Unattended Setup with \$OEM$\$1\PnPdrvrs\.exe driver files

[Ben-Zion Joselson]

For unattended setup of Win2K/XP, device drivers that are
not built-in in the operating system are placed in the
\$OEM$\$1\PnPdrvrs folder.

Does this rule apply when the device manufacturer supplies
driver files that include an Install.exe file together
with .inf, .sys and .cat files ?

I mean, will Setup execute the Install.exe from within
that \PnPdrvrs folder and install the device drivers in
the regular manner?

Or, does Setup expect to find only .inf, .sys, .cat
and .dll files in the \PnPdrvrs folder?

If so, how can those device drivers with Install.exe be
incorporated in the unattended Setup?

Please advise.

 

[Eitel Sanchez]

The .exe won't work. What you can do is (1) see if you can use winzip to
open the .exe and get the files that you need or (2) install the .exe on a
machine and browse the temp folders to find the files. Or just go to the
vendor's page and see if they have OEM drivers.

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

Just to expand on this, I've found that a lot of drivers that have a .exe
file also have the correct inf file to enable proper PnP to be done.

The trick of dragging the .exe into WinZip is a very useful one that's often
overlooked.

Regards

Oli

 

[Ben-Zion Joselson]

Thanks, Eitel and Oli, for your help.

In fact, different devices come with different
combinations of driver-files.
In one case, in addition to .inf, .ini, .cat and a
setup.exe file there is a .cab full of .dll's, .sys and a
few additional *setup.exe files inside (as seen using
WinZip).

In such a case it seems to me that, to extract the
whole .cab and simply add its files to the
PnPdrvrs\<DeviceName>\ folder would be ineffective,
despite the guiding presence of the .inf, .ini and .cat
files.

All in all, it seems that I will have to install these
composite drivers manually, after the O/S is up and
running. Very little chance of obtaining OEM versions.

Can you see an alternative, unattended drivers
installation method within Setup?

 

[Gerry Hickman]

In such a case it seems to me that, to extract the
whole .cab and simply add its files to the
PnPdrvrs\<DeviceName>\ folder would be ineffective,

Yes, I've run into this a few times. The big names such as "Intel" tend
to have docs for OEMs, but other mfgrs leave a lot to be desired.
Sometimes you can just extract the "Win2000" subfolder and ignore the
rest. I've got the same issue with VIA "4 in 1" drivers at the moment.
It's not clear which are the Win2000 inf and sys files. Their docs are
useless - it's hardly surprising OEMs stick to Intel.

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

Generally, you don't need to do anything with CAB files. The inf files will
reference their contents properly.

As a typical minimum, a driver will normally have an inf file, a cat file
and a sys file. It may have others. For instance, the Nvidia drivers have
a systray tool that is an exe file. That just gets copied with the driver.

If you're still stuck, send a web link to the driver and I'll take a look.

Cheers

Oli

 

[Ben-Zion Joselson]

In my intended new W2K SP4 O/S setup, the two essential
drivers that had better be installed at the earliest stage
are:
- Matrox G450 video driver for Windows 2000
from
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-
4GRSML

and
- IBM ScrollPoint II Mouse and Wheel Mouse driver for
Windows 2000
from
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-43066

Each of these URL's explains how to download the package.
I then extracted (without installing) by means of WinZip
or, in case it refused, I unpacked with Windows Commander
v. 5.0 utility from C. Ghisler.

Look at the extracted files and judge if they can be
simply placed in \$OEM$\$1\PnPdrvrs\Video and \Mouse
subfolders for unattended setup.

Note: I have an IBM 6868-6BG Intellistation, and IBM
strongly recommends to download drivers from IBM website
rather than from the original devices vendors, for
compatibility purposes.

This Intellistation PC uses Intel 840 chipset. IBM offers
Intel INF update utility 6868 on this URL:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-
4ENJZV

The extracted files pose an intricate file and folder
combination, and again I ask if it is worthy of simple
placement in an \$OEM$\$1\PnPdrvrs\IntelINF subfolder.

 

[Gerry Hickman]

Hi,

I run my unattend with VIA drivers just now and it appears fine. What I
did was extract each subfolder of inf/sys files to a replica under
"$oem$\$1\drv\via", and then I added a path for each subfolder in
unattend.txt