Question about integrating Intel Chipset Software

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bamajon1974

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Good afternoon

I would like to create a custom windows image with integrated Intel Chipset Drivers. Apparently Intel only provides an exe installer and not a compressed archive so I figured out how to extract the the contents into a folder. After extraction, I am left with several dozen folders with chipset codenames each with *.inf and *.cat files. For reference, I have a Z390 chipset which corresponds to the CannonLake-H codename.

Questions:
1. Do I need to integrate all of the files in all of the various chipset platforms into the custom image? Or can I select integrate just the *.inf and *.cat files from the CannonLake-H folder?
2. If I just need to integrate the CannonLake-H *.inf and *.cat files into the image, do these files exclusively cover all of the motherboard hardware (excluding the WiFi, NVMe, Ethernet, video and sound devices)? Or, despite being a Z390 chipset, would there be motherboard components that would need *inf and *cat files from other chipset platform codenames?

Thanks!
 
When integrating INF's from a driver pack, it's best to limit yourself to to specific drivers. While Windows can handle having all the drivers added at the same time, it can possibly add a lot of redundant disk space (like with NVIDIA and Realtek drivers).

The reason is each driver INF ends up in a separate DriverStore folder, and each folder can have a duplicate copy of driver DLL files. Windows does this because you could later uninstall one of the INF's, and it doesn't have a method to share common files.

1. If drivers are grouped into separate folders, only add the driver folder you need.
2. If you have multiple drivers in the same folder, only add the specific driver INF you need.

Some of the Intel driver chipsets bundle a copy of the iGPU and USB 3.0 drivers in case you don't have another version of them. You can choose to ignore them if you know a more specific version is better for your motherboard.
 
garlin Thank you for the information. Very informative. The goal is to only integrate the necessary drivers into the image and leave out those for hardware I don't have.

To confirm...in the extracted archive of all nearly 50 folders of Intel Chipset Platform Codenames, I only need the cat and inf files from the CannonLake-H folder and all other folders can be omitted, correct?

Thanks!
 
Correct, if you only want to install this image on a specific PC.
 
You might need other drivers in this Chipset Drivers directory, I need 3 for example, other than those in the specific directory for my platform.
You can test this by using the "Import from the host" option on the Drivers page, and you'll be able to see exactly which driver is imported.

For remimber, this drivers are for "Assigns the null driver to devices for yellow-bang removal and brands Intel devices"
 
tistou77 said:
You might need other drivers in this Chipset Drivers directory, I need 3 for example, other than those in the specific directory for my platform.
You can test this by using the "Import from the host" option on the Drivers page, and you'll be able to see exactly which driver is imported.

For remimber, this drivers are for "Assigns the null driver to devices for yellow-bang removal and brands Intel devices"
Click to expand...
tistou77 Thank you for your reply. To clarify....you are referring to Import from host option in NTLite, not Device Manager, correct? What other devices in your hardware need drivers from other folders?

Is there a good, concise list of hardware under system devices in Device Manager that use the inf and cat files from the Intel Chipset software? That would be helpful.
 
Yes, that's the correct option on the Drivers page in NTLite.
To list the .inf files, aside from the Drivers page too and viewing each driver individually
I don't see any other way at the moment.
 
Would DriverView by Nirsoft be of any help?
DriverView.png

Autoruns and DriverStore Explorer,,,
 
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