Driver packs

One golden image, every hardware model — drivers meet the machine at deploy time.

Good driver pack shape

ZIP contains extracted driver folders, not a vendor installer EXE Packages include .inf, .sys, and signature .cat files Model match rule uses a stable substring from diagnostics Pack name says vendor/model/OS generation clearly Universal packs use * intentionally First deploy with the pack is checked in activity/logs

DRIVERS

images drivers profiles

model matchingready

Latitude 74*Dell CAB extracted ZIP

ProDesk 600HP pack

*Universal storage pack

The client detects the model during deploy and injects every matching Forge driver pack.

There are two separate driver stories in ImageForge, solving two different problems:

1. Driver packs in the Forge (for deployed Windows)

Upload a ZIP of driver folders (.inf/.sys/.cat) in the console's drivers view and scope it with model match rules. During deploy, the client reads the target's SMBIOS model string and injects every pack whose rules match — before first boot, into the applied image. One golden image stays clean; hardware-specific drivers arrive only on the hardware that needs them.

Match rules are case-insensitive substrings of the model: Latitude 74 matches Latitude 7420 and 7480.
* matches every machine — use it for universal packs.
Vendor "driver cab" downloads (Dell/HP/Lenovo publish per-model cabs) extract into exactly the folder-of-INFs shape a pack ZIP wants.
Injection failures are non-fatal; the machine still boots and the miss is logged.

2. Drivers in the boot media (for WinPE itself)

The boot client needs its own NIC/storage drivers to function at all. The standard ImageForge boot media includes a broad vendor driver library (see Boot media), and at boot the client self-heals: if no network adapter appears, it borrows network drivers from the machine's own Windows install automatically.

Limits of self-healing — modern WinPE enforces driver-signature catalogs unconditionally, so the client can only borrow drivers whose packages carry their own .cat file (OEM-installed drivers do; Windows' built-in drivers don't). Machines whose NIC only ever used an inbox driver need that driver in the boot media — which is what the default library is for.

Diagnosing a machine that won't network

The client's diagnostics view shows every physical network device and its state — including devices with no driver at all (these have no device class, which hides them from naive listings). The connect screen distinguishes the three cases for you:

Message	Meaning	Fix
"no network hardware detected at all"	Nothing enumerated — NIC disabled in firmware, or dongle/dock unplugged	Enable in BIOS / connect before boot
"hardware found, but no driver works"	Device present, no driver binds	Use a site-specific media package with the right WinPE driver pack
Wireless adapter Started, nothing else	Only Wi-Fi exists or works	WinPE has no Wi-Fi — wired or USB NIC required