Deployment Solution

Trying to add a Vista NIC driver for a Dell Latitude E6420 to PXE. I download the driver, extract it from the exe, and then edit the boot image.

I choose have disk, select the appropriate INF file. the driver summary shows up. I click Next, and get  "Boot Disk Creator could not add the driver "XYZ"

We are Running DS 6.9 SP 4

Jimbaland---

Good catch..............

I think this is an issue with DS 6.9 SP4.

You need to check it with SP4 Release documents .

Adding new WinPE driver will not be listed in driver list in BDC driver gets addded successfully.

You can check that at path altiris\express\deployment server\bootwiz\platforms\winpe2\x98\driver\CUSTOM

 entry with driver name gets added in custome folder but not sure why its not showing in BDC.

However i have checked it with DS 6.9 and its working fine.

Thanks for the reply Symdon.

I don't have that path. I can get to Altiris\express\Deployment Server\Bootwiz\Platforms\WinPE2 , but there's no x98 folder (so there's no driver or custom folder either). I tried going into the x86\drivers\std\drivers folder and adding the drivers manually, but i'm still getting the DHCP retry error with PXE.

Yes i was wrong

Correction in path :Altiris\express\Deployment Server\Bootwiz\Platforms\WinPE2\x86\driver\CUSTOM .

Add driver using have disk, select the appropriate INF file. the driver summary shows up.  click Next.

Now check above path , folder with driver name gets added at CUSTOM folder .

It means that driver is successfully added but in BDC list ,user-added "custom" drivers are not being listed.

So the next question arrise is how to create boot image for custom drivers?

I think you will not get solution for this in DS 6.9 SP4 beacuse new added drivers are not being listed in BDC .

Check if there is any workaround for this.

I actually changed the name of the folder to match the INF file, and got rid of some extraneous data in the the driver folder and tried to add it once more. That worked. it also created the CUSTOM folder that you mentioned previously.

No longer getting the "Retry" Error.

We just got the E6420 in and cannot get Winpe automation working.  Its the exact issue you are discussing, I have tried to add the driver to BCD using "have disk", however the driver is never listed even though the wizard shows success. I opened a ticket with Symantec and they said it was a known issue with the new intel driver, referred me here:

http://communities.intel.com/message/125386

Jimbalanad, how did you get it to work?

Matt,

I first downloaded the driver from the dell website. Then extracted the driver to a folder on the desktop. I used WinRAR to extract the driver files. You will need to used the 32-bit Vista drivers, assuming your using PXE 2.0.

I think the next step is what made the difference. There were some files that were extracted to the new folder that, I assume, are not necessary and cause the PXE configuration to not load the driver. I have not, however, tested this. But get rid of the PRO Unstl.exe, Readme.txt, and Release.txt files from the VISTA-x86 folder.

Try to do the "Have disk" method again to add the drivers to PXE (pointing to the new Vista x86 driver folder that was created.

Like i mentioned previously, i haven't tested this theory as...

1) Our PXE is Working now with E6420s

and

2) I don't want to break PXE :)

Good luck.

Bummer, I have already taken all those steps and BDC just wont accept the driver.  And of course Dell EOLs the e6410 right when we have to do a major deployment... ugh what a headache.  Were currently using DOS for automation and each machine takes over 90 minutes to image....

I tried adding the intel driver from this site and from intel.  After extracting the file from the exe I point winpe to PRO1000\Win32\NDIS61\  This directory has several INF, din and sys file.  Do I just need to leave one set  and which one?

I'm having the same issue trying to add the x86 driver for the E6420. Has anyone been successful with this yet?

Hey guys just wanted to give you a heads up.  I installed SP5 and the NIC driver installed perfectly.  Now able to use WinPE to image the E6420 and it takes 1/4 the time.

Previously installed SP5 as an upgrade and the driver import did not work.

Brand new install with SP5 imports drivers perfectly.

What was your previous environment? Did you upgrade as well? From which SP?

Sorry I gave some false information.  I didnt actually upgrade to SP5 (yet), what I did was replace my current bootwiz folder with the bootwiz folder from SP5.  Then I re-added all of my custom drivers, and updated the boot images via the pxe config utility.  

Im still on SP4 but am using the SP5 version of Bootwiz.  This has worked very well for me and allowed me some time to schedule a maintenance window to do the full upgrade to SP5.

then the one i attached works...

i went through a couple... the hp one... the intel one... but this one worked first time

use the e1c6232.inf file

Attachment(s)

Ndis62(1).zip   1.18 MB 1 version

I am using
DS 6.9 SP4
Boot Disc Creator v. 6.9.9262.402
WinPE 2.1
 

When I start with Tools>Add Pre-Boot Device Driver I get a specific message, "Boot disk creator could not determine the appropriate CPU type for this driver."

I have downloaded drivers from Dell (it is for a Latitude E6320, Intel, HP, and the zip file Ndis62(1).zip following suggestions and still cannot add the driver. I am beginning to suspect it is my version but do not want to get SP5 if that is not necessary.