Keywords That Can Be Edited

NDIS 6.0 and later versions of NDIS provide standardized keywords that can be edited for miniport drivers of network devices. These standardized keywords are associated with numeric or text values that you can edit in the user interface.

The following example shows an INF file definition for a keyword that can be edited.

HKR, Ndi\params\<SubkeyName>,ParamDesc, 0, "<ParamDesc>"
HKR, Ndi\params\<SubkeyName>,Type, 0, "int"
HKR, Ndi\params\<SubkeyName>,Default, 0, "<IHV defined>"
HKR, Ndi\params\<SubkeyName>,Optional, 0, "0"
HKR, Ndi\params\<SubkeyName>,Min, 0, "0"
HKR, Ndi\params\<SubkeyName>,Max, 0, "<IHV defined>"

The standard keywords that can be edited are:

*JumboPacket The size, in bytes, of the largest supported Jumbo Packet (an Ethernet frame that is greater than 1514 bytes) that the hardware can support. This is also known as a Jumbo Frame. *JumboPacket's range of values and maximum value are IHV-defined. For more info, check with your IHV.

*ReceiveBuffers
The number of receive descriptors used by the miniport adapter. The miniport driver can choose any default value that is appropriate for performance-tuning. Note that if the value is too small, the miniport adapter may run out of receive buffers under heavy load. If the value is too large, system resources are wasted.

*TransmitBuffers
The size, in bytes, of the transmit buffers that the hardware can support. This size is hardware-dependent and can include data buffers, buffer descriptors, and so on. Hardware vendors can assign any value that is appropriate for their purposes.

NetworkAddress
The network address of the device. The format for a MAC address is: XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX. The hyphens (-) are optional.

The columns in the table at the end of this topic describe the following attributes for keywords that can be edited:

SubkeyName
The name of the keyword that you must specify in the INF file and that appears in the registry.

ParamDesc
The display text that is associated with SubkeyName.

Type
The type of value that can be edited. The value can be either numeric (Int) or text that can be edited (Edit).

Default value
The default value for the integer or text. <IHV defined> indicates that the value is associated with the particular independent hardware vendor (IHV) requirements.

Min
The minimum value that is allowed for an integer. <IHV defined> indicates that the minimum value is associated with the particular IHV requirements.

Max
The maximum value that is allowed for an integer. <IHV defined> indicates that the minimum value is associated with the particular IHV requirements.

The following table lists all of the keywords and describes the values that a driver must use for the preceding attributes. For more information about a keyword, search for the keyword in the WDK documentation.

SubkeyName ParamDesc Type Default value Min Max
*JumboPacket Jumbo Packet Int 1514 1514
*ReceiveBuffers Receive Buffers Int 1
*TransmitBuffers Transmit Buffers Int 0
NetworkAddress Network Address Edit N/A N/A N/A