Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) on BL465c G7

[chuckk281]

Deni had a customer question:

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I have a customer who wants to put WinPE on a BL465c G7 and is after the NIC and storage drivers. Just wondering if anyone done this before and which drivers were used?

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From Dan:

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WinPE uses the same drivers as Windows Server.

He needs to figure out if his WinPE is based on 2003, 2008 or 2008 R2 and then download the appropriate drivers from the normal download page for the proper OS.

Then open the .WIM file using ImageX and inject the drivers into the Image.

Afterwards you Seal the WIM and commit the changes

Then you can either generate a new ISO, burn a new DVD, or if this is integrated with a PXE Server you might just have to copy the modified WIM back to the right location.

You might want to find out if he is using our RDP, MS SCCM or some other tool.

For the first 2, we have update packs that can be downloaded that have done the steps above for the customer and they just need to install the update.

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Any other comments or questions?

[chuckk281]

More input on this:

From Lawrence:

I found a HP download link which has the latest WinPE drivers for various multifunction NICs as follows:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=329290&prodSeriesId=3958220&swItem=MTX-1ec41bff6a804e878f1008272e&mode=4&idx=2

I thought I had found the answer for you, but it seems that the Emulex NICs are not in the list of supported models, unfortunately.  L  This is because the G7 servers LOMs are NC551i (AMD) / NC553i (Intel), and these are not on the supported list.

Nonetheless, I put up this post because someone else may be looking for WinPE drivers for their G6 servers which are fitted with NC532i LOMs (Broadcom 57711E).

And from Matthias:

Hi all,

Much easier way: Go for SmartStartScriptingToolkit for 32 or 64 Bit.

There you find the drivers you need, for WinPE 2.1and 3.0 and a nice How-To.

Great tool, with all the tools you need, for unattended installation.

And more from Lawrence:

I’ve found an email that shows how to get the WinPE driver for the Emulex NIC on the G7 blades.  See attached email from Tobias.

Tobias email:

You can find the appropriate WinPE drivers for the BE2 chip in the latest Smart Start Scripting Toolkit.

www.hp.com/go/foundation à download à SSTK à choose 32-bit or 64-bit

Extract the package, you will find the driver under C:\SPxxxxx\hpDrivers\WinpeXX\NIC\be2nd6X.