System-defined device properties

In Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, the unified device property model supports system-defined properties that characterize the configuration or operation of device instances, device setup classes, device interface classes, and device interfaces. Each property is represented by a property key, which is a GUID value that identifies a property category and a property identifier. The system-defined property key categories are reserved for system use only.

The following system-defined device property keys are defined in Devpkey.h:

• The DEVPKEY_NAME property key that represents the name of a component. Use the value of the DEVPKEY_NAME property to identify the component to an end-user. Windows supports the DEVPKEY_NAME property for device instances, device setup classes, and device interfaces.

• Property keys that represent the device instance properties that correspond to the SPDRP_Xxx identifiers. (The SPDRP_Xxx identifiers are defined in Setupapi.h.)

• Property keys that represent the device instance properties that do not have corresponding SPDRP_Xxx identifiers. This includes the following:

  Device status and problem properties

  Device relations properties, including the parent device, child devices, and sibling devices

  Device driver properties

  Device driver package properties

  Miscellaneous other device properties

• Property keys that represent device setup class properties that correspond to the SPCRP_Xxx identifiers. (The SPCRP_Xxx identifiers are defined in Setupapi.h.)

• Property keys that represent device setup class properties that do not have corresponding SPCRP_Xxx identifiers.

• Property keys that represent device interface class properties.

• Property keys that represent device interface properties.

For information about how to create custom device properties, see Creating custom device properties.