A system for automatically determining a configuration of an I/O connector panel is disclosed. The system provides information about the capabilities of the connector card to a memory within the connector card, examining the information in the memory. The system further downloads at least one driver to a system coupled to the I/O connector panel based upon the examined information. The I/O capabilities of a platform (as determined by an I/O panel or other hardware that contains some identification mechanism that defines the I/O capabilities) is within the connector card. This mechanism is then used to determine what software to “preload” into a system so that as new I/O devices are added in the field, the required software for these devices has already been preloaded.