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Keywords Not Displayed in the User Interface

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NDIS 6.0 and later versions of NDIS provide some standardized keywords for miniport drivers of network devices. These standardized keywords appear in INF files but not in the user interface.

These general keywords are described in the following list. For more information about a particular keyword, search for the keyword in the WDK documentation.

*IfType
The NDIS interface type for a device. For more information about the NDIS interface type, see NDIS Interface Types.

*MediaType
The media type for a device. For more information about the media type of the miniport adapter, see OID_GEN_MEDIA_SUPPORTED.

*PhysicalMediaType
The physical media type for a device. For more information about the physical media type of the miniport adapter, see OID_GEN_PHYSICAL_MEDIUM.

*NdisDeviceType
The type of the device. The default value is zero, which indicates a standard networking device that connects to a network. Set *NdisDeviceType to NDIS_DEVICE_TYPE_ENDPOINT (1) if this device is an endpoint device and is not a true network interface that connects to a network. For example, you must specify NDIS_DEVICE_TYPE_ENDPOINT for devices such as smart phones that use a networking infrastructure to communicate to the local computer system but do not provide connectivity to an external network. However, you must *not* set this keyword to NDIS_DEVICE_TYPE_ENDPOINT for virtual adapters such as VPN interfaces, because they provide connectivity to an external network.

Note  Windows Vista automatically identifies and monitors the networks a computer connects to. If the NDIS_DEVICE_TYPE_ENDPOINT flag is set, the device is an endpoint device and is not a connection to a true external network. Consequently, Windows ignores the endpoint device when it identifies networks. The Network Awareness APIs indicate that the device does not connect the computer to a network. For end users in this situation, the Network and Sharing Center and the network icon in the notification area do not show the NDIS endpoint device as connected. However, the connection is shown in the Network Connections Folder.