Windows 7 / Getting Started

Deploying Driver Packages to Clients Using Method 2

To deploy driver packages to different types of clients using driver groups that have been configured with hardware and/or install image filters, do the following:

  1. In the Windows Deployment Services console, under the server_name node under the Drivers node, right-click on DriverGroup1 and select Disable. You must disable DriverGroup1 when performing this method because DriverGroup1 does not have any filters configured on it, which means that all driver packages in DriverGroup1 will be deployed to all clients unless DriverGroup1 is disabled.
  2. Right-click on the Drivers node and select Add Driver Group. Type a descriptive name for the driver group.
  3. Click Next to display the Client Hardware Filters page of the Add Driver Group Wizard.
  4. Click Add to open the Add Filter dialog box.
  5. Select a filter type. The available filter types are:
    • Manufacturer
    • BIOS Vendor
    • BIOS Version
    • Chassis Type
    • UUID
    Manufacturer is the most common type of filter used, followed by Chassis Type. The others are typically used for troubleshooting.
  6. Select either Equal To or Not Equal To as the operator for the filter.
  7. Type a value for the filter and click Add. You can add multiple values to a filter if needed-for example, if the name of the manufacturer has multiple possible spellings.
  8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 to add additional filters as needed.
  9. Click Next to display the Install Image Filters page.
  10. Click Add to open the Add Filter dialog box.
  11. Select a filter type. The available filter types are:
    • OS Version
    • OS Edition
    • OS Language
  12. Select either Equal To or Not Equal To as the operator for the filter.
  13. Type a value for the filter and click Add.
  14. Repeat steps 12 through 14 to add additional filters as needed.
  15. Click OK when finished, and then click Next to display the Packages To Install page.
  16. On the Packages To Install page, leave Install Only The Driver Packages That Match A Client's Hardware selected. Click Next and then Finish to complete the Add Driver Group Wizard.
  17. Now add the driver packages needed to your new driver group. You can do this in two ways:
    • For driver packages not yet added to the Windows Deployment Services server, right-click the Drivers node and select Add Driver Group. Use the Add Driver Packages Wizard to add driver packages, first to the server and then to the driver group.
    • For driver packages already added to the Windows Deployment Services server but in the wrong driver groups, right-click the driver group you just created and select Add Driver Packages To This Group. Use the Add Driver Packages To driver_group Wizard to add the driver packages to the driver group.

Warning Be sure to test this approach carefully before using it in a production environment. In particular, be careful to specify the values of filters exactly as needed-omitting a period or other character can invalidate a filter.

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