Introduction to User-Mode Driver

Framework

Outline
What is UMDF?
When should I use UMDF?
When shouldnt I use UMDF?
What does UMDF give me?
What kind of drivers can I write?
What can my drivers do?

What next?

Goals
How UMDF fits into WDF
Understand UMDFs capabilities

Current Driver Models

Windows has several different driver models
Windows Driver Model (WDM) is the generic model
Specific driver models for popular devices classes
Storage, Networking, Printing, Imaging, etc...
Some built on top of WDM. Others run as user-mode services.

WDM Features
Asynchronous, packet-based I/O
I/O Cancellation
Layering of drivers
Dynamic loading and unloading of drivers
Plug and Play & Power management
Low-level high-performance interfaces

WDM Advantages
Large device coverage
Flexible

Limitations with Current Models

Generic driver model (WDM) is too complex
Focuses on very advanced drivers which punishes simple ones
Poor DDI design

Device specific models have complexity of their own

Often this bubbles through from WDM
Developer trapped in device-specific model
Poor knowledge transfer from one to the next

Many drivers must be written in kernel mode

Even though much functionality could be user mode

Developers spend too much time driving our software

Cannot concentrate on driving their hardware
Driver quality suffers as a result

Do not allow extension and future growth

Overview of Current Driver Models

Device/Driver Classes

Current Model

Display Adapters

Video port

Storage Adapters (SCSI & ATA)

SCSIport, Storport, ATAport,

Network Adapters

NDIS

Video Capture

AvStream

Audio Adapters

AVStream, PortCls

File System filters

FS Mini filter

Printers

UniDrv

Scanners,Cameras

WIA

PCI, PC Card, generic filter drivers

WDM

Modems, Cable Modem

WDM & NDIS WDM

Biometric Devices

WDM

Smart Card Devices

WDM

Keyboard/Mouse Filters

WDM

Legacy Devices (Serial, Parallel)

WDM

Portable Media Players

WMDM

UPnP & Network Connected Devices, Cell Phones

No support

USB, 1394, Bluetooth, SD devices

WDM (kernel), no support (user)

Others

WDM

Windows Driver Foundation

We need a new generic driver model that ...
Scales conceptually from simple to extremely
complex drivers
Can be extended to domain specific models
Can be validated at compile-time as well as run-time

Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) consists of

A generic driver model
Implementations of that model
Kernel Mode Driver Framework (KMDF)
User Mode Driver Framework (UMDF)

Driver Verification Tools

Static Driver Verifier
PREfast for Drivers

Windows Driver Foundation Goals

Simplicity
No harder than it needs to be to accomplish a task

Fast time to market for drivers

Let driver developers focus on their domain, not ours

Reduce crashes and blue screens due to drivers

Better customer experience helps everyone

Provide complete driver development experience

Develop and test
Built-in diagnosability, tracing, verification tools

Deployment and Install

Support versioning

Windows Driver Foundation- Experience

Overview of Current (User) Driver Models

Device/Driver Classes

Current Model

Display Adapters

Video port

Storage Adapters (SCSI & ATA)

SCSIport, Storport, ATAport,

Network Adapters

NDIS

Video Capture

AvStream

Audio Adapters

AVStream, PortCls

File System filters

FS Mini filter

Printers

UniDrv

Scanners,Cameras

WIA

PCI, PC Card, generic filter drivers

WDM

Modems, Cable Modem

WDM & NDIS WDM

Biometric Devices

WDM

Smart Card Devices

WDM

Keyboard/Mouse Filters

WDM

Legacy Devices (Serial, Parallel)

WDM

Portable Media Players

WMDM

UPnP & Network Connected Devices, Cell Phones

No support

USB, 1394, Bluetooth, SD devices

WDM (kernel), no support (user)

Others

WDM

Why Build a User-Mode Framework?

Difficult to provide high-quality drivers
Crash statistics prove this
WDF Framework makes drivers easier to write

Lots of driver models already live in user space

Printers, Audio, Imaging
Divergent driver models has become a problem
UMDF brings general-purpose model into user-mode

General UMDF provides:

Unified facilities
Support for WDF model

What is UMDF?
Implementation of the WDF Driver Model
Provides ...
The infrastructure to run a device driver in user-mode
The WDF I/O Pipeline and PnP/PM State Machine
The core WDF objects
Devices, Files, Queues, Requests, I/O Targets, etc...

