Unattended setup - how to add Intel RST driver for "Load Driver"?

WinFan · Sep 17, 2023

How can use of an Intel RST driver be automated in a Windows 11 unattended setup?
This driver joins two NVMe disks into one virtual RAID 0 disk before partitioning takes place.
During an interactive setup, the driver would be selected manually at the "Load Driver" prompt.

The driver folder (with .inf etc files) has been copied into the root of the ISO built with OSCDIMG, but I cannot figure out how to automagically install this driver so that the partitions are created thereafter on the RAID 0 disk.

Three partitions are specified in unattended.xml:

XML:

            <DiskConfiguration>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Size>260</Size>
                            <Type>EFI</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Size>16</Size>
                            <Type>MSR</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>FAT32</Format>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>Windows</Label>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                </Disk>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                            <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>
                            <Value>Windows 11 Pro</Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX</Key>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>

The WinRE partition will be added at the end of the disk later using FDISK automation or when BitLocker is activated - still exploring both of these.

Batch:

select disk 0
select partition 3
extend filesystem
shrink desired=800 minimum=700
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery"
set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"
gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001

Specifically, I am looking for advice on how to load this Intel RST driver before partitioning takes place.

Thanks

glasskuter · Sep 17, 2023

@Kari is an expert at that. I believe his tutorial here are what you want. DISM - Add or Remove Drivers on an Offline Image

Megahertz · Sep 17, 2023

If you're going to create a RAID array under BIOS (BIOS RAID) or using a RAID card (hardware RAID), the RAID 0 array must be created before you begin the windows installation so that the installation wizard see the RAID as a single drive. This step you can't automate. You must manually create the RAID 0 array.

To add a driver to the installation files you use DISM and the drivers must be added to boot.wim (the two images) and added to install.wim (at least to the image you want to automate).
This is a tutorial I created years ago to add drivers to Win 7 installation files. It is the same thing, only Win 10 has 7 images on Install.wim.

Create a Windows 7 USB flash installation with new drives for new MB's - Windows 7 Help Forums

This tutorial is to help to install Windows 7 64 bits on new MB that has USB 3 and other drives that are not in Windows 7 installation disk. Id a hard time to install Windows 7 64 bits on my new Giga

www.sevenforums.com

Index 1 = Windows 10 Home
Index 2 = Windows 10 Home N
Index 3 = Windows 10 Home Single Language
Index 4 = Windows 10 Education
Index 5 = Windows 10 Education N
Index 6 = Windows 10 Pro
Index 7 = Windows 10 Pro N

WinFan · Sep 17, 2023

Thanks Folks - the RAID array has been created in the BIOS. It's just the Intel RST drivers that I wish to use in an automated install so that they don't have to be installed interactively.

@Megahertz: it's Windows 11 not 10, but tx - I'll review your Win7 tut and see if it solves the challenge.

Megahertz · Sep 17, 2023

The Intel RST drivers must be as *.ini, *.sys, *.cat etc.
On the Intel Site you will find a *.exe and you need to extract the drivers from it.

Extracting drivers from the RST installer

Hello, It seems none of the options for extracting the drivers are valid anymore. I have downloaded the installer from https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19512/intel-rapid-storage-technology-driver-installation-software-with-intel-optane-memory-10th-and-11th-gen-platforms.html...

community.intel.com

The provedure for each image index on boot and install.wim is:
- Use DISM to mount the indexed image
- Use DISM to add the drivers
- Use DISM to unmount the indexed image
You have to do it at least for Boot.wim (2x) and install.wim (1x).
Please note that you have to use install.wim and not install.esd

@SIW2 knows everything about adding a driver to a image.
I think you can also use Dism++

Megahertz · Sep 17, 2023

WinFan said:
Thanks Folks - the RAID array has been created in the BIOS. It's just the Intel RST drivers that I wish to use in an automated install so that they don't have to be installed interactively.

