UFD Imaging and Dell Driver Cabs

One trick I found while creating Windows sysprep images is to make the core image as neutral as possible so there's no conflicts when installing on various vendor hardware.  As such, after applying an image to a new computer, I copy over the appropriate hardware drivers to the new C:\Drivers folder.  Since I use PowerShell to install the images, the command I use to detect the hardware is:

if (gwmi win32_computersystem|?{$_.model -like '*Latitude E6430*'}){robocopy d:\drivers\E6430 n:\drivers /e}

This is after I've already performed the registry update so the new image can detect drivers at the c:\drivers location:

1. Open Regedit

2. Browse to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

3. Locate DevicePath and edit it to be: c:\drivers;%SystemRoot%\inf

4. Continue with sysprep and create the image

I use Dell computers most of the time and found this location to be wonderful:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/2065.dell-driver-cab-files-for-enterprise-client-os-deployment.aspx

It has all the driver cabs.  Simply extract the cab into a folder and use the contents for the new computer.

HP has a similar site:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/clientmanagement/drivers-bios.html