UMDF and KMDF both share the WDF Model

So learning how to use one will apply to the other
But they are not source or binary compatible
Have similar but not identical DDIs
Each has additional functionality applicable to its domain

Overview of the Architecture

Driver Manager

User

UM
UM driver
driver
Framework
Framework

CoInstaller

Host Process

Kernel

Reflector
Kernel Driver

Provided by:
Microsoft

...
Kernel Driver

Device Stack

ISV
IHV

Who Should Use UMDF?

Existing driver developers
Who want to move drivers to user space
Who already have the driver mindset

New driver developers

Coming from application development
Who need to provide device support
Who are learning new skills

Anyone who wants to...

Build a driver without a lot of development overhead
Reduce the risks associated with traditional drivers
Stop causing blue screens

Where can you use UMDF?

Primary Scenarios
Protocol Bus devices
Devices attached to USB, 1394, TCP/IP, etc...

Software-only drivers
Filter drivers, virtualized serial port, etc

Current Devices
Portable Media Players, Cell Phones,
PDAs/ActiveSync, Auxiliary Display, Cameras

Future Devices
Devices on future protocol busses
Devices where driver can be split into ...
Small kernel-mode component to do hardware access
Larger user-mode driver to provide complex functionality

When and How To Use UMDF

UMDF is a standard Windows codenamed
Longhorn feature
Support in WDK

Build with the WDK Build Environment

Standard device driver build environment
No integration with Visual Studio

Why Use UMDF?

Uses the WDF Driver Model
Can learn a single model that applies to KM and
UM drivers

Faster development cycle

Easier debugging on a single machine
Crashes during development dont require a reboot

Access to user-mode services

Win32 file I/O, Function Discovery, WINSOCK,
RPC, Crypto
But you have to be careful

Why Use UMDF?

Improved stability
User-Mode Drivers are isolated from other drivers
Kernel is isolated from user-mode drivers

Increased security
Compromised driver does not crash the system
Lower privileges restrain a compromised driver

Recoverability
System can recover after a driver crash
no blue-screens
The driver can be restarted without rebooting

Kernel-Mode or User-Mode Driver?

You must use kernel mode when you:
Need direct hardware access, for example,
Require DMA
Must handle interrupts
Need access to device registers

Have strict timing requirements

UMDF will have increased latency

Need kernel-only resources

Or kernel components need access to your driver

Features You Can Use in Your Driver

General WDF capabilities
PnP/PM provides opt-in callbacks for various events
Object model has context management & flow control
I/O Targets allow driver to send new I/O requests
Regardless of where the target device driver is running
Coordinated with cancellation and cleanup

Escape to Win32 and user-mode services

Standard facilities for Windows I/O model
PnP Device Discovery
Synchronous & Asynchronous I/O with Cancellation
Buffered and Direct I/O transfers

Standard INF Driven setup

Common Concerns
Will a user-mode driver be fast enough?
UMDF driver can already flood a portable media device
UMDF may increase latency, but throughput remains high

Performance is one of our top priorities

But its not always the top priority for driver developers
Balanced with improvements in quality, stability, security, etc...

Will a user-mode driver be secure?

As secure as any other user-mode service
RPC, LSASS, WinLogon, etc...

A compromised user-mode driver is more contained

Cannot crash the system or expose kernel secrets

Will user-mode drivers be high quality drivers?

Well continue to push to improve driver quality in all models
UMDF will prevent badly behaved drivers from crashing
the system

Whats Next?
Development platform is the WDK/LDK
Currently allows developing drivers for Longhorn
But we know thats not enough
Plan to support Windows XP in Longhorn time-frame

Versioning support
Support for side-by-side installation

Beta program
Windows Driver Foundation Beta Program Invitation
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/beta.mspx

Call To Action
Install the Windows Driver Kit
Join the WDF Beta Program
At http://beta.microsoft.com
Guest ID: Guest4WDF

Evaluate UMDF for your driver projects

Consider development time, customer support for
system crashes, etc.

Send Us Feedback - We want to know

If UMDF will meet your needs
What stops you from writing your drivers with UMDF
Email: umdffdbk @ microsoft.com

Additional Resources
Web Resources:
WDF Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/default.mspx

Windows Debugger:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/default.mspx

External Resources
Introduction to the Windows Driver Foundation: How To Develop
Device Drivers Using the Kernel Mode Driver Framework from OSR
Press
Release date is September 2005
Focuses on KMDF but provides general WDF information as well

 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.