Add and Remove Drivers to an Offline Windows Image

Applies To: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

You can use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to install or remove driver (.inf) files in an offline Windows® image. You can either apply an unattended answer file to a mounted .wim, .vhd, or .vhdx file, or you can add or remove the drivers directly by using the command prompt.

When you use DISM to install a device driver to an offline image, the device driver is added to the driver store in the offline image. When the image is booted, Plug and Play (PnP) runs and associates the drivers in the store to the corresponding devices on the computer.

In this topic:

  • To add drivers to an offline image by using DISM

  • To remove drivers from an offline image by using DISM

  • To add drivers to an offline Windows image by using an unattended answer file

Note

You cannot remove drivers from a Windows Vista® with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2008 image.

Note

To add drivers to a Windows 8 image offline, you must use a technician computer running Windows 8, Windows Server® 2012, or Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 4.0. Driver signature verification may fail when you add a driver to a Windows 8 image offline from a technician computer running any other operating system.

To add drivers to an offline image by using DISM

  1. At an elevated command prompt, locate the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) servicing folder, and type the following command to retrieve the name or index number for the image that you want to modify. For example, type:

    Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim
    

    An index or name value is required for most operations that specify a WIM file. For a VHD file, you must specify /Index:1.

  2. Mount the offline Windows image. For example, type:

    Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim /Name:"Windows Drive" /MountDir:C:\test\offline
    
  3. Add a specific driver to the image. For example, type:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\drivers\mydriver.inf
    

    Multiple drivers can be added on one command line if you specify a folder instead of an .inf file. To install all of the drivers in a folder and all its subfolders use the /recurse option. For example,

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:c:\drivers /Recurse
    

    To install an unsigned driver, use /ForceUnsigned to override the requirement that drivers installed on X64-based computers must have a digital signature. For example,

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\drivers\mydriver.inf /ForceUnsigned
    
  4. Review the list of third-party driver (.inf) files in the Windows image. Drivers added to the Windows image are named Oem*.inf. This is to guarantee unique naming for new drivers added to the computer. For example, the files MyDriver1.inf and MyDriver2.inf are renamed Oem0.inf and Oem1.inf.

    For example, type:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Get-Drivers 
    
  5. Commit the changes and unmount the image. For example, type:

    Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit
    

To remove drivers from an offline image by using DISM

  1. At an elevated command prompt, locate the Windows ADK servicing folder, and type the following command to retrieve the name or index number for the image that you want to modify.

    Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim
    

    An index or name value is required for most operations that specify a WIM file. For a VHD file, you must specify /Index:1.

  2. Mount the offline Windows image. For example, type:

    Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim /Name:"Windows 7 HomeBasic" /MountDir:C:\test\offline
    
  3. Remove a specific driver from the image. Multiple drivers can be removed on one command line. For example, type:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Remove-Driver /Driver:OEM1.inf /Driver:OEM2.inf
    

Warning

Removing a boot-critical driver package can make the offline Windows image unbootable. For more information, see DISM Driver Servicing Command-Line Options.

  1. Commit the changes and unmount the image. For example, type:

    Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit
    

To add drivers to an offline Windows image by using an unattended answer file

  1. Locate the device driver .inf files that you intend to install on the Windows image.

Note

All drivers in the directory and subdirectories that are referenced in the answer file are added to the image. You should manage the answer file and these directories carefully to address concerns about increasing the size of the image with unnecessary driver packages.

  1. Use Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM) to create an answer file that contains the paths to the device drivers that you intend to install.

  2. Add the Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE component to your answer file in the offlineServicing configuration pass.

  3. Expand the Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE node in the answer file. Right-click DevicePaths, and then select Insert New PathAndCredentials.

    A new PathAndCredentials list item appears.

  4. For each location that you intend to access, add a separate PathAndCredentials list item.

  5. In the Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE component, specify the path to the device driver and the credentials that are used to access the file, if the file is on a network share.

Note

You can include multiple device driver paths by adding multiple PathAndCredentials list items. If you add multiple list items, you must increment the value of Key for each path. For example, you can add two separate driver paths where the value of Key for the first path is equal to 1 and the value of Key for the second path is equal to 2.

  1. Save the answer file and exit Windows SIM. The answer file must resemble the following sample.

    <?xml version="1.0" ?><unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3" xmlns:wcm="https://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
    
       <settings pass="offlineServicing">
    
          <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
    
             <DriverPaths>
    
                <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="1">
    
                   <Path>\\networkshare\share\drivers</Path>
    
                   <Credentials>
    
                      <Domain>Fabrikam</Domain>
    
                      <Username>MyUserName</Username>
    
                      <Password>MyPassword</Password>
    
                   </Credentials>
    
                </PathAndCredentials>
    
             </DriverPaths>
    
          </component>
    
       </settings>
    
    </unattend>
    
  2. Mount the Windows image that you intend to install the drivers to by using DISM. For example, type:

    Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:C:\test\images\install.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\test\offline
    

    An index or name value is required for most operations that specify a WIM file. For a VHD file, you must specify /Index:1.

  3. Use DISM to apply the answer file to the mounted Windows image. For example, type:

    DISM /Image:C:\test\offline /Apply-Unattend:C:\test\answerfiles\myunattend.xml
    

    For more information about how to apply an answer file, see DISM Unattended Servicing Command-Line Options.

    The .inf files referenced in the path in the answer file are added to the Windows image.

  4. Review the list of third-party driver (.inf) files in the Windows image. Drivers added to the Windows image are named Oem*.inf. This is to guarantee that all new drivers that are added to the computer are uniquely named. For example, the files MyDriver1.inf and MyDriver2.inf are renamed Oem0.inf and Oem1.inf.

    For example, type:

    Dism /Image:C:\test\offline /Get-Drivers 
    
  5. Unmount the .wim file and commit the changes. For example, type:

    Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:C:\test\offline /Commit
    

If you need drivers for Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) to see the local hard disk drive or a network, you must use the windowsPE configuration pass of an answer file to add drivers to the Windows PE driver store and to reflect boot-critical drivers required by Windows PE. For more information, see Add Device Drivers to Windows During Windows Setup.

See Also

Tasks

Add Device Drivers to Windows During Windows Setup

Concepts

Device Drivers and Deployment Overview

Other Resources

DISM - Deployment Image Servicing and Management Technical Reference for Windows