File’.
  • Save the certificate in a .cer file.

The command is then quite straightforward.”

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

Certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher signature.cer
c:windowssystem32pnputil.exe /add-driver "%~dp0TH230*.inf" /subdirs /install
Driver Installation Tools with BIOS and Driver Management screenshot

Driver Installation Tools Overview

Useful external reference: Microsoft Learn.

  1. Accessing the Windows Registry:
    • Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
    • Type regedit and press Enter. This will open the Windows Registry Editor. Remember to run it as an administrator.
  2. Navigating to the Relevant Key:
    • In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionDriverSearching.
  3. Modifying the Key:
    • Locate the SearchOrderConfig DWORD value.
    • Double-click on it and change its value data as per your requirement:
      • 0: Never search for drivers on Windows Update.
      • 1: Install drivers from Windows Update if they are more recent than those on the workstation.
      • 2: Install drivers from Windows Update if they are not present on the workstation.
    • For our purpose, set the value to 0 and click OK.