What's new in driver development for Windows 11, version 22H2

This section describes new features and updates for driver development in Windows 11, version 22H2.

ACPI

The ACPI documentation has been updated with new _OSI string information for Windows 11, version 22H2.

• How to Identify the Windows Version in ACPI by Using _OSI (Updated)

Audio

• To improve reliability and debuggability new Windows 11 APIs for Audio Processing Objects are available.
• Windows 11 provides additional capabilities with the use of resource groups and these are now discussed Audio Hardware Resource Management.
• Audio experience for these devices can be optimized for specific device postures, such as when a device is held in portrait mode. This is described in Supporting Audio Posture.
• KSStudio documentation is now available on line at KsStudio Utility.

Camera and streaming media drivers

The camera driver documentation has been updated with information on background segmentation and eye gaze modes available in Windows 11, version 22H2.

• Background segmentation portrait mode and eye gaze stare mode driver sample (New)
• KSPROPERTY_CAMERACONTROL_EXTENDED_BACKGROUNDSEGMENTATION (Updated)
• KSPROPERTY_CAMERACONTROL_EXTENDED_EYEGAZECORRECTION (Updated)
• USB Video Class (UVC) camera implementation guide (Updated)

Driver security

• New code scanning CodeQL rules and updated installation directions, are now available. For more information, see CodeQL and the Static Tools Logo Test.

File system and filter drivers

The ability to do trusted kernel-mode file copy was introduced in Windows 11, version 22H2. This feature includes the ability for filters to easily detect copy scenarios.

Mobile broadband

Windows 11, version 22H2 introduces the following mobile broadband features:

• MBIM Extensions Release number 4.0 (MBIMEx 4.0) introduces support for 5G SA Phase 2 features. The 5G SA Phase 2 feature set includes support for end-to-end URSP handling and multiple concurrent eMBB network slices.

• MBIMEx 4.0 introduces access to an eSIM in the inactive SIM slot.

• An errata for MBIMEx 3.0 updates the original MBIMEx 3.0 specification.

Print device apps

The Print support app (PSA) design guide has been updated with information about new PSA functionality available starting in Windows 11, version 22H2.

• Display name localization and PDL Passthrough API integration
• Page level feature support and operation attributes
• Enhancing the print dialog with PSA
• PDL conversion with host-based processing flags
• Set Print Device Capabilities (PDC) update policy

Provisioning support for loading pre-production drivers

• How to test pre-production drivers with Secure Boot enabled

Windows Debugging Tools

• Debugging Tools for Windows supports kernel debugging over a network cable using multiple Physical Functions (PFs) on the supported NICs. This approach improves efficiency of debugging, particularly in traffic heavy cloud environments. For more information see, Setting Up 2PF Kernel-Mode Debugging using KDNET.
• A new low level OS independent debugger transport – EXDI is described in Configuring the EXDI Debugger Transport. This transport can connect to virtualized environments such as QEMU, this is described in Setting Up QEMU Kernel-Mode Debugging using EXDI.
• AppVerifier test content is now updated and the documentation is now available online – Application Verifier - Overview.

WPP Recorder

Drivers can add timestamps to Inflight Trace Recorder (IFR) log entries. Timestamps can specify millisecond or tenth of a microsecond granularity.

• Inflight Trace Recorder
• WPP_RECORDER_TRI_STATE enumeration
• RECORDER_LOG_CREATE_PARAMS structure
• WppRecorderLogCreate macro (wpprecorder.h)