Miniport Driver with a WDM Lower Edge (NDIS 5.1)

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Note   NDIS 5. x has been deprecated and is superseded by NDIS 6. x. For new NDIS driver development, see Network Drivers Starting with Windows Vista. For information about porting NDIS 5. x drivers to NDIS 6. x, see Porting NDIS 5.x Drivers to NDIS 6.0.

A miniport driver with a WDM lower edge (an NDIS-WDM miniport driver) follows the WDM rule that specifies that a WDM header file must be included in the driver's source files. An NDIS-WDM miniport driver requires a WDM header file in order to call kernel-mode routines on its lower edge. Typically, NDIS miniport drivers should just call functions that NDIS provides. This is shown by the way NDIS wraps around NDIS miniport drivers in the figure in the NDIS Driverssection. Although typical NDIS miniport drivers are not called WDM drivers, they indirectly follow WDM rules because NDIS itself follows WDM rules.

The following diagram shows an NDIS-WDM miniport driver that interfaces with the USB driver stack using a WDM lower edge.

The following is a description of the components shown in this diagram.

  • IPX/SPX Compatible and TCP/IP
    NDIS protocol drivers that transmit packets using underlying miniport drivers.

  • NDIS
    The ndis.sys driver that provides a standard interface between layered network drivers.

  • NDIS-WDM Miniport Driver for USB
    An NDIS-WDM miniport driver that interfaces with the USB driver stack.

  • USB Client Drivers
    Other vendor-supplied USB client drivers.

  • USB Class Interface
    Routines and I/O requests that USB client drivers can use to interface with the USB driver stack.

  • USB Driver Stack
    Driver stack for USB devices. For more information, see USB Driver Stack Architecture

 

 

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