vista driver compatibility

Hi,

A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:

- Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
- If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them? Are
there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?

As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need this
information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.

Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.

With kind regards.

Vipin
Wed Aug 03 05:03:56 CDT 2005

That is long way to go. A year and half still as per schedule if MS meets it
in first place and I believe you won't jump to vista from day1. So imagine
it to be 3 years down the line that you would evnetually move to vista
unless your business really craves for it.

Thanks
Vipin

"Steenb" <steenb@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:C7FE9A3E-5486-4D7E-9C0A-56044892585C@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
>
> - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
> - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them?
> Are
> there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
>
> As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need this
> information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
>
> Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.
>
> With kind regards.
>
>

steenb
Wed Aug 03 06:25:03 CDT 2005

@Vipin: we sell computer hardware from several manufacturers, so we do need
vista drivers from day 1. Therefore I really need to know this.


"Vipin" wrote:

> That is long way to go. A year and half still as per schedule if MS meets it
> in first place and I believe you won't jump to vista from day1. So imagine
> it to be 3 years down the line that you would evnetually move to vista
> unless your business really craves for it.
>
> Thanks
> Vipin
>
> "Steenb" <steenb@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
> news:C7FE9A3E-5486-4D7E-9C0A-56044892585C@microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
> >
> > - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
> > - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them?
> > Are
> > there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
> >
> > As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need this
> > information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
> >
> > Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.
> >
> > With kind regards.
> >
> >
>
>
>

pavel_a
Wed Aug 03 06:39:01 CDT 2005

"Steenb" wrote:
> A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
>
> - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?

Chances are that some XP drivers will work.
If you have downloaded beta1 you should have noticed
the folder with legacy XP drivers for hardware that don't have
native LH drivers yet.

> - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them? Are
> there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
>
> As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need this
> information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
> Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.

Here is a good point to start reading

http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/drivers/

Regards,
--PA

Doron
Wed Aug 03 10:41:16 CDT 2005

drivers for the most part will work. I would imagine that the issues will
lie with INFs and signing to begin with.

d

--
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. this alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


"Pavel A." <pavel_a@NOwritemeNO.com> wrote in message
news:B5884486-939F-414C-95E6-13D9C0790F2C@microsoft.com...
> "Steenb" wrote:
>> A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
>>
>> - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
>
> Chances are that some XP drivers will work.
> If you have downloaded beta1 you should have noticed
> the folder with legacy XP drivers for hardware that don't have
> native LH drivers yet.
>
>> - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them?
>> Are
>> there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
>>
>> As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need
>> this
>> information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
>> Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.
>
> Here is a good point to start reading
>
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/drivers/
>
> Regards,
> --PA
>

Default
Wed Aug 03 21:42:43 CDT 2005

drivers should for the most part work. Of course there may be problems with
drivers that are dependent (intentially or unintentionally) on undocumented
system behavior or the behaivor of other drivers.

I think you really need to be pushing your suppliers to figure out how
they're going to test their drivers with Vista in order to identify these
problems before you try to sell their devices.

-p

"Steenb" <steenb@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:C7FE9A3E-5486-4D7E-9C0A-56044892585C@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
>
> - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
> - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them?
> Are
> there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
>
> As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need this
> information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
>
> Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.
>
> With kind regards.
>
>

Thomas
Wed Aug 03 22:06:51 CDT 2005


"Steenb" <steenb@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:C7FE9A3E-5486-4D7E-9C0A-56044892585C@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
>
> - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
> - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them?
> Are
> there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
>
I can't speak about all driver technologies.

However, for sure you need to push any supplier of network adapters to
insure that they have Vista NDIS 6 miniport drivers. Microsoft has the
intention of supporting pre-Visa NDIS (network) drivers on Vista, and they
will probably achieve that goal. HOWEVER, pre-Vista network drivers will not
have the performance that can be realized with native Vista network drivers.
In fact, pre-Vista network drivers will probably degrade Vista system
performance.

Any type of network driver should be adapted specifically to operate on the
Vista platform.

It is also clear that the driver install scheme on Vista will be
significantly different from pre-Vista. So, even if the driver actually
works as-is, some time will be necessary to develop Vista installers and to
design a migration scheme.

My own suggestion is that you strongly encourage suppliers to at least test
on the current Vista Beta 1.

Good luck,

Thomas F. Divine, Windows DDK MVP

> As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need this
> information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
>
> Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.
>
> With kind regards.
>
>

Default
Fri Aug 05 12:35:02 CDT 2005

apparently i posted this anonymously.

