Plug and Play ID - PNPID Request

  • Article

This page presents the information you need to request a Plug and Play ID from Microsoft.

All Plug and Play devices must contain a Plug and Play device ID in order to allow the operating system to uniquely recognize the device so that it can load the appropriate driver software. Each device manufacturer is responsible for assigning the Plug and Play ID for each product and storing it in the hardware. Refer to the relevant Plug and Play specification to determine how to include the ID in your hardware.

It is important that you follow the Plug and Play specifications and implement a unique device ID for each device you manufacture in order to ensure that Plug and Play works for your device under Plug and Play operating systems.

Note  For PCI, PC Card, USB, and IEEE 1394 devices, Vendor IDs are assigned by the industry standards body and must be used instead of the Plug and Play IDs described in this article.

 

Plug and Play IDs

Plug and Play IDs come in two forms: PNP IDs and, starting in 2012, ACPI IDs. Either can be used with Windows. Both forms consist of two parts: a Vendor ID, followed by a product identifier.

  • Vendor ID: Each manufacturer of Plug and Play devices must be assigned an industry-unique Vendor ID. Your company may already have a Vendor ID from previous work, such as EISA boards or other Plug and Play devices (PNPISA cards, PNP serial devices, PNP monitors, and so on). If you do not have a vendor ID, or do not know if you have one, Microsoft can assign one for you as described on this page, or can verify an existing ID. The format of Vendor IDs varies depending on the form of ID you choose:
    • PNP ID: PNP Vendor IDs consist of 3 characters, each character being an uppercase letter (A-Z).
    • ACPI ID: ACPI Vendor IDs consist of 4 characters, each character being either an uppercase letter (A-Z) or a numeral (0-9).
  • Product Identifier: Product Identifiers are always four-character hexadecimal numbers (0-9 and A-F). The Device Manufacturer is responsible for assigning this identifier to each individual product MODEL. Once an identifier is assigned to a product model, it must not be assigned to any other product model manufactured by the same company (that is, that uses the same Vendor ID).
  • Class names for specific device classes are defined in the Plug and Play specifications.

For more information about Plug and Play IDs for ISA devices, see IDs and Serial Numbers for ISA Plug and Play.

Create an email request for a unique Vendor ID

  1. Be sure you are familiar with the information on this page.

  2. Download the list of currently approved Vendor IDs Excel file (104.9 KB Microsoft Excel file; August 1, 2013)

  3. Copy and paste the following information into an email and send the email to: pnpid@microsoft.com.

    Subject: PNPID Request!

    First Name:

    Last Name:

    Email:

    Phone:

    Fax:

    Title:

    Company:

    Division:

    Address 1:

    Address 2:

    City:

    State or Province:

    Postal Code:

    Country:

    Technology:

    First choice for PNPID:

    Alternate choice for PNPID:

    Comments:

Note  You may also use the same template to request an ACPIID, instead. Simply replace "PNPID" with "ACPIID." A list of the already-allocated (unavailable) PnP and ACPI Vendor IDs is located here:

 

 

 

Send comments about this topic to Microsoft