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KACE Systems Deployment Appliance 9.2 Common Documents - Administrator Guide

About the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance Getting started Using the Dashboard Configuring the appliance Setting up user accounts and user authentication Configuring security settings Preparing for deployment Managing device inventory Using labels Creating a Windows or Linux Boot Environment Managing drivers Capturing images Capturing user states Creating scripted installations Creating a task sequence Automating deployments Performing manual deployments Managing custom deployments Managing offline deployments About the Remote Site Appliance Importing and exporting appliance components Managing disk space Troubleshooting appliance issues Updating appliance software Glossary About us Legal notices

Managing network drivers

Managing network drivers

Download network and storage drivers
Import driver packages
Display device compatibility
View driver compatibility details
Export drivers
Re-cache drivers

You can manually download drivers to the drivers share directory, which is organized in to subdirectories. You can store any type of drivers to the drivers directory, but Quest KACE recommends storing only the network drivers to this directory.

There are two boot environment folders in the drivers share directory and a folder for each supported operating system. Each KBE and operating system type requires its own driver version.

The drivers share directory has the following directory structure:

•
kbe_windows_x32
•
kbe_windows_x64

You can create subdirectories under the KBE folders to organize the newly added drivers.

Best practices for adding drivers

•
Name the folder using the device brand name, then create a subfolder with the name of the drivers to add the driver files.
•
The path to the drivers, including the driver name cannot exceed 255 characters; the directories and driver names do not support special characters.
•
The appliance does not install .exe or .msi files. Extract the files, then add the drivers to the folder.
•
Do not combine Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 drivers in the same KBE folder. You can only add drivers for one platform type to a folder. You cannot add drivers for WinPE 5.0, which uses the drivers for Windows 8.1 to a folder for WinPE 4.0, which uses the drivers for Windows 8.0.
* 
NOTE: Windows ADK 8.0 supports WinPE 4.0. Windows ADK 8.1 supports WinPE 5.0. Windows ADK 10 supports WinPE 10.0.
•
Re-cache added drivers, and build a new KBE using the Media Manager. The Media Manager uses the Windows ADK installed on the device to rebuild the KBE, and automatically adds the drivers to the KBE folder.
•
Do not name a KBE using name that already exists: the Media Manager cannot overwrite an existing KBE.

Download network and storage drivers

Download network and storage drivers

You can go the Quest KACE Support site to download the network and mass storage drivers required to build the KACE Boot Environment (KBE).

1.
Move any drivers that are currently stored in the drivers share directory to a different location.
* 
NOTE: When switching from one version of WinPE KBE to another, remove any drivers that were downloaded from the Driver Feed because the drivers are similar. To avoid slow deployments, remove drivers for devices that are no longer in your environment.
2.
For instructions on adding drivers, re-caching, and building a new KBE, see https://support.quest.com/kace-systems-deployment-appliance/kb/111717.
The extraction process creates a KBE_driver_pack directory, which contains the kbe_windows_x86 and the kbe_windows_x64 directories. The kbe_windows_x86 and kbe_windows_x64 directories each contain a dell-winpe-a0x and kace directory.
3.
Access the drivers share directory of your appliance from the UNC path \\<appliance>\drivers where <appliance> is either the appliance IP address or the DNS name.
4.
Copy the contents from the KBE_driver_pack/kbe_windows_x86 directory in to the corresponding kbe_windows_x86 directory on the appliance. Also, copy the contents of the KBE_driver_pack/kbe_windows_x64 directory in to the corresponding kbe_windows_x64 directory on the appliance.
5.
Create the directory structure for the driver types, for example .inf, .sys, and .cat.
There might be dependent files that the .inf file requires to load the drivers, or you can add drivers that are not in the driver package. Quest KACE recommends placing all files in the same directory as the .inf, .sys, and .cat files.
The command-line tasks from Windows are complete. You can log in to the KACE Systems Deployment Appliance Administrator Console to re-cache the driver directory to which you added the drivers.
6.
On the left navigation pane, click Library to expand the section, then click Drivers to display the Drivers page.
7.
Select Choose Action > Add Drivers, and re-cache the directory to which you added drivers.
The driver re-cache scans only the drivers share directory. The drivers_postinstall directory does not require re-caching.
Use the latest version of the KACE Media Manager and the Windows ADK to build the WinPE KBE for Windows 7 and higher. The new KBE includes the new drivers.

Import driver packages

Import driver packages

You can import drivers to a different device or share drivers between KACE SDAs. The appliance lists the driver packages that have been exported and saved with the .pkg extension in the restore directory.

For information on exporting drivers, see Export drivers.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Settings to expand the section, then click Package Management to display the Package Management page.
2.
Click Import SDA Packages to display the Import List page, which lists all of the packages in the restore share directory.
3.
Select the package that you what you want to import.
4.
Select Choose Action > Import Selected.
If the drivers are network or storage drivers, re-cache the drivers. See Re-cache drivers.

Display device compatibility

Display device compatibility

For attended scripted installations, you can add the built-in Display Device Compatibility pre-installation task. This task enables you to verify whether all the drivers for the hardware for a device to which you are deploying the operating system are in the appliance prior to running a scripted installation. If there is a discrepancy, the list of hardware without drivers is displayed and the scripted installation is stopped.

1.
On the left navigation pane, click Deployments, then click Scripted Installations to display the Scripted Installations page.
2.
Select the appropriate scripted installation to display the Scripted Installation Detail page.
3.
Under Installation Plan, add the Display Device Compatibility task to the Run Pre-installation Tasks column to upload the hardware inventory and display the list of incompatible devices on the target device console.
4.
Click Save.
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