Add Driver Package to Capture Image - Windows Deployment Services 2008 R2

Using Windows Deployment Services 2008 R2 with a Capture Image of Version 6.1.7600 I have now had two instances where the network doesn't load.  In both cases I've found that this is due to the network driver missing from the capture image.

I've found a lot of posts and blogs on how to add the drivers to the image and some do it the easy way, but a good number of them don't.


After booting from the capture image you attempt to enter the servername / ip address for the WDS and hit connect. This results in:

Error: The network location cannot be reached. For information about network troubleshooting, see Windows Help.

At this point if you press Shift F10 to open command prompt and type wpeutil InitializeNetwork followed by ipconfig it will result in a blank response.  Running ipconfig /renew results in "The operation failed as no adapter is in the state permissible for this operation"


Add the driver to WDS:

1. Download the NIC from the manufacturer and extract the .inf / other files.
2. Place the driver files on the WDS server. In my case I put them in the following directory: C:\Drivers\Lenovo\E520\x64 and x86
3. Open your WDS console
4. Right click on Drivers
5. Add Driver Package
6. Select driver from a folder
7. Navigate to the Drivers folder
8. Next
9. You should see it list all the drivers it finds
10. Check the ones you want and press next
11. Next
12. It will copy the drivers
13. Next
14. Select or create a new driver group
15. Finish

Add the driver to the Capture Image:

1. Ensure your capture image isn't in use
2. Go to Boot Images
3. Select your Capture Image
4. Right click and "Add Driver Packages to Image"
5. Next
6. "Search for Packages"
7. In the results pane select the drivers you want to add
8. Next
9. Image will be mounted, drivers added and dismounted
10. Finish

PXE Boot your machine to your capture image and connect.

Note: you can test the NIC prior to adding it to the image by getting the NIC drivers on a floppy or USB, PXE booting to capture, pressing Shift F10 to open cmd prompt, running drvload "path to .inf" and then issuing wpeutil InitializeNetwork.