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Graphics INF requirements in WDDM 1.2

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Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) drivers in Windows 8 require INF changes to the graphics driver. The most notable change is in the feature score. WDDM 1.2 drivers require a higher feature score than earlier WDDM drivers. This section describes all relevant INF requirements for Windows 8 graphics drivers

In this section

Topic Description

Updated feature score directive in Windows 8

The updated feature score directive is a general installation setting that's required for all Windows 8 drivers that follow the WDDM.

Driver matching criteria

This topic describes the elements that are used to choose the best match on a driver.

Updated friendly name for WDDM 1.2

This topic describes the updated friendly name for a Graphics INF. This is a localizable string name requirement for all Windows 8 in-box display driver INFs.

SKU differentiation directive

With Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1, the in-box display driver INFs were modified to include a new value that represented the drivers as Client Only, meaning that the drivers would not install on server SKUs of Windows. This directive is required for all display drivers in Windows 8.

General Unicode requirement in INF files

INF files should be saved and encoded as Unicode; they must not be ANSI.

Installed display drivers directive

The installed display drivers directive is a software device setting that gives the proper name for the UMD that is installed as part of the driver package.

Copy flags to support PnP stop directive

The Plug and Play (PnP) stop directive file section flag is required for the WDDM to support driver upgrades that don't require a reboot.

Driver\services start type directive

The driver\services start type directive is a service installation setting requirement for all display drivers. WDDM drivers are Plug and Play (PnP) and therefore must be demand started, where StartType =3.

Capability override settings to disable OpenGL

This software device setting for all in-box display INFs ensures that no in-box drivers are exposed to possible interoperability issues with out-of-box OpenGL ICDs.

[Version] section directives

This topic describes [Version] section directives in the INF.

[SourceDiskNames] section directives

On Windows Vista and later, in-box INFs use the [SourceDisksXxx] directives. However, the values of these sections were changed from what had previously typically been noted in an independent hardware vendor (IHV) production driver package.

General x64 directives

This topic describes the changes that are needed to properly decorate the INF for use on 64-bit Windows.

General install section directives

This is a general reminder that all references to out-of-box or production/retail binaries, services, regadd, or delreg sections that are normally part of a retail WHQL driver packages, are not listed in the Windows in-box driver packages.

[String] section changes for localized strings

This INF requirement ensures that pseudo-localized builds work. The requirement is to delineate localizable versus non-localizable strings within the strings section.

Driver DLL for display adapter or chipset has properly formatted file version

This topic describes the proper formatting for display driver DLLs.