Free Version: Add Drivers With Assistance From PowerShell?

[driverdetective]

I'm new to NTLite. Actually, I think I messed with it back in the Win 98 days but it has been a really long time. OK, I am that guy who likes free stuff and tries to get around the built in limitations like not being able to add the drivers. I found the PowerShell command

Export-WindowsDriver -Online -Destination C:\Users\User\Desktop\DriverBackup

to get the computer's driver files in to a directory and then I thought I could just use the free version of NTLite and point it to that folder. That seems like it should have worked but it didn't. After I created the ISO, Rufus'd it, and installed Win 11 on another identical computer I still had to get all the same optional driver updates from Windows Update that I had to get on the machine I used to make the ISO in NTLite. So, I'm wondering was I on the right track with PowerShell or should I give up and fork over some cheddar for the full version? Curiously, I also tried setting NTLite so that a Microsoft account wouldn't be required during installation but that didn't stick either.

 

[garlin]

"Export-WindowsDriver -Online" will extract your host's currently installed 3rd-party drivers.

Before adding drivers, make sure you're not removing any default drivers that are required, or forgotten to add other drivers not found on the host. On the Drivers page, you can Add / Directory containing drivers and confirm your drivers are listed.

A common mistake is importing drivers for only the boot or install images, and not for both images at the same time. From the Apply page, you should use the Reapply tasks across editions, and enable the Driver checkboxes for other images. All this works on the free edition.

BypassRNO is a premium Settings feature, but you can do the same work by importing a reg file into the boot image, or using Rufus.