Windows System Software -- Consulting, Training, Development -- Unique Expertise, Guaranteed Results

Home NTDEV

Before Posting...

Please check out the Community Guidelines in the Announcements and Administration Category.

More Info on Driver Writing and Debugging


The free OSR Learning Library has more than 50 articles on a wide variety of topics about writing and debugging device drivers and Minifilters. From introductory level to advanced. All the articles have been recently reviewed and updated, and are written using the clear and definitive style you've come to expect from OSR over the years.


Check out The OSR Learning Library at: https://www.osr.com/osr-learning-library/


Question about using Legacy Device Drivers on W2K

OSR_Community_UserOSR_Community_User Member Posts: 110,217
I have a device driver that I have ported to W2K and I am now attempting to
test it. Due to its simple nature I have not needed to make any code
changes and was able to simply recompile the code for the new OS, but now
here is my problem. The board to which it communicates with is NOT a PNP
type board, it is a simple ISA board. I have been able to get the driver
installed into W2K to the point where it is visible in the Computer Manager
screens but from that point on I can find no means to get the driver loaded.
Under NT4 the driver is loaded on demand and never automatically loaded.

So with that information these are the questions in a nutshell.

1) How to you start/load a driver manually, like in NT4 device applet, in
W2K?
2) Every shred of documentation I can find only speaks about PNP boards.
Did M$ change things so that only PNP boards are supported?
3) If #2 is not true then what do you need to do to get legacy ISA
board/drivers to work on W2K?

If all of these answers are in a book I am waiting for the "Writing Windows
WDM and Device Drivers : Master the New Driver Model for : Windows 98 and
Windows 2000" book by Cant/Chris. Hopefully this book will help.

Thanks for all of the help.

Scott A. Thomas, MCSE, MCP+I
BASS, Inc.
495 Byers Rd.
Miamisburg, OH 45342-3662
[email protected]
Sign In or Register to comment.

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Upcoming OSR Seminars
OSR has suspended in-person seminars due to the Covid-19 outbreak. But, don't miss your training! Attend via the internet instead!
Kernel Debugging 30 January 2023 Live, Online
Developing Minifilters 20 March 2023 Live, Online
Internals & Software Drivers 17 April 2023 Live, Online
Writing WDF Drivers 22 May 2023 Live, Online