Installing Intermediate Drivers (NDIS 5.1)
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 x has been deprecated and is superseded by NDIS 6.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.
Intermediate drivers require two INF files. One of the INF files defines the installation parameters for the protocol lower edge. The other INF file defines the installation parameters for the virtual miniport upper edge.
The protocol INF file is the primary INF file. After the protocol lower edge is installed, the virtual miniport upper edge is installed, based upon references to the miniport driver INF that are defined in the protocol INF.
On Windows 2000 you can use a notify object or a custom setup application to copy the miniport driver INF file to the system INF directory. For Windows 2000 SP2 and later versions you should use the INF CopyINF directive in the protocol INF to copy the miniport driver INF file. For more information about the notify object and copying INF files, see Intermediate Driver Notify Object.
The system-supplied device setup class for the protocol lower edge is NetService for filter intermediate drivers and NetTrans for MUX intermediate drivers. The driver class for the virtual miniport is always Net.
In addition to the INF files, you must also provide a notify object with a MUX intermediate driver. The notify object is optional for filter intermediate drivers.
The virtual miniport device is always removed from the user interface by using the ExcludeFromSelect directive. Therefore, the user only sees the protocol and installs the protocol from the protocol INF file.
Note The ExcludeFromSelect directive does not remove the virtual device from the Connections dialog box. However, the NCF_HIDDEN flag in the miniport driver INF file DDInstall section's Characteristics entry prevents the virtual miniport from being displayed in any part of the user interface, including the Connections dialog box.
This section provides information about intermediate INF files and notify objects. This information is described in the following topics:
Intermediate Driver UpperRange And LowerRange INF File Entries
Filter Intermediate Driver Installation
MUX Intermediate Driver Installation
Intermediate Driver Notify Object