[bender127]

Is it possible just to "drop a driver" in a Windows installation, and have it picked up by Plug n' Play?

For example, say I have a .inf, .sys and .cat file for a NIC. If copy the .inf and .cat files to the %systemroot%\inf folder, and the .sys file to the %systemroot%\system32 , will Windows automatically use this driver when I actually plug the NIC in? Or does the inf need to be tweaked for this?

If so (even with .inf tweaking), then is it possible to have a unattended install where your $OEM$ folder structure looks like this (ultimately reducing the number of paths for OemPnPDriversPath in unattended.ext)?:

\$OEM$
----\$$
--------\inf <- inf/cat file goes here
--------\system32 <- sys file goes here

[neophyte]

No, you need to make a special folder for this.

Check out this guide:
http://unattended.MS.../xp/drivers.htm

[raskren]

Its doubtful that would work. If I have some unintsalled hardware in my machine and I simply copy some uncrompressed drivers to their proper locations the hardware won't magically be installed.

You could put your INFs and SYS files into the INF and SYSTEM32 directories respectively, but you're going to need a txtsetup.oem file in your PnpDriversPath.

wait...scratch that. All the drivers need to be in the same subdir as txtsetup.oem.

[gosh]

It might work, but it would be easier to copy the files using txtsetup.sif. I'm not sure when the $OEM$ folder is copied over. Until it gets copied over, the drivers won't be available.

-gosh

[bender127]

$OEM$ is copied over towards the end of text mode setup, after the inital file decompress but before reboot (i.e. right around when the hive*.inf files are copied).

I'm trying to add as many drivers to support NICs to my unattended disc, while keeping the drivers relatively organized (directories by vendor). This means a huge drivers path, unless I can bend the rules a bit...

I'll try it and see if it works....