A function driver is the main driver for a device (see the Possible Driver Layers figure). A function driver is typically written by the device vendor and is required (unless the device is being used in raw mode). The PnP manager loads at most one function driver for a device. A function driver can service one or more devices.

A function driver provides the operational interface for its device. Typically the function driver handles reads and writes to the device and manages device power policy.

The function driver for a device can be implemented as a driver/minidriver pair, such as a port/miniport driver pair or a class/miniclass driver pair. In such driver pairs, the minidriver is linked to the second driver, which is a DLL.

If a device is being driven in raw mode, it has no function driver and no upper or lower-level filter drivers. All raw-mode I/O is done by the bus driver and optional bus filter drivers.