XP - how it handles paths and driver installations

[Guest]

MVP's - technical question I've Google'd to death and can't find a decent
answer for.

I'm using Altiris to image and deploy XP systems in a large enterprise
environment. I have to pre-stage the PNP drivers for the NICs, video card,
sound card, chipset(s), etc. as subfolders in the Sysprep folders.

And in the following question, please bear with me - I know it's a miserable
runon sentence....(grin)

The question I need answered is this: when Windows XP goes through the
initial PNP driver install phase of the O/S install, and is searching for the
drivers for the above, does it:

(1) Follow the OEMPNPPath entry in sysprep.inf to the letter - i.e.
%Systemroot%\inf; Sysprep\Drv\A; Sysprep\Drv\A1, (etc.,etc.) - and if it does
find a native Windows driver for an item in the \inf folder first, will it
install that driver immediately, or does it continue to search the balance of
the path and then install the newest driver it finds (along that specified
path)?

(2) Or does OS run through the entire device path, find x amount of
possible drivers, and then install the latest one?

I'm pretty stresed for time, and do not have the luxury of building an image
and testing the theory. Several Altiris system guys stumbled on this one, so
I'd like a MVP answer on this, if possible.

Thanks!

 

[Adam Leinss]

I'm pretty stresed for time, and do not have the luxury of
building an image and testing the theory. Several Altiris system
guys stumbled on this one, so I'd like a MVP answer on this, if
possible.

Not a MVP, but it uses the first usuable driver it finds in the search
path based on the GUID of the device. There isn't any logic in sysprep
that says "pick this driver because it's signed" or "keep searching for
a better driver", etc.

HTH,
Adam