Dell OneShot Driver Update

Sometimes when there is a problem with a machine an older driver is at fault. For firms that have standardized on Dell they have provided a nice tool call Dell Command  | Update. This is a nice tool Dell made to keep their business lines (OptiPlex, Precision, or Latitude for example) driver sets up to date.

It installs an agent that runs on a schedule (monthly by default) to keep the system up to date on drivers. It queries drivers from Dell directly (or via an on site repository) so you can get the latest drivers easily and automatically. As my firm has very few egress points, I chose not to use it in this capacity however it does have a CLI executable! While we use ConfigMgr to do driver management as issues dictate (needing newer nVidia non ISV driver for example), I put together a package in ConfigMgr for the techs to manually update all drivers on a device when it comes in for service. Known as the "OneShot Driver Update".

You can find install instructions to get Command | Update installed on a PC. Once installed, just copy the install folder to a source folder in SCCM. I created two BAT Files that perform the following:

• Remove logs from a previous run
• Pause Bitlocker
• Update Drivers
• Resume Bitlocker if no restart needed
• Optionally copy the logs to a server location

As you are generally updating drivers that impact the boot chain (yes the video driver at times) you need to pause Bitlocker. Older versions of the tool did not handle Bitlocker, which is what started me down the path of a simple BAT wrapper for the tool. The Update drivers bullet above is handled via a specific BAT and custom XML file though I have though about doing a menu in the BAT at some point to combine them. For the XML, you can create it in the GUI version of the tool then save it out and therefore use it to update only the categories you want.

I have created two file sets. One that does all device drivers yet skips applications. The second only updates the system firmware, aka BIOS or UEFI. You just run the appropriate BAT as an admin. They are even called '_RunAsAdmin.BAT'.

For SCCM we just have a package with both BATs called out as Programs and have them published via our internal Package Downloader Tool (PDT). Otherwise you can simply advertise it as available to be ran from Software Center. Or just put on a network location somewhere.

Download

This Script is provided as-is, no warranty is provided or implied.The author is NOT responsible for any damages or data loss that may occur through the use of this Script.  Always test, test, test before rolling anything into a production environment.

You can find these two scripts here.

-Kevin