Hi,
Updating this post again. Been quiet cause I've been finalizing the changes to my HII system.
Network23 hit the nail on the head. Minisetup will not install MSD drivers at setup time. And, of course, that's what the MS docs on sysprep say too. This is from the ref.chm file that comes with the sysprep cab:
Contents Tab \ sysprep.inf \ [SysprepMassStorage] section:
Quote:
[SysprepMassStorage] (Sysprep.inf)Notes
- When you run the Sysprep -reseal or Sysprep -factory command, Sysprep reads the [SysprepMassStorage] section of the Sysprep.inf file and installs the mass-storage controllers by writing the information into the registry before shutdown. The next time the computer starts, all mass-storage controllers are available.
- If you do not use the [SysprepMassStorage] section, Sysprep requires that the mass-storage controller on the master installation be identical to the controllers on the destination computers.
- If you use images as part of your manufacturing process, you may want to reduce the number of images that you maintain by creating one master image to install Microsoft® Windows® on destination computers that may use different mass-storage controllers.
|
I just didn't RTFM deep enough.
The MSD's need to be made available to sysprep at the time the machine is shrink wrapped, prior to capturing your deployment image.
It's a bit of a drag, but looking at what goes on at the driver level it makes sense. When you install an MSD to the OS, Windows doesn't just copy .sys files around. There's keys that get injected into the registry that define the driver.
It's not something minisetup can do because the setup process never gets a chance to take off. If your image doesn't already have the driver installed to it, you cant get past the low-level-to-high-level disk access change over that occurs at OS boot time. If you cant get past that, you cant even get to minisetup, so you're in a catch 22 with a borked deployment image.
Plus, it also means you have to regenerate your deployment image each time you want to target a computer with an MSD your old image doesn't cover.
SO, yeah, sorry for stating the obvious, but it took me really pulling my hair out for 8 days before it *became* obvious for me. I'm just hoping any one else having the same problem can read the thread, skip all the trouble, and jump straight into rebuilding their deployment image.
