Overview

OSDeploy.com Twitter PowerShell Gallery GitHub
Search…
Overview
One of the most challenging aspects of my career has been working with Windows Drivers.  I have spent the last several years looking for ways to reduce my Driver footprint, and I'm sure my situation is not unique
Driver Automation Tool
Let my start by saying that the Driver Automation Tool is the Gold Standard for Driver Management.  MVP Maurice Daly has done an exceptional job and this is what you should be using in your Enterprise 
If you are already invested in this, stick with it.  You would be a complete fool to use anything else
My Challenges
I'll be the first to admit that as beautiful as Maurice's Driver Automation Tool is, its not a good fit for my Enterprise, so in this section of OSDeploy, I'll play the part of The Fool and detail as much as I can about my approach and why
I'm not using the Driver Automation Tool
Portability
The biggest need that I have with all methods of Driver Management is that I need a small footprint.  I don't need Automation, or simplicity.  I'll gladly trade the conveniences if I can reduce the size of my Driver Repository.
I work for a large Oil Services company and support about 40,000 computers, soon to be 70,000.  We are Global, and I have to support systems wherever the oil is.  Most of these computers are connected in the Office, but a very large number of computers are not.  They don't sit on our Domain, but rather, on a Rig in the middle of the Gulf, a Vessel in the middle of the ocean, or even in the back of a Truck.  These are my Workgroup computers
Additionally, I support computers that sit in Offices ... but these are not typical Offices.  These are Offices that are connected through a Satellite link in Africa, Asia, or the Middle East.
I have to support all of these systems.  So when I manage my OS Images and Drivers, I need them to be small.  I need Portability
Universal
Another challenge that I have is that I need to be able to image a computer with Windows 10 in several different scenarios to support my Enterprise, so however I decide to Manage and Deploy Drivers, it must be Universal.  These are some of the 
Network Connected
Network Disconnected
ConfigMgr
MDT
Windows Setup
USB
ISO
WinPE Dism
Clean OS Install
OS Upgrade
Domain
Workgroup
Many, many different Comptuer Models
Too many Computer Models
By far the largest hurdle I have is the number of Computer Models that I have to support.  My company is a Dell shop, and we keep computers for much longer than I would like, so unfortunately, I have to support 115 different Computer Models on Windows 10
Latitude (47)
Precision W (27)
OptiPlex (21)
Precision M (17)
Venue (2)
XPS (1)
1.
Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme (7404)
2.
Latitude 5285
3.
Latitude 5290 2-in-1
4.
Latitude 5414
5.
Latitude 5480
6.
Latitude 5490
7.
Latitude 5491
8.
Latitude 7200 2-in-1
9.
Latitude 7212 Rugged Extreme Tablet
10.
Latitude 7280
11.
Latitude 7290
12.
Latitude 7390
13.
Latitude 7400
14.
Latitude 7414
15.
Latitude 7480
16.
Latitude D620
17.
Latitude D630
18.
Latitude E4200
19.
Latitude E4310
20.
Latitude E5430 non-vPro
21.
Latitude E5440
22.
Latitude E5450
23.
Latitude E5470
24.
Latitude E5520
25.
Latitude E5530 non-vPro
26.
Latitude E5540
27.
Latitude E5550
28.
Latitude E5570
29.
Latitude E6220
30.
Latitude E6230
31.
Latitude E6320
32.
Latitude E6330
33.
Latitude E6400
34.
Latitude E6410
35.
Latitude E6420
36.
Latitude E6430
37.
Latitude E6440
38.
Latitude E6500
39.
Latitude E6510
40.
Latitude E6520
41.
Latitude E6530
42.
Latitude E7240
43.
Latitude E7250
44.
Latitude E7270
45.
Latitude E7440
46.
Latitude E7450
47.
Latitude E7470
1.
Precision 5820 Tower
2.
Precision 7820 Tower
3.
Precision 7920 Rack
4.
Precision 7920 Tower
5.
Precision R7610
6.
Precision Rack 7910
7.
Precision T1600
8.
Precision T1650
9.
Precision T3600
10.
Precision T3610
11.
Precision T5600
12.
Precision T5610
13.
Precision T7600
14.
Precision T7610
15.
Precision Tower 3620
16.
Precision Tower 5810
17.
Precision Tower 7810
18.
Precision Tower 7910
19.
Precision WorkStation 380
20.
Precision WorkStation 390
21.
Precision WorkStation 690
22.
Precision WorkStation T3400
23.
Precision WorkStation T3500
24.
Precision WorkStation T5400
25.
Precision WorkStation T5500
26.
Precision WorkStation T7400
27.
Precision WorkStation T7500
1.
OptiPlex 3020
2.
OptiPlex 3020M
3.
OptiPlex 390
4.
OptiPlex 5040
5.
OptiPlex 5050
6.
OptiPlex 5060
7.
OptiPlex 7010
8.
OptiPlex 7020
9.
OptiPlex 7040
10.
OptiPlex 7060
11.
OptiPlex 7440 AIO
12.
OptiPlex 745
13.
OptiPlex 755
14.
OptiPlex 760
15.
OptiPlex 780
16.
OptiPlex 790
17.
OptiPlex 9010
18.
OptiPlex 9020
19.
OptiPlex 9020 AIO
20.
OptiPlex 990
21.
OptiPlex GX520
1.
Dell Precision M3800
2.
Precision 5510
3.
Precision 5520
4.
Precision 5530
5.
Precision 7510
6.
Precision 7520
7.
Precision 7530
8.
Precision 7710
9.
Precision 7720 
10.
Precision 7730 
11.
Precision M4500 
12.
Precision M4600
13.
Precision M4700 
14.
Precision M4800
15.
Precision M6600 
16.
Precision M6700 
17.
Precision M6800
1.
Venue 11 Pro 5130
2.
Venue 11 Pro 7130 vPro
1.
XPS L322X
Next Steps
The rest of OSDDrivers will detail how I try to manage my Drivers to overcome my challenges
Release Notes
Last modified 2yr ago
Copy link
Contents
Driver Automation Tool
My Challenges
Portability
Universal
Too many Computer Models
Next Steps