Preventing Plug and Play

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Plug and Play (PnP) functionality allows the driver for a PnP device to be installed immediately after the device is plugged into a computer. For some purposes, for example to increase security, you may want to prevent PnP in your run-time image.

When a PnP device is plugged into a Windows XP Embedded system, if the driver exists on the computer, the device is installed immediately. If the driver does not exist on the system, or if the driver package is not digitally signed, the Found New Hardware Wizard appears to prompt the user for the driver and to assist in the installation.

To prevent a PnP device being installed on an embedded system, you can exclude its driver from the run-time image and also prevent the Found New Hardware Wizard from appearing, so that no drivers can be installed. A registry value can be set to prevent the wizard appearing.

To prevent Plug and Play

  1. In Target Designer, open your run-time image configuration.
  2. Ensure that only those device drivers that you want installed on your embedded device are included in the configuration. Remove all others.
  3. In the configuration editor, expand the node for the SLX file, right-click Extra Registry Data and choose Add. The Add an Extra Registry Entry to the Configuration dialog box appears.
  4. In the Root list, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
  5. In the Key name box, type System\CurrentControlSet\Services\PlugPlay\Parameters or choose Browse to navigate to that location.
  6. In the Value name box, type: SuppressUI
  7. In the Type list, select REG_DWORD.
  8. In the Value box, type: 0x1
  9. In the Description box, type a description for this registry value for future reference.
  10. Choose OK.

See Also

Plug and Play

Last updated on Wednesday, October 18, 2006

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