Deployment Solution

I am trying to setup a hardware independent image. I was planning on using sysprep pnp to install the drivers for the different models of computers I have. So to the point this is what I have done so far.

1 install windows XP with SP 3 get all the updates put drivers in root of the c drive in a folder called drivers inside that folder is are folders named for each computer model inside of the model folder are folders called audio video etc etc that contain the drivers for that specific model. So the folder structure looks something like this.

C:\drivers
|
m680
|
Audio video chipset

I then made my sysprep file looks like this.


;SetupMgrTag
[Unattended]
OemSkipEula=Yes
InstallFilesPath=C:\sysprep\i386
DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore"
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
OemPnPDriversPath="c:\drivers\m680\audio;c:\drivers\M680\nic1;c:\drivers\m680\video;c:\drivers\m680\chipset;c:\drivers\m680\wireless;c:\drivers\m680\modem;c:\drivers\m680\misc1;drivers\m680\\misc2;c:\drivers\m680\mediacardreader"
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword="1234"
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=20
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
FullName="John doe"
OrgName="company"
ComputerName=%COMPNAME%

[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=17

[Identification]
JoinDomain="%NETBIOSDOMAIN%"
DomainAdmin=domainname\admin
DomainAdminPassword=1234


[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Sysprep]
BuildMassStorageSection = Yes

[SysprepMassStorage]




[Components]
Iis_common=Off
Iis_inetmgr=Off
Iis_nntp=Off
Iis_smtp=Off
Iis_webadmin=Off
Iis_webdav=Off
Iis_www=Off
Iis_asp=Off
OEAccess=Off
AutoUpdate=Off
Chat=Off
Dialer=Off
Zonegames=Off
Msnexplr=Off
msmsgs=Off

[Display]
BitsPerPel=32
Xresolution=1024
YResolution=768

[Branding]
BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[Proxy]
Proxy_Enable=0
Use_Same_Proxy=0

2. Setup two jobs in altiris one to copy the sysprep folder from my server to the local computer.
Then the second jobs is a script job to run sysprep
C:\sysprep\sysprep.exe -mini -quiet -reseal /shutdown

3 Once sysprep has ran and shutdown the computer I made an image of it.
4 Made a distribute image job in altiris select the image I just made then click to run sysprep click on advanced and tell it I want to use my sysprep inf file. I have also tried it with out using the builtin sysprep settings.

But windows never seams to install the drivers. What am I doing wrong?

In the past I've had issues with the drivers path for sysprep.inf files. 

You might try modifying the registry path for those files as it's been much more reliable for me.  If I remember right the path should be:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DevicePath

I modified the registry key manually as well prior to Sysprep. Also I do not have the "" around the oemPNPDevice Path line in Sysprep.

Thanks guy's I will give that a try

Let us know if that resolved your issue.

you mentioned all the drivers on are on image. Is this for every model you support? As for the registry line, there is a limit to the number of characters (I think it's 4096 with the SP3 version of sysprep). So, if you path exceeds the limit, Windows ignores it. But then, I think I saw Bigfoot the other day. ;)

I have run into issues with a HII and slipstream installs of SP.  I found out if you install Windows and then manaully upgrade to the SP it works fine but if you slipstream it i get a blue screen

I am also having this problem.  My sysprep file just doesn't install the drivers even though the sysprep.inf file specifies the folder with all of the drivers.

In our HII image, XP sp3 is slim streamed in on the install media, Dotnet 1.1 and 2.0 are also installed.

Bluescreen means some sort of driver issue, normally mass storage if it shows the BSOD and reboots right past the Windows XP spalsh Screen.

We had the same driver issue, populating the OEMPNPdriver path in to the registry prior to Sysprep Reseal solved those problems.