View source for Software:User-Mode Driver Framework

{{Short description|Driver development platform for Microsoft Windows}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF)
| logo                   = 
| developer              = [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]
| released               = {{Start date and age|2004|10|12}}
| latest release version = 2.27
| latest release date    = {{Start date and age|2019|03|24}}
| repo                   = {{URL|https://github.com/microsoft/Windows-Driver-Frameworks}}
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]]
| operating system       = [[Software:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft Windows]]
| platform               = 
| genre                  = Device-driver development platform
| license                = [[Software:MIT License|MIT License]]
| website                = {{URL|https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/wdf/overview-of-the-umdf}}
}}
'''User-Mode Driver Framework''' ('''UMDF''') is a device-driver development platform first introduced with [[Company:Microsoft|Microsoft]]'s [[Software:Windows Vista|Windows Vista]] [[Operating system|operating system]], and is also available for [[Software:Windows XP|Windows XP]].  It facilitates the creation of drivers for certain classes of devices.<ref>[https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1751379 Programming Drivers for the UMDF]</ref>

==Overview==
Standard device drivers can be difficult to write because they must handle a very wide range of system and device states, particularly in a multithreaded software environment.  Badly written device drivers can cause severe damage to a system (e.g., [[Blue Screen of Death|BSoD]] or data corruption) since all standard drivers have high privileges when accessing the kernel directly. The User-Mode Driver Framework insulates the kernel from the problems of direct driver access, instead providing a new class of driver with a dedicated [[Application programming interface|application programming interface]] at the user level of interrupts and memory management. If an error occurs, the new framework allows for an immediate driver restart without impacting the system.  This is particularly useful for devices that are intermittently connected to the system or support [[Hot swapping|hot swapping]] via a bus technology such as USB or FireWire.

According to Microsoft, UMDF drivers are simpler to write and debug than kernel-mode drivers.<ref name="MSFT UMDF advantages">{{cite web | url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff554455%28v=vs.85%29.aspx | title=Advantages of Writing UMDF Drivers}}</ref>  However, UMDF would not be used for performance-intensive or highly [[State (computer science)|stateful]] devices.

The first version of the UMDF was shipped as part of [[Software:Windows Media Player|Windows Media Player]] version 10 on 2004-10-12.  Code-named "Crescent", it was designed to support the [[Software:Media Transfer Protocol|Media Transfer Protocol]] driver, and no public interfaces or documentation were provided for it. Later, Microsoft decided to turn UMDF into a device driver development platform.<ref name="channel9">{{cite web
|url=http://channel9.msdn.com/showpost.aspx?postid=236023
|title=Peter Wieland: User Mode Driver Framework
|date=2006-09-18
|access-date=2006-09-18
|author=Charles Torre, Peter Wieland
|work=Channel 9
|publisher=Microsoft
}}</ref>

== Version history ==
* User-Mode Driver Framework 1.5-1.9, supports [[Software:Windows XP|Windows XP]] and newer.
* User-Mode Driver Framework 1.11, supports [[Software:Windows Vista|Windows Vista]] and later, and [[Software:Windows Server 2008|Windows Server 2008]] and later.<ref name="UMDFSupport">{{cite web
|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2685813
|title=User-Mode Driver Framework version 1.11 update for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2
|access-date=2012-12-01
|author=Microsoft Support
|publisher=Microsoft
}}</ref>
* User-Mode Driver Framework 2.0, which supports [[Software:Windows 8.1|Windows 8.1]] and newer.<ref name="UMDFLatest">{{cite web
|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542109(v=vs.85).aspx
|title=User-Mode Driver Framework Frequently Asked Questions (Windows Drivers)
|access-date=2014-06-04
|publisher=Microsoft
}}</ref>

== Architecture ==
A UMDF Driver is a DLL based on Microsoft's [[Component Object Model]] (COM).  However, UMDF does not use COM for loading, unloading, or controlling [[Concurrency (computer science)|concurrency]]; it only uses COM as a programming pattern, for example exploiting COM's ''[[IUnknown]]'' interface. At startup, UMDF calls ''DllGetClassObject'' to get a pointer to an ''IClassFactory'' interface in the driver and then uses the ''CreateInstance'' method of the IClassFactory interface to create an instance of the driver callback object.

The driver object is an instance of the framework-provided ''IWDFDriver'' interface.  The driver provides a set of callbacks via the ''IDriverEntry'' COM interface, which is the main entry point for driver customization.

== See also ==
* [[Software:Windows Driver Frameworks|Windows Driver Frameworks]] (WDF)
* [[Software:Kernel-Mode Driver Framework|Kernel-Mode Driver Framework]] (KMDF)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
<!--
* {{cite web |title= Official website |url= http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/UMDF.mspx |url-status= dead |archive-date= March 17, 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060317213930/http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/UMDF.mspx }}
-->
* [http://blogs.msdn.com/peterwie/ Peter Wieland's blog] &ndash; developer lead on the UMDF team at Microsoft

{{Microsoft APIs}}
{{Microsoft FOSS}}

[[Category:Device drivers]]
[[Category:Microsoft application programming interfaces]]
[[Category:Microsoft free software]]

{{Sourceattribution|User-Mode Driver Framework}}