MWS Hardware

This page provides some detail on the hardware supported by the MWS Installer.

As covered in the MWS Installer documentation (start here), the MWS includes a core set of drivers to cover the minimum needed for the installation to complete. It then applies additional drivers based on the model of the PC. If the model matches one we have a driver set for, those drivers will be installed, and the machine should end up with everything working as you would expect.

If a model does not appear in this list, the MWS installer will not apply any additional drivers beyond the core set of networking and mass storage drivers. This doesn't mean you can't install the MWS on models that are not listed, but does mean that you will probably have to manually install quite a lot of drivers after the installation completes.

So, in practice, it's a good idea for the MWS to be installed on supported hardware - that is, the recommended models from our recommended supplier, which currently means HP devices from DTP.

HP provide driver packs that cover a range of models, where multiple devices share the same underlying technology. E.g. the laptop range will usually consist of a set of models that are essentially the same aside from screen size. Likewise the desktop models at a point in time will be based on the same components in different form factors or case sizes. Where this happens, we assume that all models listed by the driver pack are supported, even though we have probably only tested one model from the set.

In cases where we have no example of the hardware to hand to test, the driver support is done purely based on the driver pack supplied by HP. These usually work, in that they don't contain drivers that will cause a problem, but are sometimes not complete. (E.g. laptop models often need a bluetooth driver in addition to what's included in the driver pack. For models where we have not tested the drivers on a sample of the hardware, issues like that will probably remain.)

Most desktop driver sets support multiple graphics cards. This is for cases where the PC may use either the onboard Intel graphics, or have been supplied with a discrete graphics card in a PCI slot. The driver included will be for the models of graphics card that HP offered with the hardware when it originally shipped. i.e. An older desktop model that includes an Nvidia driver will not have support for the latest Nvidia cards in the driver set.

Our recommended models have generally been based around Intel CPUs and chipsets. There are some AMD models supported in the list below, but coverage is sparse.

Due to the way the installation process works, the per-model drivers go on quite late in the process, meaning they will not be present during the early stages of the installation. Amongst other things, this means that the screen resolution will probably be wrong at first, and recent laptops will not have working touchpads. These issues should go away as the installation proceeds and the correct drivers are installed.

Information current as of: 27/10/2022

Driver info is grouped by device type:

• Laptops
• Desktops (including all-in-ones)
• Hybrid devices (laptops that transform into tablets)
• Tablets
• Workstations

Model Key:

Tested builds Key:

Laptops

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Desktops

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Hybrid devices

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Tablets

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NB, the Surface Pro/Go (any version) is not a recommended model. We've added support for it to the MWS because we know there are quite a few in use, and we happen to have a Surface Pro 2017 for testing with.

Workstations

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