@Megahertz: it's Windows 11 not 10, but tx - I'll review your Win7 tut and see if it solves the challenge.

Win 10 or Win 11 has same installation structure
Index 1 = Windows 11 Home
Index 2 = Windows 11 Home N
Index 3 = Windows 11 Home Single Language
Index 4 = Windows 11 Education
Index 5 = Windows 11 Education N
Index 6 = Windows 11 Pro
Index 7 = Windows 11 Pro N

hsehestedt · Sep 17, 2023

You would need to inject the Intel RST driver into the WinPE image. Remember, when you install Windows it runs Windows PE in order to perform the installation.

NOTE: Please be aware that this process is different from just injecting drivers into your Windows image. Because the Intel RST driver has to be available BEFORE Windows is installed (it needs to be available in Windows PE) it is known as a "Boot critical driver".

Let me know which you prefer (or if you want both):

1) I can provide to you a program I wrote to inject that driver for you.

2) I can provide to you step-by-step instructions for injecting the driver manually.

hsehestedt · Sep 17, 2023

Since I already had the procedure for doing this manually pre-written, I'll go ahead and post those instructions now.

EDIT: Adding one note for clarification - In the instructions below I ask you to update both Index 1 and 2 in the boot.wim file. Technically, you really only need to update index 2 since that is the image used by Windows setup. It's simply my personal preference to update both indices.

NOTE: Something I don't note in the instructions below is this: I would STRONGLY suggest creating an antivirus exclusion for the folder C:\Mount folder (and all sub folders) after you create those folders. Antivirus software can easily interfere with DISM operations especially when you are attempting to commit the final changes.

Adding Boot Critical Drivers to the boot.wim

Create three folders. In this example I will use the following:

C:\Mount < Will contain the boot.wim to inject drivers into
C:\Mount\Drivers < Will contain drivers to inject
C:\Mount\BootWIM < A temporary directory to mount the boot.wim into

Copy the drivers you wish to inject into the C:\Mount\Drivers folder.
Copy the boot.wim file to the C:\Mount folder.

NOTE: The drivers need to be extracted so that the .inf files are accessible.

Open a CMD prompt as Administrator.

You can see information about the image file (including available indexes) with this command:

dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:c:\Mount\boot.wim

Note the available indexes from the above command.

Repeat the below procedure twice. Once using an index of "1" and again for index "2". This simply makes sure that the boot critical drivers are installed both in Windows PE and Windows setup since the boot.wim file contains 2 images.

Use the following DISM commands to mount the Boot.wim:

DISM /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\Mount\boot.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\Mount\BootWIM

Use the following DISM command to add the driver:

DISM /Image:C:\Mount\BootWIM /Add-Driver /Driver:C:\Mount\Drivers /recurse

Use the following DISM command to unmount the Boot.wim:

DISM /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\Mount\BootWIM /Commit

End Procedure for Adding Boot Critical Drivers to the boot.wim

garlin · Sep 18, 2023

Intel RST drivers need to be installed on BOTH boot.wim & install.wim images.

WinFan · Sep 18, 2023

@hsehestedt and @garlin - Awesome, thanks for the very detailed advice - most appreciated!
Is the reference to the program that injects the driver a script or something compiled? If it's a script, it's kinda like using "PatchWinREScript_2004plus.ps1" which can be examined and tweaked, bit a compiled .exe could not be used (no offence implied)
Thanks

hsehestedt · Sep 18, 2023

WinFan said:
@hsehestedt and @garlin - Awesome, thanks for the very detailed advice - most appreciated!
Is the reference to the program that injects the driver a script or something compiled? If it's a script, it's kinda like using "PatchWinREScript_2004plus.ps1" which can be examined and tweaked, bit a compiled .exe could not be used (no offence implied)
Thanks

It's an executable that I created. However, if you look at the procedure that I provided earlier, you can see that this could be made into a simple batch file in mere minutes.