In Windows Vista, administrators can stage drivers to the Driver Store. Once a driver is in the Driver Store, any user can install the driver without providing administrative privileges or responding to a UAC prompt.

Cool stuff if you’re in IT. If you’re planning to deploy Vista computers and you want to stage drivers so they’re accessible to users after the client computers are setup, use the “Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system” (affectionately known as “BDD 2007“). I helped write some of the docs for that project.

If you want to stage drivers after clients are setup, you can use a script with the PnPUtil.exe command (included with Vista). Here’s the usage information:

Microsoft PnP Utility
Usage:
——
pnputil.exe [-f | -i] [ -? | -a | -d | -e ]
Examples:
pnputil.exe -a a:\usbcam\USBCAM.INF      -> Add package specified by USBCAM.INF
pnputil.exe -a c:\drivers\*.inf          -> Add all packages in c:\drivers\
pnputil.exe -i -a a:\usbcam\USBCAM.INF   -> Add and install driver package
pnputil.exe -e                           -> Enumerate all 3rd party packages
pnputil.exe -d oem0.inf                  -> Delete package oem0.inf
pnputil.exe -f -d oem0.inf               -> Force delete package oem0.inf
pnputil.exe -?                           -> This usage screen

For more information about Driver Staging, read “Step-by-Step Guide to Device Driver Signing and Staging“