Identifying Supplemental Device Drivers

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Most device drivers are provided on the Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003 operating system CDs. However, some devices require special device drivers, which you must obtain from the hardware vendor. Some devices that require special drivers include:

  • Plug and Play devices for which there are no device drivers on the operating system CD. Sound cards and video adapters on portable computers are common examples.

  • Mass storage controllers, particularly small computer system interface (SCSI) controllers and redundant array of independent disks (RAID) controllers.

  • Hardware abstraction layers (HALs) created by a third party.

  • Legacy (non–Plug and Play) devices for which there are no device drivers on the operating system CD.

When you obtain device drivers from a third party, make sure that Microsoft has digitally signed the device drivers. Signing ensures that the device driver has undergone a certain level of testing, and that the device driver cannot be altered or overwritten by another program’s installation process. Device driver files can include: system (.sys) files, dynamic-link library (.dll) files, information (.inf) files, and text setup (Txtsetup.oem and Txtsetup.sif) files.

In addition to making sure that you have the appropriate device drivers for your hardware, you need to make sure that the device drivers are available to Setup during the unattended installation process. If they are not, Setup might stop running and the unattended installation might fail. To make sure device drivers are available to Setup, you need to save the device drivers in a distribution share so they are copied to the destination computer during an unattended installation, or you need to save the device drivers on the destination computer’s hard disk before you initiate the installation.

For a worksheet to help you record information about supplemental device drivers, see "Unattended Installation Worksheet" (ACIUI_1.doc) on the Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 Deployment Kit companion CD (or see "Unattended Installation Worksheet" on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit). For more information about device-driver signing and how Windows selects device drivers, see "Using Signed Drivers" in Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User’s Guide (Deploy.chm). Deploy.chm is included in the Deploy.cab file in the Support folder on the Windows Server 2003 operating system CD.