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MUX Intermediate Driver Installation

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This topic provides an overview of MUX intermediate driver installation issues. For additional information about the structure of intermediate driver INF files, see Installation Requirements for Network MUX Intermediate Drivers.

A MUX intermediate driver requires two INF files. The protocol INF file defines the installation parameters for the protocol lower edge. The miniport INF file defines the installation parameters for the virtual miniport upper edge. Set the Class INF file entry to Net in the virtual miniport INF file and NetTrans in the protocol INF file. The following code example shows a Class entry for the protocol INF file.

Class = NetTrans

The DDInstall section in a MUX intermediate driver INF file must have a Characteristics entry. Define the Characteristics entry in your protocol INF file as demonstrated in the following code example.

Characteristics = 0x80

NCF_HAS_UI (0x80) is required to enable custom property pages, which in this case is the notify object

Define the Characteristics entry in your miniport INF file as demonstrated in the following code example.

Characteristics = 0x21

The Characteristics value 0x21 indicates the NCF_VIRTUAL (0x1) and NCF_NOT_USER_REMOVABLE (0x20) flags are set. NCF_VIRTUAL specifies that the device is a virtual adapter. NCF_NOT_USER_REMOVABLE is optional and specifies that the user cannot remove the intermediate driver. If you want to hide the virtual miniport from the user (you should not do this if your user must install devices manually) you can define the NCF_HIDDEN (0x8) flag. The NCF_Xxx flags are defined in Netcfgx.h. For more information about the Characteristics entry and NCF_Xxx flags, see DDInstall Section.

The DDInstall section of the protocol INF file for a MUX intermediate driver must include an Addreg directive for an Ndi key. For more information, see Adding Service-Related Values to the Ndi Key and DDInstall.Services Section.

In addition to the INF files, you must also provide a notify object with a MUX Intermediate driver. The notify object is responsible for installation of virtual miniports. Reference the notify object with the ComponentDll entry in the protocol INF as follows:

HKR, Ndi,            ComponentDll,   , mux.dll

The user installs the protocol INF file which defines configuration parameters, copies installation files and also installs the notify object DLL. The user adds virtual miniports through the user interface provided by the notify object. The miniport INF file should define the ExcludeFromSelect entry to prevent the user from installing the miniport INF file instead of the protocol INF file.

The protocol name that the driver registers must match the service name.

HKR, Ndi, Service, 0, MUXP

The UpperRange and LowerRange INF file entries determine the bindings for a MUX intermediate driver. The protocol INF file must define the protocol edge bindings, as the following code example shows.

HKR, Ndi\Interfaces, UpperRange,    0,          "noupper"
HKR, Ndi\Interfaces, LowerRange,    0,          "ndis5"

The miniport INF file must define the upper edge bindings, as the following code example shows.

HKR, Ndi\Interfaces,    UpperRange, 0,  "ndis5"
HKR, Ndi\Interfaces,    LowerRange, 0,  "nolower"

You should replace "ndis5" in the preceding code examples with the protocol bindings required by your driver. For more information about intermediate driver bindings and the UpperRange/LowerRange entries, see Intermediate Driver UpperRange And LowerRange INF File Entries.