PRB: Intermittent Failures If You Use Cmdlines.txt to Install Third-Party Drivers

You may encounter various intermittent installation failures if you use the Cmdlines.txt file to install third-party drivers. These failures may include errors in the SetupAPI.log file, broken digital signatures, and corruption of other files.

Cmdlines.txt is intended to install applications, to run registry updates, to install patches, and so on. Although you can use Cmdlines.txt to install OEM accessory software packages that do not contain hardware drivers, Cmdlines.txt was never intended to be used to install third-party drivers.

Use an INF-based driver set to enumerate and to install all hardware drivers into the operating system. Make sure that the driver files, INF, and the catalog file are included in a unique subdirectory such as C:\Drivers\Vendor. In addition, make sure that you add this path to the OEMPnPDriversPath entry in the Unattend.txt file.

If the hardware is not a Plug and Play device, or if the operating system cannot detect the hardware, install driver installation software through GuiRunOnce or during factory/audit mode.