Windows: how to install driver from recovery command prompt

command linedriversrecovery-consolewindowswindows 8

I'm trying to enable Intel SRT on my laptop. To do this, I need to change SATA controller mode from AHCI to RAID. The problem is that windows has no drivers for RAID and I can't install it while controller is in AHCI mode.

For now I have RAID driver in INF package (inf, sys, cat files). And I can load Windows recovery console with controller in RAID mode. The last thing to do is to intall this driver, but I don't know how to do it.

Google says rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 123 <filename>.inf might help, but it doesn't.

Best Answer

use pnputil to add the driver to the driver store. Windows now detects the driver:

pnputil.exe -a C:\<filename>.INF

And you should add the drivers before changing the mode.

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Windows – How to install an AMD RAID driver after Windows installation

OK, as said , I solved the problem. As I did several tries, I can not be sure what steps are necessary and what not, so I'll list everything I did.

First, the situation:

a PC with an AMD SB820M chipset - 4 SATA/RAID ports (I'll refer to this controller as "RAID controller" from now on)
one hard drive connected to the RAID controller
additional IDE/SATA controller with 2 ports (for eSATA and optical drive, I guess) (from now on "IDE controller")
RAID controller set to AHCI mode, Windows 7 installed on the first (and only) HD

Then:

I added 2 more hard drives (connected them to the RAID controller ports), set RAID controller mode to RAID, and set up some RAID arrays on the 2 new HDs (all this in BIOS setup)
try to boot Windows, it fails (it reboots during startup, no error message is visible)
I set controller mode back to AHCI
boot Windows (works)

Now the trick (part one):

I picked the (unused) IDE controller as a scapegoat for the RAID driver
in Device Manager I looked up the PCI ID of the IDE controller (it was 439C) (select Properties on the controller, the ids are on the tab Details, under HardwareId in dropdown menu)
in the RAID driver INF file (ahcix86s.inf) I added a line with this ID:

before:

%NapaDesc%=Napa_Inst,PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4392
%NapaDesc%=Napa_Inst,PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4393

after:

%NapaDesc%=Napa_Inst,PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4392
%NapaDesc%=Napa_Inst,PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4393
%NapaDesc%=Napa_Inst,PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_439C

then in Device Manager I selected to Update the driver of the IDE controller, "let me select the driver", Have disk... and select the above INF file and then the driver.
reboot, set RAID controller mode to RAID in BIOS
boot Windows, fails again, the same way as before
set RAID controller mode back to AHCI in BIOS
start Windows

The trick (part two):

start "regedit" and in key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1002&dev_4392 change the value Service to ahcix86s (see note below)
restart, in BIOS change mode again to RAID
boot Windows
success !

(after it worked, I went to Device Manage again and set the driver for IDE controller back to the correct one: Update driver, select automatically...)

* the 1002/4392 is the PCI id of the RAID controller when set to RAID mode. It is listed in the mentioned INF file. You can also try to look it up on this web site. The most reliable info is to set the controler to RAID mode, boot some OS (Linux comes in small handy formats) and check the PCI id there. In linux the lspci command shows this info.

Windows 7 Slipstream drivers to the install dvd/iso

You can use a lot of software to do it, it is explained here (RT7Lite is an option if you don't want to install the full AIK):

How to add drivers to Windows 7 installation DVD?

drivers are ALWAYS only inf files that copy dlls and any other needed file in system folder.

most devices come with a management software, usually installed as "driver": this software is an addition to drivers (e.g. realtek audio drivers are a few kBs, but to install them using their installer you "have" to install a lot of things, like the realtek control panel). Integrate those apps can be difficult (if they don't support silent install you will actually see the installation procedure launched at the end of windows install).

you can slipstream ANY version of windows (retail, oem...) just taking the original DVD anc using the entire content in the procedure linked before.

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Windows – How to install an AMD RAID driver after Windows installation

Windows 7 Slipstream drivers to the install dvd/iso

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