Standardized INF Keywords for NDIS Selective Suspend

Note

Selective Suspend related keywords are for traditional NDIS miniport driver use only. They are deprecated in Network Adapter WDF Class Extension (NetAdapterCx) and must not be used by its client drivers.

The following standardized INF keywords are defined to enable, disable, and configure parameters for NDIS selective suspend on a miniport driver:

*SelectiveSuspend INF Keyword

*SSIdleTimeout INF Keyword

*SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff INF Keyword

For more information about standardized INF keywords, see Standardized INF Keywords for Network Devices.

*SelectiveSuspend INF Keyword

The INF file for the miniport driver that supports NDIS selective suspend must specify the *SelectiveSuspend standardized INF keyword. After the driver is installed, administrators can update the *SelectiveSuspend keyword value in the Advanced property page for the network adapter. For more information about advanced properties, see Specifying Configuration Parameters for the Advanced Properties Page.

Note   The miniport driver is automatically restarted after a change is made in the Advanced property page for the adapter.

The *SelectiveSuspend INF keyword is an enumeration keyword. The following table describes the possible INF entries for the *SelectiveSuspend INF keyword. The columns in this table describe the following attributes for an enumeration keyword:

SubkeyName
The name of the keyword that you must specify in the INF file. This name also appears in the registry under the NDI\params\ key for the network adapter.

ParamDesc
The display text that is associated with SubkeyName.

Note  The independent hardware vendor (IHV) can define any descriptive text for the SubkeyName.

Value
The enumeration integer value that is associated with each SubkeyName in the list.

EnumDesc
The display text that is associated with each value that appears in the Advanced property page.

SubkeyName ParamDesc Value EnumDesc

*SelectiveSuspend

Selective suspend

0

Disabled

1 (Default)

Enabled

The miniport driver must check the *SelectiveSuspend keyword value in the registry before it advertises its support for NDIS selective suspend. If the *SelectiveSuspend keyword has a value of zero, the miniport must not advertise support for any selective suspend capabilities. For more information, see Reporting NDIS Selective Suspend Capabilities.

*SSIdleTimeout INF Keyword

The INF file for the miniport driver that supports NDIS selective suspend should specify the optional *SSIdleTimeout standardized INF keyword. This keyword specifies the idle time-out period in units of seconds. If NDIS does not detect any activity on the network adapter for a period that exceeds the *SSIdleTimeout value, NDIS starts a selective suspend operation by calling the miniport driver's MiniportIdleNotification handler function.

After the driver is installed, administrators can update the *SSIdleTimeout keyword value in the Advanced property page for the network adapter. For more information about advanced properties, see Specifying Configuration Parameters for the Advanced Properties Page.

Note   The miniport driver is automatically restarted after a change is made in the advanced property page for the adapter.

The *SSIdleTimeout INF keyword is a numeric (Int) keyword. The following table describes the possible INF entries for the *SSIdleTimeout INF keyword. The columns in the table describe the following attributes for an Int keyword:

SubkeyName
The name of the keyword that you must specify in the INF file. This name also appears in the registry under the NDI\params\ key for the network adapter.

ParamDesc
The display text that is associated with SubkeyName.

Note  The independent hardware vendor (IHV) can define any descriptive text for the SubkeyName.

Default value
The default value for the integer.

Minimum value
The minimum value that is allowed for an integer.

Maximum value
The maximum value that is allowed for an integer.

SubkeyName ParamDesc Default value Minimum value Maximum value

*SSIdleTimeout

Selective suspend idle time-out in units of seconds

5

1

60

Note  NDIS reads the value of the *SSIdleTimeout standardized INF keyword for every instance of the network adapter whose driver supports NDIS selective suspend. Miniport drivers should not read this keyword.

NDIS measures the idle time-out by using timers that are precise to within 30 percent of the *SSIdleTimeout value. For example, if the *SSIdleTimeout value is 10, the adapter is suspended between 10 to 13 seconds after NDIS first detects the adapter is idle.

*SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff INF Keyword

The INF file for the miniport driver that supports NDIS selective suspend should specify the optional *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff standardized INF keyword. This keyword specifies the idle time-out period in units of seconds and is only applicable when the screen is off. If NDIS does not detect any activity on the network adapter for a period that exceeds the *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff value after the screen is off, NDIS starts a selective suspend operation by calling the miniport driver's MiniportIdleNotification handler function.

After the driver is installed, administrators can update the *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff keyword value in the Advanced property page for the network adapter. For more information about advanced properties, see Specifying Configuration Parameters for the Advanced Properties Page.

Note The miniport driver is automatically restarted after a change is made in the advanced property page for the adapter.

The *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff INF keyword is a numeric (Int) keyword. The following table describes the possible INF entries for the *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff INF keyword. The columns in the table describe the following attributes for an Int keyword:

SubkeyName
The name of the keyword that you must specify in the INF file. This name also appears in the registry under the NDI\params\ key for the network adapter.

ParamDesc
The display text that is associated with SubkeyName.

Note The independent hardware vendor (IHV) can define any descriptive text for the SubkeyName.

Default value
The default value for the integer.

Minimum value
The minimum value that is allowed for an integer.

Maximum value
The maximum value that is allowed for an integer.

SubkeyName ParamDesc Default value Minimum value Maximum value

*SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff

Selective suspend idle time-out in units of seconds

3

1

60

Note NDIS reads the value of the *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff standardized INF keyword for every instance of the network adapter whose driver supports NDIS selective suspend. Miniport drivers should not read this keyword.

Note The maximum value is only for testing purposes. The HLK certification test will explicitly check and fail if the value is more than 5.

NDIS measures the idle time-out by using timers that are precise to within 30 percent of the *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff value. For example, if the *SSIdleTimeoutScreenOff value is 5, the adapter is suspended between 5 to 6.5 seconds after NDIS first detects the adapter is idle.