Protocol Driver's DriverEntry and Initialization (NDIS 5.1)
Note NDIS 5. x has been deprecated and is superseded by NDIS 6. x. For new NDIS driver development, see Network Drivers Starting with Windows Vista. For information about porting NDIS 5. x drivers to NDIS 6. x, see Porting NDIS 5.x Drivers to NDIS 6.0.
A protocol driver's initial required entry point must be explicitly named DriverEntryso that the loader can identify it. All other exported functions, described here as ProtocolXxx, can have any developer-specified name since they are passed as addresses to NDIS. The definition of DriverEntryis the same as for any kernel-mode driver. For additional information about ProtocolXxx functions and DriverEntry, see DriverEntry of NDIS protocol drivers.
If the protocol driver exports a set of standard kernel-mode driver routines, such as any (Tdi)DispatchXxx and Unloadroutines, in addition to the NDIS-defined ProtocolXxx functions, the protocol driver must set the entry points of its standard routines in the DriverObjectpassed to DriverEntry, like any other kernel-mode intermediate driver.
Note A kernel-mode intermediate driver is not the same as an NDIS intermediate driver. For more information about types of kernel-mode drivers, see Types of Windows Drivers.
A protocol driver's DriverEntryfunction must call NdisRegisterProtocolto register as an NDIS protocol driver (see Registering as an NDIS Protocol Driver).
DriverEntrycan initialize spin locks to protect any globally-shared resources that the protocol driver allocates, such as state variables, structures, and memory areas. The driver uses these resources to track connections and sends in progress or driver-allocated queues.
If DriverEntryfails to allocate any resources that the protocol driver requires to operate, the driver should release any previously-allocated resources. The protocol driver calls NdisDeregisterProtocol, if necessary, and returns an appropriate error status.
The following topics provide additional information about NDIS protocol driver initialization:
Registering as an NDIS Protocol Driver
Registering as a Call Manager or a Connection-Oriented Client