Ah, look — HP, the only OEM with a brain.
While Intel ships a 107 MB monstrosity, HP bravely presents its own installer: a lean
0.7 MB executable named
sp173080.exe. Genius.
Of course, if you actually extract it, you'll find a
src folder containing
installdrv.cmd and a
Driver subfolder with all the
INF files.
No magic. No secrets. Just a batch script that calls
pnputil /add-driver /install on every INF it finds.
And here's the best part: HP doesn't even try to hide how it works.
They literally sort the INFs — base drivers first, then Extension, then Software Component — and if a
drvorder.txt exists, they blindly follow that order. So much for "hardware detection." I proved in my article that Intel Chipset Device Software doesn't actually detect anything. It just dumps INFs and lets Windows match HWIDs. You know, like
pnputil /i /a "Drivers\*.inf" /subdirs. HP does exactly the same thing, just wrapped in a 0.7 MB SFX archive. Their script executes
Pnputil.exe /add-driver "driver.inf" /install for each INF — functionally identical to a single
pnputil /add-driver *.inf /subdirs /install.
So no, HP didn't reinvent the wheel. They just painted it grey and called it Proprietary OEM Innovation™.
But wait — it gets even better.
HP's version 10.1.20524.8822 ships with only
15 INF files (154 KB). Intel's official 10.1.20490.8818 contains
102 INF files (729 KB) — covering far more platforms.
HP cut the installer size from
107 MB to
0.7 MB, which is nice… but trimming
575 KB worth of INF files is just weird. Why drop support for older chipsets?
That's not optimisation; that's just laziness with a ribbon on top.
So here's my final dose of sarcasm:
If you want a tool that actually detects your hardware, doesn't blindly flood the Driver Store, supports everything from Sandy Bridge onward, and weighs only
743 KB (yes, smaller than HP's
772 KB masterpiece), feel free to visit my project:
Universal Intel Chipset Device Updater
. Almost
60,000 downloads and counting. Unlike Intel's or HP's pseudo-installers, this one doesn't pretend. It detects. It updates. It works.
But hey, HP — I've got to give you credit: at least you're using your brain.
UPDATE #1
Here's the INF comparison between HP's installer version
10.1.20490.8822 and Intel's installer version
10.1.20490.8818:
- AlderLakeDmaSecExtension.inf - 10.1.45.10 (HP) / 10.1.45.10 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-NDmaSecExtension.inf - 10.1.50.8 (HP) / 10.1.50.8 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-NSystem.inf - 10.1.50.8 (HP) / 10.1.50.8 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-NSystemNorthpeak - 10.1.50.8 (HP) / 10.1.50.8 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-PDmaSecExtension.inf - 10.1.36.7 (HP) / 10.1.36.7 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-PSystem.inf - 10.1.36.7 (HP) / 10.1.36.7 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-PSystemLPSS.inf - 10.1.36.7 (HP) / 10.1.36.7 (Intel)
- AlderLakePCH-PSystemNorthpeak.inf - 10.1.36.7 (HP) / 10.1.36.7 (Intel)
- AlderLakeSystem.inf - 10.1.45.10 (HP) / 10.1.45.10 (Intel)
- AlderLakeSystemNorthpeak.inf- 10.1.45.10 (HP) / 10.1.45.10 (Intel)
- ArrowLakeSystem.inf - 10.1.57.6 (HP) / 10.1.57.6 (Intel)
- PantherLakeSystem.inf - 10.1.56.28 (HP) / 10.1.56.28 (Intel)
- PantherLakeSystemNorthpeak.inf - 10.1.56.28 (HP) / 10.1.56.28 (Intel)
- RaptorLakeSystem.inf - 10.1.49.12 (HP) / 10.1.49.12 (Intel)
- WildcatLakeSystem.inf - 10.1.59.12 (HP) / None (Intel)
The only difference?
HP added
WildcatLakeSystem.inf version
10.1.59.12, which wasn't present in Intel's installer 10.1.20490.8818.
%PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D22Desc%=Needs_NO_DRV,PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D22
%PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D23Desc%=Needs_NO_DRV,PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D23
%PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D71Desc%=Needs_NO_DRV,PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D71
%PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D48&SUBSYS_FF008086Desc%=Needs_NO_DRV,PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_4D48&SUBSYS_FF008086
Everything else is either identical.
UPDATE #2
Universal Intel Chipset Device Updater
now supports
Wildcat Lake platforms
!
