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MDT 2012 and safely deleting duplicate drivers

Answered MDT 2012 and safely deleting duplicate drivers

  • Thursday, September 27, 2012 3:44 AM
     
     
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    I have a network of 18 MDT shares and as some are over slow links I need to keep the size down for replication purposes.

    My current method of importing drivers is this:

    I download all the drivers for a particular model using HP softpaq download manager or Dell cab files and store them in their own separate folder (in Windows, away from MDT), an example of the file structure is something like this:

    DRIVERSTORE

              -DELL

                        -E6220

                        -E6230

              -HP

                       -2540p

    Back in MDT I use the 'total control' method using the make/model structure. To import the drivers for a new machine I create the folder for the model in Windows, download the drivers into it, create a similar folder for the machine type in MDT and import them in. (hope this makes sense). Everything works fine.

    Its easy to manage but the my Out of Box folder in my deployment share is getting rather large, i think due to duplicate drivers. For instance if say Dell had 2 Models that used a lot of similar hardware and I used my method above I appreciate that the cab files I download for each model would contain a lot of duplicate drivers. When I import the drivers for each model into MDT its going to create duplicates in the OOB folder.

    How can I safely delete these duplicates and leave each model 'pointing' at the one remaining correct driver?

      

     

All Replies

  • Thursday, September 27, 2012 4:56 AM
     
     
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    Hi,

    Once import of driver completed in OOB , on confirmation screen you get an option to "Save Output". Please click the button and save the output of import driver on your harddisk. Review the output file in notepad and check for duplicate/incompatible drivers and you can delete thet driver.

    Regards, Shishir Kushawaha "If this thread answered your question, please click on "Mark as Answer"

    • Proposed As Answer by ShishirK Thursday, September 27, 2012 5:16 AM
    • Unproposed As Answer by vmixture Monday, October 08, 2012 6:22 AM
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  • Thursday, September 27, 2012 6:09 AM
     
     
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    The issue is I have a lot already imported (something like 15 different models of HP & Dell) and my OOB Drivers folder is already over 10 GB in size. I just need a simple solution for identifying duplicates and safely removing them. My point is that if a model is 'pointing' at a duplicate driver and I remove that driver will it 'repoint' to the one I dont remove?

    • Edited by vmixture Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:52 AM
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  • Friday, September 28, 2012 4:29 PM
     
     
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    I also have your same setup as i couldn't find a good way of confirming if i deleted one folder it wouldn't delete it from another folder.

    The other issue was as i point directly by make/model was making sure they were all there and available if replication of some wasn't needed.

    I know this doesn't help what you're looking for other than there's someone else in the same boat :)

     
  • Friday, October 05, 2012 4:40 AM
     
     
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    Im sure there aren't just two of us!

    Does anybody have a suggestion? MDT taking over 10 hoyrs to replicate to some sites over the WAN so I really need to get the size down!

     
  • Friday, October 05, 2012 4:52 AM
     
     
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    I not longer import by model, I import by make. I use the HP softpaq and Lenovo update retrieve for my models, I get very few duplicates. I currently have 12 models and 2.8 GB drivers which is descent.
     
  • Friday, October 05, 2012 2:53 PM
     
     
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    I tried using the Dell Client Update Utility but since the FTP site is limited now, it adds way to much time to the deployment.
     
  • Friday, October 05, 2012 3:54 PM
     
     
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    You do not have to use it as a part of the deployment. Use it to download and update drivers an than import inot MDT.
     
  • Monday, October 08, 2012 5:58 AM
     
     
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    I think we are going off course here, let me explain again in an easier way.

    2 models of laptop, both having a lot of similar components/drivers.

    I create a folder for each machine in the MDT console and import its drivers.

    Because the laptops are very similar the 'Out of box' drivers folder now contains a lot of dupicate drivers.

    Back in the mdt console...

    Laptop A is looking at displaydriver(1)

    Laptop B is looking at displaydriver(2) - the same driver - duplicate of displaydriver(1)

    If I delete displaydriver(2) will Laptop B automatically then 'find' displaydriver(1) ? 

     
  • Monday, October 08, 2012 7:34 PM
     
     
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    You can delete display driver 2. Then copy display driver 1 and paste into Laptop B's folder.

    Here a script you can use to detect duplicate drivers: http://deployment.xtremeconsulting.com/2011/01/10/duplicate-driver-tool/ 

     
  • Monday, October 08, 2012 10:11 PM
     
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    MDT will not import duplicate drivers automatically. When you import your drivers, don't select this tick box.

    

    Perhaps you only think your drivers are imported twice. Have you confirmed from the actual files that you actually have drivers duplicates?

    Blog: http://scriptimus.wordpress.com

    • Marked As Answer by vmixture Saturday, November 17, 2012 9:58 AM
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  • Friday, October 12, 2012 2:33 AM
     
     
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    Hi Andrew

    I never tick the box for that very reason yet i still seem to have duplicates. Does that tick box relate to importing duplicate drivers into OOB in general or just the sub folder within MDT? I'll try and get some examples for you.

     
  • Friday, November 16, 2012 9:40 PM
     
     
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    Well.. When you find your drive is full of the temporary files in my documents or any default download folder, it may be due to dozens of duplicate files, which you download time by time and leave it there after viewing. This may cause a lot of drive space to cover. To manage this we have introduced an automatic method to help you. Which is using http://duplicatefilesdeleter.com/ saymahayen
     
  • Friday, November 16, 2012 10:07 PM
     
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    I did some intense testing on this yesterday and came to the following conclusion:

    MDT does not create duplicates, if you don't check the box to do so.

    I guess you are referring to the numbers behind the driver like?
    This is mostly caused by drivers for an other OS (yes, Dell included some XP drivers in the Win 7 pack and MDT doesn't ignore them)
    You can check the properties of a driver and see it's path, there is a small info file named release.dat in there which should explain it all if you check it for multiple imports which you think are duplicates.

    Also if you remove all references to a driver, MDT will automatically delete the driver files from the share! There is nothing they could improve, Dell should rather tweak their packages a bit for better size.

    • Marked As Answer by vmixture Saturday, November 17, 2012 9:59 AM
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