How to Install a Driver in Windows Server 2022 Core

A Windows Server Core installation has no GUI, so, all tasks – including driver installation – are performed via PowerShell. Read this guide to learn how to install a device driver in a Windows Server 2022 Core.

Step 1: Download and Unpack the Driver

You require a device driver’s .inf file to install it in a Server Core installation. So, if you download an exe driver pack, you must unpack.

In this guide, I will demonstrate how to install the Realtek USB GBE Ethernet Controller Driver from Dell.

After downloading the driver, to unpack it, I ran the executable and selected the Extract option. Then, I saved the driver files and folder to a folder on my computer.

Step 2: Copy the Driver to the Server Core

1. RDP to the Windows Server Core and create a folder path with these commands.

New-Item -Path c:Drivers -Name USBNetAdapter -ItemType Directory -Force

The command creates a folder path, C:DriversUSBNetAdapter

2. Then, return to your laptop (or the computer you unpacked the driver earlier) and run this SCP command to copy the driver files to the Server Core.

Before you run the sample scp command below, change the paths, the username, and the server core hostname. The first path on drive E: is where I have the driver while the second path starting with C: is the path on the destination server core.

scp.exe -r "E:DriversRealtek USB GBE Ethernet Controller Driver*" administrator@IPMpHPV4:"C:DriversUSBNetAdapter"

Including the -r syntax in the SCP command tells the command to perform a recursive copy. This allows the command to copy all subfolders and files in the “E:DriversRealtek USB GBE Ethernet Controller Driver* path

Step 3: Install the Driver

Back on the RDP connection to the server Core, install the driver by running these commands.

Before installing the USB network adapter driver, run the Get-NetAdapter command to confirm that the network card does not exist on the server.

1. Install the NIIC driver with this command

#I installed the drivers on both paths since I am not sure the exact driver
pnputil.exe -i -a C:DriversUSBNetAdapter22000Drivers64rtu56cx22x64.inf
pnputil.exe -i -a C:DriversUSBNetAdapter10240Drivers64rtump64x64.INF

2. After installing the drivers, restart the server for the changes to take effect.

Restart-Computer -Force

3. Finally, if you run Get-NetAdapter, it includes the newly installed network adapter.

Conclusion

Installing drivers on a Windows Server Core installation is not as straightforward as it is on a server with GUI. However, by following my tested steps explained in this guide, you’ll get the job done and I hope you did!

Let me know your thoughts about this guide and your experience with Windows Server Core in general. To provide feedback, respond to the “Was this page helpful?” feedback request below.