Native 802.11 MiniportInitializeEx Requirements

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Important  The Native 802.11 Wireless LAN interface is deprecated in Windows 10 and later. Please use the WLAN Device Driver Interface (WDI) instead. For more information about WDI, see WLAN Universal Windows driver model.

 

A Native 802.11 miniport driver's MiniportInitializeEx function must do the following:

  • Set all 802.11 management information base (MIB) objects to their default values, as defined in IEEE 802.11 MIB Objects. For more information regarding the 802.11 MIB objects, refer to Annex D of the IEEE 802.11 standards listed in Background Reading on 802.11.

  • If the miniport driver supports the Extensible AP (ExtAP) operation mode, set all ExtAP MIB objects to their default values, as defined in Extensible AP MIB Objects.

  • If the miniport driver supports the Extensible Station (ExtSTA) operation mode, set all ExtSTA MIB objects to their default values, as defined in Extensible Station MIB Objects.

  • Initialize the power state of the radio based on the retained value of the msDot11NICPowerState MIB object. The value of the msDot11NICPowerState MIB object must persist across system shutdown and calls to MiniportHaltEx and MiniportResetEx.

    For more information about the msDot11NICPowerState MIB object, see OID_DOT11_NIC_POWER_STATE.

    For more information about radio power states, see Radio Power Management.

  • The driver must clear all statistical counters returned through queries of OID_DOT11_STATISTICS.

  • Clear the cached lists of BSS networks maintained during scan operations. The driver returns this cached list when queried through OID_DOT11_ENUM_BSS_LIST.

  • If the 802.11 station supports 802.11 pre-authentication through a pairwise master key identifier (PMKID), clear its PMKID cache. The driver's PMKID cache is set or queried through OID_DOT11_PMKID_LIST.

  • Call the NdisMSetMiniportAttributes function to provide NDIS with the general attributes of the miniport driver. In this situation, the MiniportAttributes parameter must be set to the address of a driver-allocated block of memory that is formatted as an NDIS_MINIPORT_ADAPTER_GENERAL_ATTRIBUTES structure.

    The following table describes how the miniport driver sets the members of the NDIS_MINIPORT_ADAPTER_GENERAL_ATTRIBUTES structure for the Native 802.11 interface.

    NDIS_MINIPORT_ADAPTER_GENERAL_ATTRIBUTES member Value

    MediaType

    NdisMediumNative802_11

    PhysicalMediumType

    NdisPhysicalMediumNative802_11

    MtuSize

    2304

    MediaConnectState

    MediaConnectStateConnected

    MediaDuplexState

    MediaDuplexStateFull

    SupportedPacketFilters

    Flags that define the standard and Native 802.11 packet filters that are supported by the 802.11 station. For more information about the packet filters, see [OID_GEN_CURRENT_PACKET_FILTER](https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/ff569575).

    MacAddressLength

    6

    PermanentMacAddress

    The address of the 802.11 station as encoded in the NIC hardware

    CurrentMacAddress

    The address that the 802.11 station is currently using, which can either be the permanent MAC address or a locally-administered MAC address set through a configuration parameter.

    AccessType

    NET_IF_ACCESS_BROADCAST

    DirectionType

    NET_IF_DIRECTION_SENDRECEIVE

    ConnectionType

    NET_IF_CONNECTION_DEDICATED

    IfType

    IF_TYPE_IEEE80211

    IfConnectorPresent

    TRUE

     

  • After calling NdisMSetMiniportAttributes to provide NDIS with the general attributes of the miniport driver, call NdisMSetMiniportAttributes to provide NDIS with the Native 802.11l attributes of the miniport driver. In this situation, the MiniportAttributes parameter must be set to the address of a driver-allocated block of memory that is formatted as an NDIS_MINIPORT_ADAPTER_NATIVE_802_11_ATTRIBUTES structure.

  • Report MediaConnectStateConnected in the MediaConnectState member of NDIS_MINIPORT_ADAPTER_GENERAL_ATTRIBUTES.

A Native 802.11 miniport driver's MiniportInitializeEx function must not do the following:

  • Connect to any basic service set (BSS) network.

  • Maintain encryption keys in permanent storage (disk, registry, flash, or other storage). During initialization, the miniport driver must clear any cipher keys that are used by the 802.11 station.

  • Report a status of MediaConnectStateDisconnected when indicating NDIS_STATUS_LINK_STATE on any NDIS port.