NdisIfRegisterProvider function (ndis.h)

Article
04/18/2022

The NdisIfRegisterProvider function registers an NDIS network interface provider.

Syntax

NDIS_STATUS NdisIfRegisterProvider(
  [in] PNDIS_IF_PROVIDER_CHARACTERISTICS ProviderCharacteristics,
  [in] NDIS_HANDLE                       IfProviderContext,
       PNDIS_HANDLE                      pNdisIfProviderHandle
);

Parameters

[in] ProviderCharacteristics

A pointer to a caller-provided NDIS_IF_PROVIDER_CHARACTERISTICS structure. This structure defines the characteristics of the provider, including the entry points for its provider callback functions.

[in] IfProviderContext

A handle to a caller-provided context area for this network interface provider. Set this parameter to NULL if there is no context area.

pNdisIfProviderHandle

A pointer to a caller-provided handle variable. If the registration operation succeeds, NDIS writes a handle to this variable that identifies the network interface provider. The interface provider should retain this handle for use in subsequent calls that require an interface provider handle.

Return value

NdisIfRegisterProvider returns one of the following status values:

Return code	Description
NDIS_STATUS_SUCCESS	The operation completed successfully.
NDIS_STATUS_RESOURCES	The operation failed because of insufficient resources.
NDIS_STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER	NdisIfRegisterProvider failed to register the provider because the NDIS_IF_PROVIDER_CHARACTERISTICS structure at the ProviderCharacteristics parameter contained invalid member data.
NDIS_STATUS_NOT_SUPPORTED	NdisIfRegisterProvider failed to register the provider because the Header member in NDIS_IF_PROVIDER_CHARACTERISTICS specifies a structure version that is not supported.

Remarks

NDIS drivers call the NdisIfRegisterProvider function once during initialization to register as an NDIS interface provider. For example, the driver can call NdisIfRegisterProvider from its DriverEntry routine. An interface provider is a software component that manages network interfaces to support the MIB ( RFC 2863).

To handle interface provider OID requests, interface providers provide entry points for callback functions in the NDIS_IF_PROVIDER_CHARACTERISTICS structure at the ProviderCharacteristics parameter of NdisIfRegisterProvider.

NDIS interface providers call the NdisIfRegisterInterface function to register a network interface. A provider can register multiple interfaces.

If NdisIfRegisterProvider succeeds, it returns a handle at the location that the pNdisProviderHandle parameter points to. The interface provider should retain this handle for use in subsequent calls that require an interface provider handle. For example, a driver must call NdisIfDeregisterProvider before the driver unloads.

A component that is no longer an interface provider can call the NdisIfDeregisterProvider function at any time to release the interface provider resources that NDIS allocated when the driver called NdisIfRegisterProvider.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Supported in NDIS 6.0 and later.
Target Platform	Desktop
Header	ndis.h (include Ndis.h)
Library	Ndis.lib
IRQL	PASSIVE_LEVEL
DDI compliance rules	Irql_Interfaces_Function(ndis)