How do I save drivers from a Windows 8.1 tablet?

Is it possible to get an image of your recovery drive? I still can't even detect the hardware ie touch screen or sound, I think I'm screwed!
Is that in Device Manager? Did it let you add any of the drivers from the folder I posted where they were missing (as in Step 7 of that other web page) ? I wonder if there isn't some vague 'System' device driver that's missing and would unlock access to the others?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
DISM /Export-Driver = Exports 3rd party drivers to a folder
all other MS drivers should already be in the driver store

the biggest problem with "Touch" is that the drivers need to be added to all the .wim files..
Boot.wim, WinRE.wim and Install.wim

To add the drivers after a clean installation you need an input method (ie USB Mouse) just to point Device Manager to the Exported Drivers Folder

Thus I usually prep my .wim files with the system drivers and product key
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Right I've spent the evening upgrading mine to Windows 10, in case it would help. Sadly that's flattened the battery so I can't do much more on it tonight.

I did an upgrade by running setup.exe from the Windows 10 ISO files, and to be fair to Microsoft it seemed to pick up the existing drivers OK for me... I'm assuming the problem was caused by doing a clean install?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
Is it possible to get an image of your recovery drive? I still can't even detect the hardware ie touch screen or sound, I think I'm screwed!
Can you post a screenshot (or two) of your Device Manager list? Can you resolve any "yellow triangles" by using Update Driver - Browse for Folder as KYHI suggests?

DISM /Export-Driver = Exports 3rd party drivers to a folder
all other MS drivers should already be in the driver store

the biggest problem with "Touch" is that the drivers need to be added to all the .wim files..
Boot.wim, WinRE.wim and Install.wim

To add the drivers after a clean installation you need an input method (ie USB Mouse) just to point Device Manager to the Exported Drivers Folder

Thus I usually prep my .wim files with the system drivers and product key
@KYHI ... I did wonder if this might work for Tropicalpaddy?:
  1. Make a recovery drive within Windows 10 onto a USB
  2. use DISM to add the drivers from my Onedrive into the .WIM files on the recovery drive
  3. Use the recovery drive to reinstall?

What do you think?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
windows 10 uses a reconstruct.wim and have not tested the integration of drivers into the image

Mounting the reconstruct does not results as the same folder layout as an install.wim

Windows 8.1 with Bing upgrades to windows 10 Home > but is this Home x86 or x64 ??

Also if he can make recovery drive - he would need your drivers.ppkg
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
windows 10 uses a reconstruct.wim and have not tested the integration of drivers into the image

Mounting the reconstruct does not results as the same folder layout as an install.wim
Thanks for that. Sounds like that it's not as easy as I thought, then.
Windows 8.1 with Bing upgrades to windows 10 Home > but is this Home x86 or x64 ??
x86.
These things only have 1GB of RAM so I don't think they would work with 64-bit.
Also if he can make recovery drive - he would need your drivers.ppkg
I'll have a look at capturing that tonight. I guess a Reset with the drivers.ppkg in c:\recovery\customizations might work too?

If I use mine to do intensive operations like I was last night, the battery level still drops, even with the charging cable plugged in, so there's only so much I can do at a time
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
I'll have a look at capturing that tonight. I guess a Reset with the drivers.ppkg in c:\recovery\customizations might work too?

That should do it..

Create a Recovery Drive..
Windows only reset with drivers - no machine or user data = clean install with drivers
Bare Metal Reset by using bootable USB media to Reset, will even re-partition the drive..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
I'll have a look at capturing that tonight. I guess a Reset with the drivers.ppkg in c:\recovery\customizations might work too?

That should do it..

Create a Recovery Drive..
Windows only reset with drivers - no machine or user data = clean install with drivers
Bare Metal Reset by using bootable USB media to Reset, will even re-partition the drive..
Just as an update, I did create a ppkg with "scanstate /drivers /ppkg"

However I see it does include usernames and some files from my C:\Users folders in there, so I'm not keen to post it on here.

