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How to add USB device capabilities to the app manifest

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This topic describes the device capabilities that are required for a Windows app that uses the Windows.Devices.Usb namespace.

  • You must update Package.appxmanifest with USB device capabilities.
  • The device class must be one of the supported classes.

USB device capability usage

Your USB app must include certain device capabilities in its App package manifest to specify key information about the device. Here are the required elements in hierarchical order:

<DeviceCapability>: The Name attribute must be "usb".

<Device>: The Id attribute must specify the vendor/product Id or can be "any" to allow access to any device that matches the function type.

<Function>: The Type attribute can specify the device class code, name, or the device interface GUID.

Note

You cannot modify the USB device capability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. You must right-click the Package.appxmanifest file in Solution Explorer and select Open With..., and then XML (Text) Editor. The file opens in plain XML.

<DeviceCapability Name="usb">
    <Device Id="vidpid:xxxx xxxx">
      <Function Type="classId:xx xx xx"/>
      <Function Type="name:xxxxx"/>
      <Function Type="winUsbId:xxxxx"/>
    </Device>
</DeviceCapability>

Supported USB device classes

Names and code values of the supported device classes are as follows:

  • name:cdcControl, classId:02 * *

  • name:physical, classId:05 * *

  • name:personalHealthcare, classId:0f 00 00

  • name:activeSync, classId:ef 01 01

  • name:palmSync, classId:ef 01 02

  • name:deviceFirmwareUpdate, classId:fe 01 01

  • name:irda, classId:fe 02 00

  • name:measurement, classId:fe 03 *

  • name:vendorSpecific, classId:ff * *

    Note

    Devices that belong to the DeviceFirmwareUpdate class can only be accessed by privileged apps that is explicitly declared by the OEM for that PC.

Because these are unknown interfaces, the app is required to specify the vendor/product id for these class codes.

  • CDC (0x02)
  • CDC-data (0x0A)
  • Miscellaneous (0xEF)
  • Application specific (0xFE)
  • Vendor specific (0xFF)

These USB device classes are not supported:

  • Invalid class (0x00)
  • Audio class (0x01)
  • HID class(0x03)
  • Image class (0x06)
  • Printer class (0x07)
  • Mass storage class (0x08)
  • Smart card class (0x0B)
  • Audio/video class (0x10)
  • Wireless controller (such as, wireless USB host/hub) (0xE0)

USB device capability examples

The following example allows the app to access any ActiveSync or StillImage interface on any device. The app is not required to specify the vendor and product identifiers because these are known class types.

<DeviceCapability Name="usb">
  <Device Id="any">
    <Function Type="classId:ef 01 01"/>
    <Function Type="name:stillImage"/>
  </Device>
</DeviceCapability>

The following example allows the app to access a vendor-specific interface on the OSR USB Fx2 device.

<DeviceCapability Name="usb">
  <Device Id="vidpid:045e 930a">
    <Function Type="name:vendorSpecific"/>
  </Device>
</DeviceCapability>

The following example allows the app to access a vendor-specific interface on a different version of the OSR USB Fx2 device. Note the classId format: "ff * *". The class code is "ff" followed by wildcards (* *) to include any subclass and protocol code.

<DeviceCapability Name="usb">
  <Device Id="vidpid:045e 930a">
    <Function Type="classId:ff * *"/>
  </Device>
</DeviceCapability>

The following example allows the app to access the device with a device interface GUID defined either in the MS OS Descriptor or in the device INF.

In this case, the Device Id value must not equal "any".

<DeviceCapability Name="usb">
  <Device Id=" vidpid:1234 5678">
    <Function Type="winUsbId:"xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"/>
  </Device>
</DeviceCapability>

App manifest package for the CustomUsbDeviceAccess sample

  <Capabilities>
      <!--When the device's classId is FF * *, there is a predefined name for the class. 
          You can use the name instead of the class id. 
          There are also other predefined names that correspond to a classId.-->
      <m2:DeviceCapability Name="usb">
          <!--OSRFX2 Device-->
          <m2:Device Id="vidpid:0547 1002">
              <m2:Function Type="classId:ff * *"/>
              <!--<m2:Function Type="name:vendorSpecific"/>-->
          </m2:Device>
          <!--SuperMutt Device-->
          <m2:Device Id="vidpid:045E 0611">
              <!--<m2:Function Type="classId:ff * *"/>-->
              <m2:Function Type="name:vendorSpecific"/>
          </m2b:Device>
      </m2:DeviceCapability>
  </Capabilities>