Windows 7 AIO Boot critical drivers

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by tcntad, Apr 21, 2011.

  1. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

    Oct 26, 2009
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    Hey guys, girls, boys men and women :p

    I have a Windows 7 AIO with all editions except enterpirse + some software and autoactivating using alphawaves fantastic tool along with Windows Loader.


    Now my question is what are the boot critical drivers I probably should add to setup/windows?

    AHCI drivers and lan drivers will be added but is there anything more that I could add such as chipset? Im guessing thats only for windows though.


    Thanks for reply & Happy easter!
     
  2. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

    May 14, 2010
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    #2 U-Fig, Apr 21, 2011
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2011
    Hey tad, maybe you could add just the most recent chipset drivers for your setup, or future setup in mind.
    if you plan to use that AIO for mass-deployment :D you could add all recent chipset drivers for all popular and less popular chipsets,windows should autodetect right?
    maybe it's handy to add drivers for some more exotic hardware too, like say 3DConexxion products, or some other...(although they are not needed to boot the machine,... just tossing some idea)
     
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  3. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

    Oct 26, 2009
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    Hoi U-fig :p Nah I really dont speak dutch.

    Thanks though for replying. Yea the idea is to have a usbstick with drivers & apps, its just the driverthing left.
    Windows will install "my" drivers, the ones that are integrated yep. Nah ideas are good.

    Luckily the computers around here arent from the stoneage, but drivers for tvcards, bluetooth devices etc would probably be needed or atleast good to have.
     
  4. rasputinuk

    rasputinuk MDL Member

    May 21, 2007
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    Probably all you need in the Boot.wim is the SATA Raid/IDE mode drivers insert them into index 1 & 2. Index 1 is used for WinPE Recovery Enviroment and Index 2 For Windows setup
     
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  5. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    Yea thats my thougt exactly:)
    However I wont use WinPE Recovery environment.
     
  6. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    followup question..

    Do I have to integrate masstorage & lan drivers to Windows (Install.wim) if they are integrated to setup (Boot.wim #2) ??
    I have an x86 setup so I know it wont install for x64 windows:)
     
  7. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

    May 14, 2010
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    why not add the drivers to every index of the AIO install.wim, boot.wim mostly uses m$soft generic drivers so at the time of install winsetup could autodetect which drivers to install,this way you would have both the x86 and the x64 drivers present. not entirely sure it will work, but of surely you would have a spare machine/ vmware machine for testing purposes

    building my own AIO too, haven't really run into any problems yet, at least, not any that i couldn't solve myself, one handy shortcut though for building custom installs, at least the way i did it personally is the following.

    start by installing home starter (x86) or Basic (x64) build your install in audit mode after which sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown.
    capture image from harddrive

    boot again in audit mode and use anytime upgrade to basic (86) or premium (x64) after upgrade check for updates after which sysprep etc. etc.

    a relative quick way to capture all images then add them to AIO install.wim i have found that after using anytime upgrade there would be no additional updates
    i did use an unattend.xml for skiprearm and skipautoactivation
     
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  8. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

    Oct 26, 2009
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    Size will be huge if Ill go for all official drivers on drivetpacks.net so I guess I can only use the masstorage, chipset & lan then? :p


    Doesnt anytime upgrade require SLIC 2.1? or will it work with Windows Loader as it emulates SLIC? I have my clean AIO as well, just the integration part left:)
    For now Ill skip Audit mode but I might even use Anarethos Recoverytool or do it manually, we'll see.
     
  9. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

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    #9 U-Fig, Apr 22, 2011
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2011
    i've got two machines modded to slic 2.1 from there i'm installing with $OEM$ folder present in /sources
    when i'm booting again in audit mode the machine is once again activated so from there anytime upgrade is simple

    when you add driverpacks once they will be recycled inside install.wim it seems as my final x64 image containing only software(wich is identical for every version) my final x64 AIO.wim grew only by 400 mb after initial export of index:1 then adding 2 and so forth
    total install.wim size is 6.3 GB, software iv'e added: Adobe reader, Photoshop CS5, DirectX, office enterprise 2007 complete, teamviewer, winrar,CCleaner, GoogleEarth, flash player,K-Lite codecpack660, Picasa, Quicktime, java, ImgBurn, UTorrent and windows live , any and all updates for office and win 7 SP1
    currently building the x86 AIO.wim so i will have more info on final X64-X86 AIO size when it's done

    final size is of no concern for me as i have 20GB reserved as install partition on my usb harddrive
     