I think DISM /add-drivers may be the answer, although it needs a WinPE environment to do that offline.

@KYHI, would the "WIN81SEx86" mentioned in your signature be a smaller download for tropicalpaddy than the full WinPE download in the ADK? Does it have the version of DISM which would work with /add-drivers in Windows 10?

I've also clean-installed Win10 on my own tablet to experience the full horror of how many drivers are missing! ;) (Although, based on this thread I made sure I had a couple of backup images to go back to!)

I'll try DISM myself tomorrow but need the battery to charge back up again. This is the only device I know where you can plug in the charger and the battery level *still* goes down if you're using it! :confused:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
@KYHI, would the "WIN81SEx86" mentioned in your signature be a smaller download for tropicalpaddy than the full WinPE download in the ADK? Does it have the version of DISM which would work with /add-drivers in Windows 10?

Yes it is smaller in size, does contain a windows type interface and will add drivers to the offline image using dism..
the 8.1 ADK download is 3GB and then you have to work within a command prompt..
SE is like 500MB and you work within a limited windows GUI

Actually the best method would be to mount the install.wim and add-drivers to it and to the WinRE.wim, before installation..
Although I've not tested the windows installer using a modified install.wim (install.wim with drivers added)
the windows installer may reject the wim..

But can always Apply the modified install.wim

In Case, somebody wants to test the windows installer by replacing the install.wim with a modified install wim..

Here is a script that will run the modifications you need..
It will look for the mounted setup media (edition and arch of target pc)
it will look for the Drivers folder within it's own directory (export "drivers" folder, copied into current directory)
It will ask for the product key (generic or activation)

then you just replace MS install.wim with the modified Install.wim
If installer accepts the modified install.wim, your system will be installed with the needed drivers pre-loaded

Rename file to .cmd by removing .txt
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
@KYHI, would the "WIN81SEx86" mentioned in your signature be a smaller download for tropicalpaddy than the full WinPE download in the ADK? Does it have the version of DISM which would work with /add-drivers in Windows 10?

Yes it is smaller in size, does contain a windows type interface and will add drivers to the offline image using dism..
the 8.1 ADK download is 3GB and then you have to work within a command prompt..
SE is like 500MB and you work within a limited windows GUI
How would tropicalpaddy use this tool to add the drivers? I've done it the long way round as you can see below!


@Tropicalpaddy, The good news is that I've used the drivers I saved (from that other post) and got my tablet going again after a complete clean install of Windows 10. Everything seems to work that I've tested so far. So we should be able to get yours going again...

The way I did it required the WinPE download, and a bootable USB stick, and got my hands dirty with the command-line. (You'd also have to get the tablet to boot from a USB but if you clean-installed before, I imagine you've already figured otu how to do this, to get the Windows 10 installer to boot?)

I used the full version of Windows PE available within the Windows ADK. If you download that and run it, you get a choice of components. You only need to download the WinPE option, which also automatically ticks the Deployment Tools option. This bit you could do on another computer if you have one, but I think it would work on the tablet. Be warned it's a 3GB download- KYHI's tool below will be smaller (but I'm not sure how to use it).

Then I made a bootable WinPE USB with these commands.
  1. Start the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment as an administrator. This should bring up a command prompt (although with one or two variables set that you need, so don't use an ordinary command prompt).
  2. Create a working copy of the Windows PE files.
    Code:
    copype x86 C:\WinPE_x86
  3. Install Windows PE to the USB flash drive, specifying the drive letter. In this case my USB was drive F: but yours might be different.
    Warning
    This command reformats the F: drive completely - be very careful to get the right drive letter!
    Code:
    MakeWinPEMedia /UFD C:\WinPE_x86 F:
  4. Back in Windows File Explorer, make a new folder on the F: drive (or whatever drive it is) called TescoDrivers, and copy in all the folders from my Onedrive file
  5. If you're setting this up on another computer, 'Safely Remove' the USB and unplug it
  6. Shutdown the tablet (if it isn't already) by using WindowsKey+R to Run this command:
    Code:
    shutdown /s /t 0
  7. Plug the USB, and a wired keyboard into the Tesco Tablet. If you have an SD card in the tablet, remove it for now.
  8. Boot from the USB (use ESC key at startup to select a different boot device)
  9. You should get a command prompt up. Type these commands to figure out which drive is Windows and which is the USB.
    Code:
    c:
    dir
    d:
    dir
    e:
    dir
  10. When I did it, C: was my windows folder, and D: my WinPE disk, but yours may vary
  11. Type this command, using different letter for C: and D; if needed.
    Code:
    dism /add-driver /image:[B]c:\[/B] /driver:[B]d:\[/B]TescoDrivers /Recurse
  12. With any luck you should get a bunch of messages saying drivers installed succesfully.
  13. Type this command to shutdown
    Code:
    wpeutil shutdown
  14. Unplug the USB, cross fingers, and then try booting as normal

