A blog for IT professionals who work with Windows on large networks.
This is a quick post how to use DISM Online to change the product key of a Windows Server 2012 R2. Sometimes you’re not able to change the key using the GUI. This is how to do this using DISM: 1. Run powershell or a cmd as Administrator. Use DISM /online /Get-TargetEditions to list available editions for upgrade. Though you can find third-party tools to install CAB files, there’s no need to do this. DISM is perfectly able to handle such files with dispatch and aplomb. Read on for the details. DISM /Add-Package Does the Trick! The DISM /Add-Package command works with CAB files to add (or remove) packages from a targeted Windows image. PNPUtil.exe is a CLI utility for management of the Windows driver store. The /add-driver argument adds the specified driver to the driver store. /install installs the driver, resolving any missing driver issues for any attached hardware the driver suits. DISM Driver Servicing (.inf) Command-Line Options.; 3 minutes to read In this article. Use DISM with INF-style drivers to add, remove, or list drivers to an online or offline Windows image (.wim). Backup drivers before reinstalling Windows 10. 3.5 in Windows 10 using DISM. Note that the driver backup. 10 install will by doing this: dism /online. This is also true for any other types of drivers that you need to add to the image as well. Here’s the steps to setup and inject the drivers into the boot.wim file with DISM: Prepare: Create the following folders on the root of the C drive: C:mount; C:mountdrivers; C:mountBootWim; Copy the drivers you wish to inject into the C:Mount.
- Periodic Win10 Disk Cleanup Checklist– SearchEnterpriseDesktop
- Creators Update Image Integrity Gotcha– SearchEnterpriseDesktop
- Win10 Troubleshooting Alternative– SearchEnterpriseDesktop
- Built for Business, Built for Now–Intel
- Choosing a modern, flexible, simple infrastructure solution–Pure Storage
- Analyst's take: Independent software vendors save money with DataDirect drivers–ComputerWeekly.com
- 10th Gen Intel® Core™ vPro® Processors Sales Card–Intel
Insider Preview Build 16199 was released for Windows 10 a couple of days ago (5/17). In the wake of its install, I checked on Windows 10 drive handling. To that end, I consulted the Reliability Monitor, which shows driver installs as it tracks system changes and errors. Sure enough, Relimon reports that drivers for all devices on a PC get installed during the upgrade process (see screen capture). This spurred today’s blog post, as I explain how to manage Win10 drivers using DISM. In fact, this tool can back up and restore drivers associated with any given Windows image.
A quick peek at “Informational Events” on upgrade day (5/17) shows installs for all device drivers on each upgraded PC.
Why Manage Win10 Drivers Using DISM?
Any time you run the Windows installer, you run the risk that it won’t find one or more drivers. Some of these can be critical, as my long-time experience with pre-release technical previews of Windows 10 taught me. On my test PCs, I sometimes had to supply a driver for Killer NIC adapters (fixed since the 1607 version last year) after an upgrade install. Ditto for a Dell/Atheros 1537 wireless adapter on my test tablet. YMMV as far as driver coverage goes in Windows 10. Thus, it’s best to be prepared to fill in where MS fails to find everything driver-wise.
Simply put, the answer to the question posed in this section’s heading — namely: “Why manage Win10 drivers using DISM?” — is “Because it’s easy and fast.” If a PC’s drivers are all current and correct before you perform a Win10 upgrade, you can use DISM to back them up in under two minutes. After an upgrade, you can use that backup to restore individual drivers via Device Manager/Update driver, or perform a wholesale replacement of all drivers using DISM.
How to Manage Win10 Drivers Using DISM
At the command line, DISM backs up drivers using this syntax:
Dism /Online /Export-Driver /Destination:{DL}:{FS}
Dism Install Drivers Online Application
Here {DL} stands for drive-letter, and {FS} for folder specification, so that you’d enter /Destination:D:DriverBk if you wanted to create the driver backup in a folder named “DriverBk” on the D drive.
The corresponding command for grabbing all drives from such a backed-up folder is:
Dism /Online /Add-Driver /Driver:{DL}:{FS} /Recurse
Install Drivers Vista
Please note that this latter approach simply adds those drivers to the DriverStore in Windows 10. DISM doesn’t remove drivers already present after an upgrade install. That’s why most experts, and yours truly, recommend that you use Device Manager to identify devices that need drivers. Instead, you can right-click those devices one at a time, then use the Update driver capabilities to point at your driver folder as the update source instead.