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  10. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    I have a 8 GB usbstick and my apps on it (not syspreped) so free space is 2GB. If Ill sysprep a computer I wont att the image to the usbstick I think but it would be handy:)
    Syspreping with flashplayer, java etc could be a good idea, but my main"concern" is the drivers for now.

    Ill add those drivers (masstorage, chipset, lan) to 8 images and see how much it grows and test it.
     
  11. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

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    you really don't have to add every driver you can find, or large driverpacks.
    just look around in your vicinity and see how many different hardware types you see, besides, if you add a driver trough an .inf file the driver itself does not require that much space
    that is what i meant by all popular and somewhat less popular chipsets
    let's say, some current ati chipsets, the latest nforce package for multiple nforce chips, some different intel chipsets and maybe the odd via chipset drivers too(mostly ASRock)

    would be nice to collaborate on this a bit as to find a workable solution, maybe with the help of some scripts to make sure the correct driver gets called at install.
     
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  12. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    Yea, I know there are some apps to install drivers on driverpacks forum. Could use them instead of integrating drivers.
    Well I havent really decided 100% yet.
     
  13. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

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    those drivers should be the same regardless of version (x64 OR x86) so in the end they should end up recycled inside the new install.wim, thus ending up with an install.wim that isn't really that much bigger per architecture
     
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  14. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    Should be the same? Two different architectures:)
     
  15. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

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    alright, i meant to say version per architecture,

    for example, if you build your X64 install.wim and each of that X64 version of windows had the same driver installed (or slipstreamed) , the resulting image for THAT particular architecture X64 OR X86 wouldnt be that much bigger, if a driver, or say driverpack would contain for 400 mb worth of drivers, installed on x64, the resulting image file for X64 architecture(all 4 versions) would only be a few hundred megs bigger due to compressing and recycling data inside the final install.wim.
    the same goes for x86. however, and as i stated before , i'm still building my x86 final install.wim(with softs installed)due to lack of time i still haven't i cannot say much about the resulting size of the AIO (containing both x64 and x86)
    summary of my captured installs for X64: note: these readings are taken from total commander

    home basic: 5.870.515.705 k
    home premium 5.904.896.630 k
    professional 5.916.793.616 k
    ultimate 5.918.575.607 k

    after exporting every version to the final x64 install.wim i ended up with a file size of 6.496.896.102 k and that's with software installed in every version and also fully up to date
     
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  16. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

    Oct 26, 2009
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    Im alittle tired today so I wasnt following really hehe.
    Ill get on with this tomorrow (11:26 here in Stockholm) and see what happens and if Ill keep it that way or not.

    Dankju :p (?)
     
  17. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

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    it's 11:29 over right now so were in the same timezone :p

    inget problem
    geen probleem
    no problem whatsoever
     
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  18. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    Oh s**t, I forgot you dutch people are in the same timezone as us zweed :p..
     
  19. U-Fig

    U-Fig MDL Member

    May 14, 2010
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    so any luck yet in building the install.wim you wanted??

    as for me just finished building mine, turns out the final size of the install.wim with 8 versions is 7.45GB as reported by windows explorer that is with all updates and software added.
    kept running into the same proble thrice now, you cannot use anytime upgrade along the way, you would have to perform in two steps,first install home basic, build it the way you like then sysprep and capture ,restart and use anytime upgrade to home premium
    after sysprepping and capturing home premium you would need to make a fresh install for professional then use anytime upgrade to ultimate

    installation goes on just fine with $OEM$ folder in place , tested on 7 machines already.
     
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  20. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

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    I decided to intefra chipset, lan & sata drivers to the versions:)

    The rest I keep in a folder along with other software and tools from MDL.
    Ill sysprep and capture setup to a new Install.wim and to a new ISO, more specific for that computer.