How to pre install VMWare tools drivers on a offline Windows image?

[ruan sebastian]

I'm trying to pre install the VMWare tools on an offline Windows image, so whatever virtual machine i create with this iso, already has the tools installed.

I'm using the latest version of VMWare Workstaton/Tools as today, host and image Windows10.

I have tried to pre install it using dism /Add-Driver, where:

D: disk containing the offline Windows image.

E: disk containing vmware tools setup.exe, autorun.inf etc

C:\Windows\system32>dism /Image:D:\ /Add-Driver /Driver:E:\ /Recurse

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.3636

Image Version: 10.0.19045.3803

Searching for driver packages to install...
There was a problem opening the INF file. D:\autorun.inf Error: 0xE0000100.
Found 5 driver package(s) to install.
Installing 1 of 5 - D:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win10\amd64\pvscsi.inf: The driver package was successfully installed.
Installing 2 of 5 - D:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win7\amd64\pvscsi.inf: The driver package was successfully installed.
Installing 3 of 5 - D:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win7\i386\pvscsi.inf: The driver package was successfully installed.
Installing 4 of 5 - D:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win8\amd64\pvscsi.inf: The driver package was successfully installed.
Installing 5 of 5 - D:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\pvscsi\Win8\i386\pvscsi.inf: The driver package was successfully installed.
The operation completed successfully.

It suceeded, then i perform a new call to check the current installed drivers:

C:\Windows\system32>Dism /Image:E:\ /Get-Drivers
Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.3636
Image Version: 10.0.19045.3803
Obtaining list of 3rd party drivers from the driver store...
Driver packages listing:
Published Name : oem0.inf
Original File Name : pvscsi.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SCSIAdapter
Provider Name : VMware, Inc.
Date : 11/30/2022
Version : 1.3.26.0
Published Name : oem1.inf
Original File Name : pvscsi.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SCSIAdapter
Provider Name : VMware, Inc.
Date : 11/30/2022
Version : 1.3.26.0
Published Name : oem2.inf
Original File Name : pvscsi.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SCSIAdapter
Provider Name : VMware, Inc.
Date : 11/30/2022
Version : 1.3.26.0
Published Name : oem3.inf
Original File Name : pvscsi.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SCSIAdapter
Provider Name : VMware, Inc.
Date : 11/30/2022
Version : 1.3.26.0
Published Name : oem4.inf
Original File Name : pvscsi.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SCSIAdapter
Provider Name : VMware, Inc.
Date : 11/30/2022
Version : 1.3.26.0
The operation completed successfully.

As seen on the log, the drivers have been installed, however, any Windows machine created with this image doesn't have the tools installed, what i'm missing?

[Morc001]

The fact that DISM /Add-Driver only adds drivers, does not install anything. And the VMWare Tools package only exposes the PVSCSI driver, not the other drivers that are also installed when installing VMWare Tools. Way-way back I certified as a pre-installation specialist of Windows 2000. There you installed your Windows, installed stuff in it, made changes to settings (some could have been done through a Windows installer config file). You could even configure applications to be installed after initial login, like Office, then executed sysprep and made an image out of it. Then you cloned this image to a new hard drive and you had your prepared Windows. I don't know whether this is still an option and whether this could be done to the installer image. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/windows-customize-apps?view=windows-10 shows how to add Windows Store apps to your image, but VMWare Tools is not available as a Store app. I have no idea whether this is your solution: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/work-with-windows-images?view=windows-10