The only thing I've noticed that's missing is the screen rotation. I did find a LINX7 driver that someone had posted which fixed that, and a registry hack that puts the screen the right way up! Did you say you'd got some LINX7 drivers? Which site did you find them on? (I'm wondering if it's the same set I used?)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
David. at the present time I am boot into Win81SE - it is a custom PE
As you can see in my screen shot - I have this topic and My file explorer Open
You can alse see that I can see the Drives, use command prompt, and any of the other tools on the desktop..
Capture.PNG

Here is a file that you can never access from within windows
Capture1.PNG
as it is a very portected file..

From PE I can change every aspect of this PC,
F is my Windows OS drive - I could Apply any image to F- I could add drivers to F- even repartition F
SE is basically an OS system all booted into System Memory and I can not say how useful it is when there are problems with a user PC... It allows complete access to the troubled PC without even trying to boot into the troubled OS
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
I just thought of something. It may be possible to use Windows' built-in recovery environment without using a WinPE disk or KYHI's download.

I think you can do it all from the tablet itself:

  1. Copy the drivers from my Onedrive onto c:\TescoDrivers on the tablet itself
  2. Bring up the start menu, right-click on the Power button and hold down the Shift key while you click Restart
  3. It should boot up into Advanced Startup. Select Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options, then Command Prompt
  4. Select the admin-level account and enter password
  5. You should get a command prompt up. Type these commands to figure out which drive is Windows and which is the USB.
    Code:
    c:
    dir
    d:
    dir
    e:
    dir
  6. When I did it, C: was my main windows folder but yours may vary
  7. Type this command, using different letter for C: if needed.
    Code:
    dism /add-driver /image:[B]c:\[/B] /driver:[B]c:\[/B]TescoDrivers /Recurse
  8. With any luck you should get a bunch of messages saying drivers installed succesfully.
  9. Type this command to shutdown
    Code:
    wpeutil shutdown
  10. Try booting as normal
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
WinRE is a WinPE boot Disk, it is just on a partition, rather then removable media..
WinRE contains 8 or so files that WinPE does not..
Even windows setup uses WinPE
Macrium rescue disk is winpe or linux
Aomie is winpe or Linux
Acronis is winpe

It is amazing what you can do with and from within WinPE, problem is nobody seems to use it..
Guess cause they don't use it or understand how powerful it is..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
DavidY - I installed the drivers with the method described above. Drivers installed successful according to cmd prompt but alas no touchscreen, sound, or battery monitor. Not sure what to do now. thanks for trying! Paddy
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    10
Should I be trying this from Windows 8.1? I loaded via Win 10
Well you have to run the DISM command from the 'WinPE' environment, and not from within Windows itself, so technically it's neither 8.1 nor 10. But when I did it, the machine had Windows 10 on it. I can't remember if I booted WinPE from a USB stick rather than from the Advanced Startup - I probably used a USB, which may have made a difference?

One thing I have noticed since starting this thread - Tesco have started selling a Windows 10 version of this tablet, so perhaps they haven't abandoned it after all. So it may be worth trying to contact them and seeing if they do have Windows 10 drivers?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1, 10
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