Cant find driver WDS PXE Booting
I have WDS Server 2008 installed. I found a windows 7.Wim works best for this companies laptops and desktops. We just got a new Dell T 1500 and when I PXE boot to my WDS I get "Cant find driver error". Does Server2008R2 Boot.Wim contain more Network card
drivers than Windows 7.Wim?
July 2nd, 2010 5:52am
Hi 562networks
Is your WDS Server 2008 R2 or 2008?
Its a little bit more complex to install drivers in to a wim file on Server 2008. Microsoft have made improvements to WDS in Server 2008 R2 that allows you to inject drivers in to the wim files direct from the WDS console, pretty cool eh?
For more information on how to do this inside Server 2008 R2 - I suggest you go to this link
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd348456(WS.10).aspx#boot
If the WDS Server is 2008, it's a little bit harder and involves the use of imagex to mount the wim file. You then need to inject drivers in to the wim file manually.
For more information on this I suggest you take a look at this technet forum post:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserversetup/thread/fea59258-4213-4f16-8a19-34b8cb5b1872
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July 2nd, 2010 6:06am
Its 2008R2. I actually installed the drivers or tried. They went in successful but did not work.
July 2nd, 2010 6:41am
One of those articles refers to Vista/W2k8. Im using Windows 7 Boot.wim
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July 2nd, 2010 6:46am
You don't need to use imagex if your running Server 2008 R2.
You should be able to install the drivers from the WDS console using the technet article:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd348456(WS.10).aspx#boot
Can you confirm that you've tried to install the drivers using this method?
Also, make sure that you've got the right architecture drivers for the boot image architecture.
July 2nd, 2010 7:03am
Well I think I have 32 boot image and 64 bit. I made capture out of them for 32 and 64 bit. I will try that article in the tomorrow thanks. I will respond back with what happends.
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July 2nd, 2010 7:20am
Yes I tried the other day but that tutorial is very limited. I think for this Dell it is the built in Nic card. I downloaded the drivers from that and when WDS booted I went into the command line. I located the .inf files and it said successful after I added
them. I am not sure which boot image to apply this to as I have these boot images below. I believe they are all Windows 7 Boot.wim.
When I search for drivers as the Wizard pops up im confused on were its searching or it I have to put the Dell .inf driver files onto the WDS server somewhere for the Wizard to find them. Below are the boot images I have installed.
1. 32 bit deploy
2. 32 bit capture
3. 64 bit deploy
4. 63 bit capture
July 2nd, 2010 7:26am
Yes I tried the other day but that tutorial is very limited. I think for this Dell it is the built in Nic card. I downloaded the drivers from that and when WDS booted I went into the command line. I located the .inf files and it said successful after I added
them. I am not sure which boot image to apply this to as I have these boot images below. I believe they are all Windows 7 Boot.wim.
When I search for drivers as the Wizard pops up im confused on were its searching or it I have to put the Dell .inf driver files onto the WDS server somewhere for the Wizard to find them. Below are the boot images I have installed.
1. 32 bit deploy
2. 32 bit capture
3. 64 bit deploy
4. 63 bit capture
No problems!
So first things first, if your having problems "making your images" then you need to put the drivers in to the capture boot image. If your having problems "restoring your images" then you need to put the drivers in to the deploy boot image. :)
When you use the WDS console to install the drivers. Place the driver files anywhere on the system, don't worry, it doesnt care where! The WDS console will take the required files and inject them in to the boot wim for you! Once this is done, you can remove
the driver files that you downloaded.. because they've now been injected in to the wim file!
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July 2nd, 2010 7:39am
Wow that worked great! Thank you so much!
July 2nd, 2010 6:55pm