User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF)

Although this chapter focuses on kernel-mode drivers, Windows includes a growing number of drivers that actually run in user mode, as previously described, using the User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF) that is part of the WDF. Before finishing our discussion on drivers, we’ll take a quick look at the architecture of UMDF and what it offers. Once again, for a much more complete overview on the subject, please refer to Developing Drivers with Windows Driver Foundation by Penny Orwick and Guy Smith.

UMDF is designed specifically to support what are called protocol device classes, which refers to devices that all use the same standardized, generic protocol and offer specialized functionality on top of it. These protocols ...

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