Registering a Network Interface

Whenever a computer restarts, NDIS starts with an empty list of registered network interfaces. An interface provider calls the NdisIfRegisterInterface function whenever it starts or detects an interface and its NET_LUID value is known. The mechanism for starting or detecting an interface is application-specific.

NdisIfRegisterInterface returns NDIS_STATUS_SUCCESS only if NDIS successfully adds the specified interface to its list of known interfaces on the computer. In this case, NdisIfRegisterInterface returns an interface index at the pIfIndex parameter. However, a call to NdisIfRegisterInterface does not imply that the interface is active; this call guarantees only that the interface exists. NdisIfRegisterInterface returns NDIS_STATUS_RESOURCES if NDIS does not have sufficient resources available to register the interface. NdisIfRegisterInterface can also return other NDIS status values.

The ProviderIfContext parameter of NdisIfRegisterInterface contains a handle to the caller's context area for the interface--this handle is passed to the caller's OID query and set functions. The pIfInfo parameter contains a pointer to a NET_IF_INFORMATION structure that includes information about the interface.

The following topics provide more information about network interfaces that NdisIfRegisterInterface successfully registers:

Allocating an Interface Index

Network Interface Information