-p

"Default User" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:14443D88-2142-4F34-9784-0F6792B25472@microsoft.com...
> drivers should for the most part work. Of course there may be problems
> with drivers that are dependent (intentially or unintentionally) on
> undocumented system behavior or the behaivor of other drivers.
>
> I think you really need to be pushing your suppliers to figure out how
> they're going to test their drivers with Vista in order to identify these
> problems before you try to sell their devices.
>
> -p
>
> "Steenb" <steenb@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
> news:C7FE9A3E-5486-4D7E-9C0A-56044892585C@microsoft.com...
>> Hi,
>>
>> A few general questions about device drivers in Windows Vista:
>>
>> - Will drivers for Windows XP work in Windows Vista?
>> - If drivers are not compatible, how much work will it be to adapt them?
>> Are
>> there huge changes or is it a matter of recompiling with the new DDK?
>>
>> As you can see, I am not a driver developer myself, but I really need
>> this
>> information in order to push our suppliers in updating drivers.
>>
>> Maybe you can point me to some articles that answer these questions.
>>
>> With kind regards.
>>
>>
>

440gtx
Fri Aug 05 23:45:32 CDT 2005

The doc says drivers must be signed to install. That raises a few
questions:

1. Is it really that simple--signed drivers can not be installed,
period?

2. Some types of drivers cannot be signed because there is no signing
process (eg: class filters not tied to any hardware). What then?

3. What is the ballpark out the door dollar cost of signing a driver?
Might this be a problem for drivers that are part of freeware/hobby
packages and a barrier for drivers created by developers for their own
private development, research and testing?

440gtx
Sat Aug 06 00:52:28 CDT 2005

sorry for typo, Q1 of course should read "unsigned", not "signed".

Doron
Sat Aug 06 01:43:17 CDT 2005

You can self sign binaries w/in Vista, but the user chooses to sign them

d

--
Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. this alias is for
newsgroup purposes only.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.


<440gtx@email.com> wrote in message
news:1123307547.928369.187750@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> sorry for typo, Q1 of course should read "unsigned", not "signed".
>

Calvin
Sat Aug 06 02:34:41 CDT 2005

> However, for sure you need to push any supplier of network adapters to
> insure that they have Vista NDIS 6 miniport drivers. Microsoft has the
> intention of supporting pre-Visa NDIS (network) drivers on Vista, and they
> will probably achieve that goal. HOWEVER, pre-Vista network drivers will
> not have the performance that can be realized with native Vista network
> drivers. In fact, pre-Vista network drivers will probably degrade Vista
> system performance.

I think many fast Ethernet drivers won't be ported to ND6. It may not worth
the cost of development and sustaining. But all Gbe/10Gbe should have a nd6
driver.

--
Calvin Guan (Windows DDK MVP)
Staff SW Engineer NetXtreme Longhorn MINIPORT
Broadcom Corp. www.broadcom.com

Thomas
Sat Aug 06 10:09:00 CDT 2005


"Calvin Guan" <hguan@nospam.broadcom.com> wrote in message
news:OMmxSllmFHA.3656@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> However, for sure you need to push any supplier of network adapters to
>> insure that they have Vista NDIS 6 miniport drivers. Microsoft has the
>> intention of supporting pre-Visa NDIS (network) drivers on Vista, and
>> they will probably achieve that goal. HOWEVER, pre-Vista network drivers
>> will not have the performance that can be realized with native Vista
>> network drivers. In fact, pre-Vista network drivers will probably degrade
>> Vista system performance.
>
> I think many fast Ethernet drivers won't be ported to ND6. It may not
> worth the cost of development and sustaining. But all Gbe/10Gbe should
> have a nd6 driver.
>
I can understand the economics of this. And, Microsoft has promised
down-level compatibility to support this philosophy.

However, having non-NDIS 6 drivers installed on a system may defeat, or at
least complicate, other NDIS 6 features like pausing the stack to
install/remove components. It's too early to tell if 10Gbe adapter
performance will be degraded because of the presence of other NDIS 5
components.

Thomas

discussions
Thu Oct 06 15:41:03 CDT 2005

I have tried some:

NForce2 mainboard driver(For Epox 8RDA3G): Auto, OK!
ATI Video adaptor driver(For Radeon8500): Manually, OK!
Aureal 8830 sound adaptor driver(For Diamond MX300): Never!

and my usb card-reader can't be used in vista... -_-#

etc: My english is not very well.