WDS - Adding Drivers
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For Windows Deployment Services, I had downloaded all the drivers needed and dumped them in the driver repository (in their own group). Fired up a laptop applicable to those drivers and installed. All drivers installed but 3. So I go into the drivers folder where the actual drivers are and inspect one of the 3. No inf file anywhere... Okay, I'll unzip the actual exe file since it's just a wrapper for the inf. No inf in the exe file. Fine, I'll download the cab file from Dell and do it that way. Those 3 drivers installed, but now there are 2 other drivers not installing, one unknown which I know to be the Free Fall Sensor driver. What the heck? Where is the inf file??? Here's a link to the driver if you want to unzip it and see for yourself. http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=F91KT&fileId=2731102933&osCode=W764&productCode=precision-m6600&languageCode=EN&categoryId=AP
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Nothing says they have to have an inf file - they could be installed only via exe.
Assuming this is a business class Dell machine, Dell normally has a all drives rolled into one download. You download that file, unzip it, and it will expand all the needed drivers.
If it's non business class, good luck.
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@Dashrender said:
Nothing says they have to have an inf file - they could be installed only via exe.
Assuming this is a business class Dell machine, Dell normally has a all drives rolled into one download. You download that file, unzip it, and it will expand all the needed drivers.
If it's non business class, good luck.
The exe is just a wrapper for the inf file though... You can unzip an exe and find the inf. I did download the cab file from Dell, unzipped it, and searched around for the missing drivers. No luck. They are Latitudes mostly so they're business class. The one I'm working on now is a Precision so that is definitely business class. Using WDS though, you have to use inf files, you can't select exes...
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@Dashrender Because the exe is just a wrapper for the inf. The inf is the setup information file and needed for driver installation.. Without it, a driver exe is just an executable without any information to be given...
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@Dashrender I found the issue... I ended up stripping everything out because I suspected something specific. I had disabled the original M6600 driver group because it wasn't a clean cab, it was various downloads, etc. I disabled that and setup a new group "M6600 - CAB". What I didn't realize at first was that the PC probably stopped looking in that (now disabled) group, but was still looking in the All Packages repository, still having conflicting drivers (original loaded from individual downloads, and the cab download). Still wondering though, how can you build a driver repository with exes, rather than inf files?
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@Dashrender said:
But you said you downloaded the exe and couldn't find an inf file - What makes you think there has to be one?
WDS only uses INFs.
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@BBigford said:
Still wondering though, how can you build a driver repository with exes, rather than inf files?
Maybe it has an INF calling the exe somewhere.
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@Jason said:
@BBigford said:
Still wondering though, how can you build a driver repository with exes, rather than inf files?
Maybe it has an INF calling the exe somewhere.
Your last post "WDS only uses INF" contradicts that statement. If it only uses INF files, EXEs are not needed. You are right in the first post that WDS only uses INF files. The second post is incorrect, INF files in WDS call nothing. Only INFs are used as they have all the info needed. I was just asking Dashrender that question because maybe he had some info I don't about EXE/INF roll ups. But a CAB file has the missing INFs, which is perplexing. Because I tore the CAB apart, then the EXE got tore apart looking for the INFs needed for those 3 drivers.
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@BBigford said:
@Jason said:
@BBigford said:
Still wondering though, how can you build a driver repository with exes, rather than inf files?
Maybe it has an INF calling the exe somewhere.
Your last post "WDS only uses INF" contradicts that statement. If it only uses INF files, EXEs are not needed. You are right in the first post that WDS only uses INF files.
It's not a contraction, INF files can call other filters and such to install besides the INF itself. Not usually Exe's but there are numerous ways to call in other files with a driver INF.
