Update a network driver through GPO/AD

Question

Our organization has just deployed new computers with Windows 8.1. Roughly 50 of them. We've run into an issue with the driver on the new computers which is flooding the network with ipv6/multicast chatter. Acording to this article, disabling ipv6 does not fix the issue.

I'm looking for a script or GPO to deploy out the patched driver that is supposed to deal with this issue.

Solution 1

Got it scripted, thanks for your input guys.

xcopy "\\fileserver\share$\I217" "C:\I217\"
%SystemRoot%\System32\InfDefaultInstall.exe C:\I217\e1d64x64.inf

Solution 2

I realize you have already figured it out with a similar command, but just as an FYI you can also use the pnputil command to do what you need. Just copy the driver files (.inf, .sys, .cat) into some folder on the system (with a script doing xcopy or Group Policy preferences), and run the following command:

pnputil -i -a "C:\folder\driver.inf"

Note that you want to run the command elevated (e.g. in a Computer Startup script, not a User Logon script).

I have used pnputil in a PowerShell script to iterate through a folder tree and load all of the drivers contained within. This is really handy with a Microsoft Surface, where the drivers are distributed in a single ZIP file.

$ScriptPath = "C:\SurfacePro2_Drivers"
$files = get-childitem -path $Scriptpath -recurse -filter *.inf
foreach ($file in $files)
{
    Write-host "Injecting driver $file"
    pnputil -i -a $file.FullName
}

Solution 3

I know this may be a little late at this point, but you may want to precede your login script with something like:

if exists "C:\I217\e1d64x64.inf" goto :EXIT
xcopy "\\fileserver\share$\I217" "C:\I217\"
%SystemRoot%\System32\InfDefaultInstall.exe C:\I217\e1d64x64.inf  
REM Complete script
:EXIT
exit

That way, you'll only technically run the copy command once. Saving your network resources from extra work. :)

Comments

[Nathan C]

GPO can only deploy .msi installers...which I doubt your driver is. Do you have any other software management (SCCM, etc)? Alternatively, you can make it run a .bat file that executes the installer at logon time.

[Justin]

We've got Dell KACE. Just an INF and accompanying files.

[Brad Bouchard]

Depending on what type of driver package you have (i.e. Can it be installed like an exe or MSI or other installable) you could use a simple login script that opens a batch file which has a single line of code that points to the installable somewhere on a shared drive. If you're interested in this let me know and I'll answer with a script for you.

[Nathan C]

@BradBouchard He mentioned it's not an installer. In this case, you'd want to package the driver in order to use remote installers with dpinst. Otherwise, you may have to use your IT minions. ;)

[Justin]

If you've got a script I would be eternally grateful :)

[Brad Bouchard]

I hadn't seen your comment before I posted mine. If it's just an INF you've got then it wouldn't be nearly as easy. Sorry, but Nathan's right, you'll have to do some footwork or get some interns to go change it.

[Justin]

I did find this command, however I found that the infdefaultinstall updated the driver on the device immediately, where pnputil did not.

[Justin]

Yeah, I did end up implementing a log off script similar to this one.