Lenovo distributes drivers exclusively as .exe installer packages. Whilst this is convenient for end users and support situations, it’s a headache for working on Zero or Low Touch deployments, where .INF driver files are required.
Typically, these kind of driver installers are just a fancy “self-extractor” wrapper, so you can simply extract the driver out using 7-Zip – However this isn’t the case for Lenovo drivers.
Instructions #
Fortunately, Lenovo’s .exe installers support command-line options to extract files properly.
Download the Driver you need from Lenovo; Then open an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell terminal window, navigate to where the file is and execute it with: /VERYSILENT /DIR=".\path\to\extract" /EXTRACT=YES
Example #
.\driver.exe /VERYSILENT /DIR="C:\drivers" /EXTRACT=YES
DIR= specifies the target directory for extracted files.
Alternatives #
- Lenovo has a tool called ThinInstaller, but the user experience is awful and one too many steps just to quickly pull a handful of drivers.
- Extracting from an updated lab machine of the same model is also an option, if you have access to one.