Getting started with USB development

A Universal Serial Bus (USB) device defines its capabilities and features through configurations, interfaces, alternate settings, and endpoints. This topic provides a high-level overview of those concepts. For details, see the USB specifications at Universal Serial Bus Documents.

In this section

Topic	Description
USB device layout	A USB device defines its capabilities and features through configurations, interfaces, alternate settings, and endpoints. This topic provides a high-level overview of those concepts.
Standard USB descriptors	A USB device provides information about itself in data structures called USB descriptors. This section provides information about device, configuration, interface, and endpoint descriptors and ways to retrieve them from a USB device.
USB endpoints and their pipes	A USB device has endpoints that are used to for data transfers. On the host side, endpoints are represented by pipes. This topic differentiates between those two terms.
USB in Windows - FAQ	This topic presents frequently asked questions for driver developers who are new to developing and integrating USB devices and drivers with Windows operating systems.

Common USB scenarios

1—Get the device handle for communication and use the retrieved handle or object to send data transfers.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WdfUsbTargetDeviceCreateWithParameters UMDF: IWDFUsbTargetDevice	UsbDevice How to connect to a USB device	WinUsb_Initialize Write a Windows desktop app based on the WinUSB template

USB descriptor retrieval to get information about the device's configuration(s), interface(s), setting(s), and their endpoint(s).

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WdfUsbTargetDeviceGetDeviceDescriptor WdfUsbTargetDeviceRetrieveConfigDescriptor UMDF: IWDFUsbTargetDevice::RetrieveDescriptor USB descriptors	UsbDevice.DeviceDescriptor UsbConfiguration.Descriptors UsbInterface.Descriptors UsbInterfaceSetting.Descriptors How to get USB descriptors	WinUsb_GetDescriptor WinUsb_QueryInterfaceSettings WinUsb_QueryPipe Query the Device for USB Descriptors

2—Configure the device to select an active USB configuration and setting per interface.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WdfUsbTargetDeviceSelectConfig WdfUsbTargetDeviceCreateUrb USBD_SelectConfigUrbAllocateAndBuild WdfUsbInterfaceSelectSetting How to select a configuration for a USB device. How to select an alternate setting in a USB interface. UMDF: Configuration selection is not supported IWDFUsbInterface::SelectSetting	UsbInterfaceSetting.SelectSettingAsync How to select a USB interface setting	WinUsb_SetCurrentAlternateSetting

3—Send control transfers for configuring the device and performing vendor commands that are specific to particular device.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WdfUsbTargetDeviceSendControlTransferSynchronously WdfUsbTargetDeviceFormatRequestForControlTransfer USBD_SelectConfigUrbAllocateAndBuild UMDF: IWDFUsbTargetDevice::FormatRequestForControlTransfer How to send a USB control transfer	SendControlInTransferAsync SendControlOutTransferAsync How to send a USB control transfer	WinUsb_ControlTransfer Send Control Transfer to the Default Endpoint

4—Send bulk transfers, typically used by mass storage devices that transfer large amount of data.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WdfUsbTargetPipeReadSynchronously WdfUsbTargetPipeWriteSynchronously WdfUsbTargetPipeFormatRequestForRead WdfUsbTargetPipeFormatRequestForWrite How to send USB bulk transfer requests How to use the continuous reader for reading data from a USB pipe UMDF: IUsbTargetPipeContinuousReaderCallbackReadComplete IWDFUsbTargetPipe IWDFUsbTargetPipe2	UsbBulkInPipe.InputStream UsbBulkOutPipe.OutputStream How to send a USB bulk transfer request	WinUsb_WritePipe WinUsb_ReadPipe Issue I/O Requests

5—Send interrupt transfers. Data is read to retrieve hardware interrupt data.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
Same as bulk transfers	UsbInterruptInPipe.DataReceived UsbInterruptOutPipe.OutputStream How to send a USB interrupt transfer request	Same as bulk transfers

6—Send isochronous transfers, mostly used for media streaming devices.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WdfUsbTargetDeviceCreateIsochUrb How to transfer data to USB isochronous endpoints UMDF: Not supported	Not supported	WinUsb_RegisterIsochBuffer WinUsb_UnregisterIsochBuffer WinUsb_WriteIsochPipeAsap WinUsb_ReadIsochPipeAsap WinUsb_WriteIsochPipe WinUsb_ReadIsochPipe WinUsb_GetCurrentFrameNumber WinUsb_GetAdjustedFrameNumber Sending USB isochronous transfers from a WinUSB desktop app

7—USB selective suspend to allow the device to enter a low power state and bring the device back to working state.

Client driver	UWP app	Windows desktop app
KMDF: WDF_DEVICE_POWER_POLICY_IDLE_SETTINGS WdfDeviceAssignS0IdleSettings UMDF: IWDFUsbTargetDevice::SetPowerPolicy IWDFDevice2::AssignS0IdleSettings IWDFDevice3::AssignS0IdleSettingsEx How to send a device to selective suspend	Not supported	WinUsb_SetPowerPolicy WinUSB Power Management

See also

• Universal Serial Bus (USB)