OemPnpDriversPath appears multiple times in DevicePath

The OemPnpDriversPath variable in the Sysprep.inf may appear multiple times in the DevicePath value that is stored in the registry.

The Windows 2000 System Preparation tool (Sysprep.exe) takes each path from the OemPnpDriversPath and appends the paths individually to the DevicePath value without verifying whether the path is already present. Paths that are appended to the DevicePath value in this manner will appear the same number of times that the individual path was included in the OemPnpDriversPath variable when Sysprep.exe was run against the image.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

To work around this problem, you can manually add the path that is provided in OEMPnpDriversPath into the DevicePath value and then remove OemPnpDriversPath from the Sysprep.inf file before you run Sysprep.exe.

To add the path in the DevicePath value, follow these steps:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
3. Double-click the DevicePath value.
4. Append New Path Entries to the string in the text box, where New Path Entries are the path entries to you OEM drivers.
   
   Note When you type the path entries, use the %systemdrive% and %systemroot% variables instead of the relative path entries that you use in the Sysprep.inf file. Separate multiple entries with a semi-colon (;).
5. Click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

This behavior may produce an elongated DevicePath value.