Книга: Writing Windows WDM Device Drivers

INF Files

INF Files

An INF file contains all the necessary information to install a WDM device driver, including a list of the files to copy, the registry entries to make, etc.

Windows provides a standard installer for most classes of device and a default installer. The default class installer processes INF files in the manner described in the rest of this chapter. Installers for other classes of device may perform some additional installation steps.

An INF file is a text file that looks like an old INI file. It is made up of sections, each starting with a line with the section name in square brackets (e.g., [Version]). The section contents follow. Each line either has a simple entry (e.g., entry) or sets a value (e.g., entry=value). Sections can be in any order. The order of lines in a section is sometimes important. Comments can be added after a semicolon character. Section and entry names are not case sensitive. A backslash at the end of a line in a section indicates that the line continues onto the next. Double-quotes are used to ensure the correct interpretation of characters (e.g., a backslash in a filename or leading or trailing spaces in strings). INF files can be in Unicode or plain ANSI characters. In some sections, you can opt to include other INF files needed for the installation.

If you need to customize the installation process, consider writing a class installer or — for Windows 2000 — a class coinstaller or a device coinstaller. A class installer takes over the installation of a whole class of devices; it can choose which installation jobs it handles and which it leaves to the default class installer. A coinstaller helps an existing class installer to do its job. A class coinstaller helps install all new devices of a particular class, while a device coinstaller helps just the installation of the device currently being installed. Coinstallers should not interact with the user. Please see the W2000 DDK for details of how to write these DLLs.

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