You can import device drivers for use in your Configuration Manager 2007 site. Imported device drivers can be added to boot image packages or driver packages and can be installed as part of an Operating System Deployment task sequence using the Auto Apply Driver and Apply Driver Package task sequence steps. Configuration Manager 2007 reads the provider, class, version, signature, supported hardware, and supported platform information associated with the device as part of the import process. By default, the driver is named after the first hardware device it supports, however the device driver can be renamed later. The supported platforms list is determined based on the device driver’s definition. However, the accuracy of this can vary so you should manually verify if the device driver is supported after it has been imported.

The SMS Provider must have read permission to the network share where the device driver will be located or the import will fail.

Use the following procedure to import Windows device drivers into the driver catalog.

Procedure

To import Windows device drivers

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Operating System Deployment / Drivers.

  2. To start the Import New Driver Wizard, do any of the following:

    • Click Action on the file menu in MMC snap-ins, and then click Import.

    • In the Actions pane, click Import.

    • Right-click the Drivers node, and then click Import.

  3. On the Locate Driver page, specify whether you want to import a specific device driver or all device drivers contained in a specific directory.

    • To import a specific driver, select Import a specific driver and specify the source file directory in UNC format and the Windows device driver.INF or mass storage txtsetup.oem file to be imported.

    • To import all of the device drivers in a specific directory, select Import all drivers in the following network path (UNC) to its .inf or txtsetup.oem file and specify the network path to the device driver directory.

    Note
    To import a subset of device drivers from a large directory, you can create a new subdirectory and copy the desired drivers into the newly created directory. Use the method above to import the contents of that subdirectory. Each device driver should be imported into its own subdirectory.
  4. On the Driver Details page, specify a descriptive name and optional description for the driver.INF file or files that will be imported. To allow computers to use the device drivers, the Enable these drivers and allow computers to install them check box must be checked. This check box is selected by default.

    Important
    If a device driver is causing a problem or you want to suspend deployment of a device driver, you can disable the device driver by clearing the Enable these drivers and allow computers to install them check box. For computers to use and install a driver, this option must be enabled.
  5. To assign the device drivers to a category for filtering purposes, such as "Beta" or "Production," click the Categories button. The category assignment is also used to configure the device drivers that will be considered by the Auto Apply Driver task sequence step.

  6. On the Platforms Applicability page, confirm the platforms where these drivers will be installed.

    • To make the driver available to all platforms, select This driver can be run on any platform.

    • To specify a particular client platform for the device driver to be installed, select This driver can run only on the specified platforms, and then select the applicable platforms.

  7. On the Add Driver to Packages page, assign the device driver to an existing package, or create a new package by clicking the New Package button to open the New Driver Package dialog box.

  8. Specify the Name, and Description that should be associated with the new driver package and provide the source directory in UNC format, and then select Update distribution points when finished to update the distribution points immediately.

    Important
    Drivers must be part of a package and deployed to distribution points before computers can install them. If you do not update distribution points immediately, you must update the distribution points later using the Update Distribution Point wizard.
  9. On the Add Driver to Boot Images page, specify the boot image or images you would like to add the driver to.

    Note
    Only mass storage and network device drivers should be added to the boot images for operating system deployment scenarios.
  10. Select Update distribution points when finished to update the distribution points immediately with the updated boot images.

  11. On the Summary page, review the action details, and then click Next to complete the wizard.

See Also