How to Develop a Connectionless NDIS Miniport Driver

If your target device has a network adapter that is not directly supported by Windows CE, or you want your target device to support multiple PC Card network adapters, you must develop an NDIS miniport driver.

Hardware and Software Assumptions

To track your progress in the following table, select the check box next to each step.

  Step Topic
1. Familiarize yourself with the NDIS wrapper, which is a library that you can use to develop NDIS miniport drivers and network protocol drivers. The wrapper abstracts portions of the OS and provides supporting functions. NDIS Library Functions
2. Examine the NDIS miniport driver samples in %_PUBLICROOT%\Common\OAK\Drivers\Netcard, and use the techniques shown in these samples to implement your NDIS miniport driver. NDIS Miniport Driver Samples
3. Add the Wired Local Area Network feature to your platform configuration.
  • You can add the feature either from the Catalog or by setting the SYSGEN_ETHERNET environment variable.
Adding a Feature from the Catalog
4. Exclude Vmini.dll from the OS image by setting the BSP_NOSHAREETH and IMGNOSHAREETH environment variables. Setting or Clearing an Environment Variable
5. Add your NDIS miniport driver to your OS image build. Adding an NDIS Miniport Driver to an OS Image Build
6. Implement the NDIS miniport driver functions. NDIS Miniport Driver Implementation
7. Build the OS image. Building a Platform
8. Download the OS image to the target device. Downloading an OS Image to a Target Device
9. With the CETK, use the One-Card Network Card Miniport Driver Test or Two-Card Network Card Miniport Driver Test to test the NDIS miniport driver.

If you also want to check the network connection through the NDIS miniport driver, you can do so by browsing the Web or another type of network. You may have to configure your Internet settings to use a proxy server.

How to Use the CETK to Test a Driver

See Also

Device Driver How-to Topics | Miniports, Intermediate Drivers, and Protocol Drivers | Network Drivers | Platform Debugging and Testing | Troubleshooting a Device Driver | How to Migrate a Windows-based Desktop NDIS Miniport Driver to Windows CE | Adding a Device Driver to the Catalog

 Last updated on Tuesday, May 18, 2004

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