We are going to deploy Windows 7 x64 using SCCM 2007 R3. I have some questions on Drivers and how they work. 1. If your hardware is new you need to add the network drives into a custom boot.wim file and use that to boot up to WinPE (true/false)? 2. You can add Driver Packages without importing all of the drivers into SCCM via the DRIVERS\IMPORT wizard (true/false)? 3. If number 2 above is in fact True how do you know SCCM actually found the proper .inf file? All adding a Driver Package seems to do is point to the location you specify but in this location there are more than 1 .inf file. How does SCCM know which to use? 4. What do most of you use for a directory structure under Drivers\Packages? We were going to add driver packages with a sub-folder structurelike this: HP\8100 Elite Small Form Factor\Drivers\Network Drivers\Intel Pro 100 Drivers for Win7 x64 Or is having that many sub-folders under your Driver\Packages a bad idea? Thanks for any help on this topic!! mqh7

1. Not necessarily. The WinPE Boot Images are based on Windows 7 and contain many drivers by default. You should first try your boot image with a particular model of NIC before adding the dirver to a boot image. 2. Correct. This is commonly known as the "Johan" method for drivers. It is an outside the box way of doing drivers. 3. It doesn't need to know. All it does is copy the entire driver package to the destination system. It's up to Windows to determine which drivers to use. 4. That's way too granular but it depends on the driver deployment methodlogy you are going to adopt. Generally, there is no reason to go beyond model & architecture.Jason | http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jsandys | Twitter @JasonSandys

Jason, thanks for the info. We have a HP 8100 that a Windows 7 deployment via Task Sequences failed on until we added the drivers into a custom boot.wim file. Question: Why is it called the "Johan" method, was that a developer at Microsoft? And if you do just create driver packages does it work the same? Or does Microsoft reccomend you alwasy add your drivers via the Drivers\Import wizard? For the Win7 rollout(s) you've done how did you handle the drivers, did you just use driver packages? and last question: for number 4: if we do go super granular will it still work? or does SCCM get confused if you nest your driver packages this deep? Thanks again for your help. mqh7

SCCM will handle whatever you throw at it -- Jason is recommending that you're probably creating too much management overhead by creating driver packages that are that granular. I generally recommend using Make, Model, and Target Operating System (eg. Dell OptiPlex 960 Windows 7 64-bit) -- that might even still be a bit too granular for some people though. I've run into problems in the past, where driver INFs are written in such a way by their respective vendors that they don't properly detect their target OS and architecture. That's why I go that "granular". CheersIf this post was helpful, please click the little "Vote as Helpful" button :) Trevor Sullivan http://trevorsullivan.net

It's called the Johan method because Johan Arwidmark essentially "invented" and popularized the method: http://www.deploymentresearch.com/. Johan is a Setup and Deployment MVP. For recommend methods, it depends. Here are two great blog series that discuss the topic (one by Johan and one by Michael Niehaus -- a primary developer on MDT): http://www.deployvista.com/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/82/language/en-US/Default.aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2010/04/29/configmgr-2007-driver-management-the-novel-part-1.aspx As for number 4, I concur with Trevor. Jason | http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jsandys | Twitter @JasonSandys