RIS - copying network drivers during text-mode setup

[Paul Harwood]

I am following the instructions for installing 3rd party NIC drivers
for RIS installation at:

246184 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/246184/EN-US/) How to Add
Third-Party OEM Network Adapters to RIS Installations

Here is a snippet of the steps listed there:

1. On the RIS server, copy the OEM-supplied .inf and .sys file for the
network adapter to the
RemoteInstall\Setup\Language\Images\Dir_name\i386 folder. This allows
Setup to use the driver during the Text-mode portion of the
installation.
2. At the same level as the I386 folder on the RIS image, create a
$oem$ folder with the following structure:
\$oem$\$1\Drivers\Nic


My questions are as follows:

a) Following step 1 and copying the .sys, .cat and .inf files to the
RemoteInstall\Setup\Language\Images\Dir_name\i386 folder solves the
problem for me and allows RIS to complete successfully.

Why is step 2 needed? The KB doesn't explain this.

b) Why edit the .sif file at all since copying the drivers to the i386
folder seems to work?

 

[Johan Arwidmark]

Updating the .sif file is for the unattended windows installation (not
for RIS startup)

regards

Johan Arwidmark
Microsoft MVP - Setup/Deployment