SCCM 2007 : Best Practice importing drivers (Part 1) , creating a driver Package.
Did you ever wonder what would be the required best practice steps on how to import new drivers in System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), when building a new hardware model. Well I try to explain the steps to accomplish this in a few sections .
First a word about integrating drivers in SCCM
These instructions describes the process of integrating the drivers in to the OS deployment functionality. The approach for driver integration into OS deployment functionality:
- All drivers are integrated into driver packages per hardware model.
- Drivers Packages are created in the corresponding folder for each hardware model on the SCCM box.For example : “\\<Your Server>\Drivers\PC\SCCM_Driver_Packages\XP\<PC Model>”
- Drive source are created in the corresponding folder for each hardware model on the SCCM box.For example : “\\<Your Server>\Drivers\PC\_OriginalSources_\XP\<PC Model>”
Drivers that can be installed/imported using an INF file.
“Nice” drivers list for deployment:
These drivers are needed for OS deployment and are imported into one driver package per hardware type in SCCM for further use in the OS deployment task sequencer.
Drivers that must be "installed" (setup.exe). This could be a Bluetooth driver, finger print reader software or even DVD software that is specific to a particular model type. Generally, this type of drivers are also called "Hardware based applications".
A small example is the 4 in 1 Card reader drivers for Lenovo laptop R61.A software package will be created for deployment and used for further use in the OS deployment task sequencer.
In this example we are creating a driver package for a “Lenovo R61”
I. Open your “Windows Explorer”
II. Go to “\\<Your server>\Drivers\PC\SCCM_Driver_Packages\XP\”
III. Create a sub-folder that is representing your hardware model , in this case “R61–8935CTO”.
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IV. In the ConfigMgr console, expand ”Site Database”
V. Expand Computer Management in the left pane.
VI. expand the “Operating system deployment” and Click “Driver Packages
VII. Navigate to the sub-folder [PC]
VIII. Right click on the “[PC]” folder and select “New” -> “Driver Package”
IX. New Driver Package wizard starts:
· Give your new driver package a unique name that represents your hardware model & version.
· Fill out the commenting window as shown below , but adapt to your HW model.
· In the Driver Package Source , you must fill in the UNC path to your earlier created folder on the SCCM primary server. The UNC path in this case will be “\\<your Server>\Drivers\PC\SCCM Driver_Packages\XP\R61-8935CTO”.
· Note that this is not the drivers source but the working directory for Configuration Manager when to add drivers to the “Driver Package” !
X. Click Ok
XI. Expand the “Operating system deployment” and expand “Driver Packages” .Expand the driver package you just created for OS deployment and select “Distribution Points”.
XII. Right click the “Distribution Points” folder. In the right click context menu you will see “New Distribution Point”. The following screen will appear and select “Next” on the Welcome screen.
XIII. Select the appropriate Distribution Point(s) where you want your package to be copied and click “Next” , but NEVER select the SMSPXEIMAGE$ distribution point !
XIV. Click “Close” on “completion” page.
XV. Your SCCM driver package is now ready to be integrated with imported drivers from the database.
For the Part 2 , I will show you on how Import a Single driver into the SCCM database !
Hope it helps ,
Kenny Buntinx.