Why is WinPE 5 not using the included VMXNET 3 driver that I put into the WinPE Configuration?

Dear All,

I have a VMWare ESX 5.5 server and I need to create a Windows 7 x86 machine that uses a VMXNet 3 NIC. I have an image from another PC, ready to be deployed.

I harvested the VMXNet 3 driver from a working Windows 7 x32 VM machine and uploaded it into GSS 3.0 and regenerated the WinPE Boot option. I can see the drivers (x86 and x64) in the drivers list and in the file system. I can also see the files in the "\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository" of the Boot.wim.

When the VM machine boots up, I still get the dreaded DHCP message. If I change the NIC to N1000, then the WinPE works.

I need to create a machine with the VMXNet 3 NIC, but WinPE does not work with this driver.

Can anyone help me, please?

Kindest regards,

QuietLeni