Adding Network (and Storage) Drivers to Boot Images in SCCM

Having written a post on Obtaining and Importing Drivers in SCCM for HP Client Devices it seems only fitting to follow it up with a post on adding drivers to boot images in SCCM. So here goes.

For this post I will add the driver for the StarTech USB-C to Gigabit Network Adapter (product id US1GC30B) to my boot image.

Although I have the drivers on a driver CD that came with the adapter I wanted to go ahead and look for a more up-to-date driver. I first had a look on the StarTech website for the drivers which told me a) the original chipset manufacturer (Realtek) and b) the chipset model (RTL8153). Armed with this information I then had a look on the Realtek website an immediately found a more up to date driver (10.13 vs 10.10). As I explained in my previous post, you almost always find the latest drivers from the original chipset manufacturer.

If you already have the driver imported in SCCM

Before going ahead with the step-by-step instructions, if you’ve already got the driver imported into SCCM then all you need to do is to go into the Properties of the boot image and add the drivers in the Drivers tab:

Click on the yellow star, find the driver click on Apply and make sure to click on Yes when offered to update the boot image for you.

How to Import and Add Drivers to the Boot Image

Create Source Folders for your Source Drivers and Driver Package

Use a tool like 7-Zip to extract the drivers and find the 64-bit and 32-bit drivers. In my example I’m going to add the 64-bit drivers to my boot image.

Create a source folder for your driver and copy the extracted drivers into the folder. Create the folder structure and name the actual source folder wisely so the device, chipset and architecture is easily identifiable. I’ve decided that all USB network adapter drivers will have their own source folder with the naming convention of USBAdapterModel-ChipsetModel.

So for the drivers for this adapter, here is the source folder structure I’ve created:

\\sccmserver\Sources\OSD\Drivers\Driver Sources\USB Network Adapters\US1GC30B-RTL8153\Windows 10 x64

As for the driver package, I plan on creating a single driver package which will house drivers for every USB Network Adapters I have in use. It doesn’t make sense to create separate packages for each USB network adapter.

For the driver package the folder structure is as follows:

\\sccmserver\Sources\OSD\Drivers\Driver Packages\USB Network Adapters\Windows 10 – x64

Copy the drivers into the source folder and we can proceed to importing it into SCCM and the boot image

Import the Source Drivers into SCCM and Add the Drivers to a Boot Image

1) In the Software Library workspace expand Operating Systems and select Drivers. Click on “Import Driver” in the ribbon

In the Import New Driver Wizard leave the first option selected and enter or browse to the UNC path where you copied your device drivers. In my case it’s \\\sccmserver\Sources\OSD\Drivers\Driver Sources\USB Network Adapters\US1GC30B-RTL8153\Windows 10 x64

Under “Specify the option for duplicate drivers” choose “Import the driver and append a new category to the existing categories”.

2) In the Driver Details page:

Check “Hide drivers that are not in a storage or network class (for boot images)”

Uncheck “Hide drivers that are not digitally signed”

Check “Enable these drivers and allow computers to install them”

Click on Categories and either select an existing category to add these drivers to or create a new category. I’ve decided to create a new category called “USB Network Adapters x64”

3) In the Add Drivers to Packages step I’ve created a new driver package called “USB Network Adapters – Windows 10 x64”.

Under “Path” I’ve entered the path to the folder I created to store all USB network adapter drivers \\sccmserver\Sources\OSD\Drivers\Driver Packages\USB Network Adapters\Windows 10 – x64

4) In the Add Driver to Boot Image stage select the boot image to add the driver to. Needless to say, make sure to import 64-bit drivers into the 64-bit boot image and vice versa.

Click on Next and be sure to click on Yes when offered to start the process of updating the boot images:

Complete the rest of the wizard and wait for the wizard to finish. Check the content status of the boot image to make sure it’s been updated.

Distribute the Driver Package to your Distribution Points?

Go ahead and distribute the driver package to your DPs if you need to. That’s it!