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🔌 Driver Integration

How Do You Add Drivers into a Windows ISO So Setup Sees Your Disk and Wi-Fi Works Instantly

"We couldn't find any drives" during Setup, or a fresh Windows with no network because the Wi-Fi driver is missing. The permanent cure is baking the drivers into the ISO itself. Both ways below — raw DISM and NTLite.

✍️ Technical Anshu🪟 Windows 10 / 11⏱️ 8 minute read
🎥 Driver integration is part of the full custom ISO build — watch it done live

Two fresh-install nightmares come from the same gap: Windows Setup's built-in driver library is old. On newer laptops the installer may not see the NVMe SSD at all (common with Intel RST/VMD controllers), and even when installation succeeds, the desktop arrives with no Wi-Fi and no way to download the Wi-Fi driver. Integrating drivers into the image beforehand fixes both forever: the drivers become part of Windows itself. You need the drivers in the right form — extracted folders containing .inf files (download the "INF"/zip package from the manufacturer, or install the driver once and export it). The .exe installers cannot be integrated.

Windows Setup — Where do you want to install Windows?
NameTotal sizeFree spaceType

(no drives listed)

We couldn't find any drives. To get a storage driver, click Load driver.

Setup's disk page with no storage driver: your SSD is physically there, but Setup is blind to it.
1

Prepare: Drivers as .inf Packages, Correct Architecture

  1. Collect storage (SATA/NVMe/RST), chipset, LAN and Wi-Fi drivers for your exact model from the manufacturer's site
  2. Extract each into its own folder under one parent, e.g. C:\Drivers — inside you should see .inf, .sys and .cat files
  3. Match the architecture: 64-bit drivers for a 64-bit image. Mixing them in is the top cause of integration failures
Device Manager — device properties
⚠ Network ControllerOther devices

The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)

The other face of the same problem after a stock install: the device exists, but Windows has no driver for it — and no internet to fetch one.
2

The DISM Way: Mount, Add Drivers, Save

Open Command Prompt as Administrator. Adjust paths to your extracted ISO folder:

  1. Create an empty mount folder: mkdir C:\Mount
  2. Mount your edition (check the right index first with Get-WimInfo):
  3. dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:"C:\ISO\sources\install.wim" /Index:1 /MountDir:"C:\Mount"
  4. Add every driver in the folder tree at once:
  5. dism /Image:"C:\Mount" /Add-Driver /Driver:"C:\Drivers" /Recurse
  6. Save the image back:
  7. dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:"C:\Mount" /Commit
3

Do Not Forget boot.wim — Setup Needs the Storage Driver Too ⭐

This is the step most guides skip, and the reason "I integrated the driver but Setup still shows no disk". There are two images: install.wim (the Windows that gets installed) and boot.wim (the Setup environment itself). If Setup cannot see the controller, installation never starts — no matter what is inside install.wim.

  1. Mount index 2 of boot.wim — that index is the "Microsoft Windows Setup" environment:
  2. dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:"C:\ISO\sources\boot.wim" /Index:2 /MountDir:"C:\Mount"
  3. Add at least the storage controller driver: dism /Image:"C:\Mount" /Add-Driver /Driver:"C:\Drivers\Storage" /Recurse
  4. Save it: dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:"C:\Mount" /Commit
4

The NTLite Way (Same Result, No Commands)

  1. Load your extracted ISO folder in NTLite and mount the edition
  2. Open the Drivers page → Add → Directory → select your C:\Drivers folder — NTLite lists every package it finds
  3. Tick "also integrate into boot.wim (Setup)" where offered for the storage driver
  4. Apply the changes — NTLite runs the same DISM operations behind a checklist, and reports any driver it rejects instead of failing silently
⚠️ Unsigned drivers: for 64-bit images, DISM refuses unsigned driver packages unless you deliberately force them, and forcing an unsigned storage driver is how builds end up blue-screening with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. Download drivers from the hardware manufacturer so they arrive signed — the two extra minutes are worth it.

🎥 The Complete Custom ISO Build, Including Drivers

Watch the full process — extraction, DISM conversion, debloat, driver integration and creating the final ISO.

▶️ Watch Full Video
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Can I integrate drivers from an .exe setup file?

No. Offline integration works only with .inf driver packages. Run the manufacturer's installer on a working PC once, or download the ZIP/INF package from their support site, so you have the folder containing .inf, .sys and .cat files.

Setup still says "We couldn't find any drives" after I added the driver. Why?

Most likely the driver went into install.wim only, while Setup runs from boot.wim index 2 — add the storage driver there as Step 3 shows. Also re-check that the driver matches your controller mode (a RAID/RST-mode controller needs the RST driver, and the BIOS setting must match).

Should I integrate every driver I own into the ISO?

No — integrate what Windows lacks: storage, chipset, network, and any device your model is known to miss. Printer and peripheral drivers are better installed later; every unnecessary package inflates the image and adds a chance of conflicts.

This guide is based on the Technical Anshu video on creating your own custom Windows ISO • Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments — you will get help 🙏