Windows Driver Frameworks
Windows Driver Frameworks (WDF, formerly Windows Driver Foundation), is a set of Microsoft tools and libraries that aid in the creation of device drivers for Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows. It complements Windows Driver Model, abstracting away much of the boilerplate complexity in writing Windows drivers.
Other names | Windows Driver Foundation |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Microsoft |
Stable release | win-10.0.17763.1
/ 24 March 2019 |
Repository | |
Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
Type | Development tool, application programming interface |
License | MIT License[1] |
Website | learn |
WDF consists of Kernel-Mode Driver Framework (KMDF) and User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF).[2] These individual frameworks provide a new object-oriented programming model for Windows driver development. The primary goals of WDF is conceptual scalability and reduced duplication, enabling developers to apply the same concepts across different driver types and reducing the code overhead required for drivers. This differs markedly from the Windows Driver Model (WDM) which requires driver developers to be fully familiar with many complex technical details to write a basic driver.
Part of the key to achieving conceptual scalability is that KMDF and UMDF use an "opt-in" model. This model allows the developer to extend and override the default behavior of a canonical "good driver". In contrast, Windows Driver Model depends on the driver writer to implement all aspects of the driver's behavior.
Varieties
There are three types of WDF drivers:
- Kernel-Mode Driver Framework, for writing standard kernel-mode device drivers
- User-Mode Driver Framework v1, for writing user-mode drivers using a C++ COM-based API
- User-Mode Driver Framework v2, for writing user-mode drivers with syntactic parity to KMDF
WDF also includes a set of static verification tools for use by driver writers. These tools examine driver code for common errors and/or simulate the code of a driver in order to identify problems that are both difficult to detect and difficult to test for.
Versions
Operating system | KMDF 1.0 | KMDF 1.1 | KMDF 1.5 | KMDF 1.7 | KMDF 1.9 | KMDF 1.11 | KMDF 1.13 | KMDF 1.15 | KMDF 1.17 | KMDF 1.19 | KMDF 1.21 | KMDF 1.23 | KMDF 1.25 | KMDF 1.27 | KMDF 1.29 | KMDF 1.31 | KMDF 1.33 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Windows 11 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Windows 10 2004 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - |
Windows 10 1903 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - |
Windows 10 1809 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1803 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1709 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1703 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1607 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1511 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1507 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 8.1 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 8 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 7 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows Server 2008 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows Vista | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows Server 2003 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows XP | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 2000 | - | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Operating system | UMDF 1.5 | UMDF 1.7 | UMDF 1.9 | UMDF 1.11 | UMDF 2.0 | UMDF 2.15 | UMDF 2.17 | UMDF 2.19 | UMDF 2.21 | UMDF 2.23 | UMDF 2.25 | UMDF 2.27 | UMDF 2.29 | UMDF 2.31 | UMDF 2.33 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Windows 11 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Windows 10 2004 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - |
Windows 10 1903 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - |
Windows 10 1809 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1803 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1709 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1703 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1607 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1511 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 10 1507 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 8.1 | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 8 | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 7 | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows Server 2008 | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows Vista | yes | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows Server 2003 | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows XP | yes | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Windows 2000 | - | yes | yes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Bold "Yes" means introduced with this version of Windows.
See also
References
- "Windows Driver Frameworks". GitHub. Microsoft. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
- Kernel Mode Driver Framework for Windows 7 Drivers
- "KMDF Version History". Microsoft Docs. Microsoft. 1 October 2018.
- "UMDF Version History". Microsoft Docs. Microsoft. 1 October 2018.
External links
- Official website
- Developing Drivers with the Windows Driver Foundation by Orwick and Smith
- Windows Driver Kit
- OSR Online, including many articles about WDF, KMDF, and Windows driver development
- Introducing Windows Driver Framework at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-01-25), written by well-known Windows driver developer, Walter Oney
- Building and deploying a basic WDF Kernel Mode Driver, CodeProject
- Developing a WDF USB Kernel Mode Driver for the OSR USB FX2, CodeProject