First published on CloudBlogs on Dec, 13 2006
After discussing the inbox Plug and Play device redirection capabilities in Windows Vista and Windows Server codename “Longhorn”, in this conclusive part of the series, we talk about how third-party Plug and Play device drivers can be authored in such a way that they can function over this new Plug and Play Device Redirection Framework and can be used by applications running both local and remote.
Optimizing third-party device drivers for use over the Framework
The Terminal Server Plug and Play Device Redirection Framework provides a generic infrastructure that lets potentially any type of Plug and Play device to be redirected over RDP provided certain set of guidelines are followed to author the device drivers. All rules required to write drivers based on new User-Mode Driver Framework (
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/UMDF.mspx
) apply – in addition there are a few guidelines specific to having the device accessible remotely over RDP. These guidelines are summarized in the DEVFUND-0010 section in the Windows Logo Program Device Requirements for Windows Vista and Windows Server codename “Longhorn”:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx
. If you are writing drivers for Plug and Play devices for Windows Vista and Windows Server codename “Longhorn”, you are strongly encouraged to follow these guidelines so that the device is usable by applications that are local or remote. The message is that Plug and Play devices for Windows need to work seamlessly irrespective of whether the application talking to these devices is residing on a local or a remote computer.
After authoring your device driver in accordance with these guidelines, you need to modify your device driver INF so that the device is made available for redirection over RDP. This paper summarizes the changes required to the device driver INF:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/install/ts_redirect.mspx
.
Note that for certain device types, the Windows Logo for Devices Program has already started including tests to ensure compliance with the Terminal Server Plug and Play Device Redirection Framework – for example, for the Windows Vista Logo, if your device is of the Windows Portable Device category, passing the Terminal Server redirection tests is mandatory in order to obtain the Logo. As more inbox support for devices is added over the Framework, in the future, more categories of devices will start including these tests as requirements for third-party devices belonging to that category to obtain the Logo.
Microsoft announced the Terminal Server Plug and Play Device Redirection Framework at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference 2006 – here is the presentation:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/b/9/5b97017b-e28a-4bae-ba48-174cf47d23cd/SER014_WH06.p...
.
