Windows Driver Installation

pnputil.exe

• Win7
• Win8

rem list all known drivers
pnputil -e

rem add driver defined by driver.inf
pnputil -a driver.inf

rem add and install driver defined by driver.inf
pnputil -i -a driver.inf

devcon.exe

Besides other things, like query for existing hardware and its drivers, devcon can be used, to install a hardware driver with by its INF-file.

See:

• ​http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272/en-us
• ​http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544780%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
• ​http://www.osronline.com/ddkx/ddtools/devcon_499v.htm
• ​http://www.osronline.com/ddkx/ddtools/devcon_86er.htm
• ​http://makemsi-manual.dennisbareis.com/devcon_exe.htm

; install
devcon [/r] install INFfile HardwareID 

; update
devcon [/r] update INFfile HardwareID 

; update non interactive
devcon [/r] update INFfile HardwareID 

Parameters:

/r

Conditional reboot. Reboots the system after completing an operation when a reboot is required to make the change effective. By default, DevCon does not reboot the system.

INFfile

Specifies the full path and file name of the INF file for the device. If you omit the path, DevCon assumes that the file is in the current directory.

HardwareID

Specifies a hardware ID for the device. The specified hardware ID must exactly match the hardware ID of the device. Patterns are not valid. Do not type a single quote character (') to indicate a literal value.

When using install, the device is added twice. One time correctly, other with warning. Broken driver has exactly the hardware device given.

Therefore update (or even better updateni) should be used (see ​http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/17532-unattended-install-for-inf-drvers/):

devcon.exe update c:\tmp\HECI\HECI.inf "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_29B4"

other approaches

I've read about following other approaches, but failed to use them:

• ​http://www.robvanderwoude.com/unattended.php#Devices
• ​http://www.appdeploy.com/messageboards/tm.asp?m=66246
• ​http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/how-package-signed-device-driver-using-wise-package-studio
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DevicePath: locations where Windows will look for suitable drivers when attempting a silent device install, see ​http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff553973%28VS.85%29.aspx
• Driver Install Framework: ​http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff544838%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
• rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 c:\xxxx.inf