NDIS protocol driver installation

To install a protocol driver, you must first provide a single INF file. The configuration manager reads configuration information about the protocol driver from the INF file and copies it to the registry.

For more information about protocol driver INF files, see Installation Requirements for Network Protocols. For an example protocol driver INF file, see the ndisprot 630 sample driver.

Once you have provided your protocol driver INF file, to install or uninstall your protocol driver you must use the INetCfg family of Network Configuration Interfaces. For example, to install or remove network components, call into the INetCfgClassSetup interface. You can either call into these interfaces programmatically or you can indirectly call them with netcfg.exe, which calls INetCfg for you. You can't install a driver package through the INetCfg and use the Driver Store feature on older Windows versions. To successfully install the driver package in this scenario, you need to have a minimum OS build number of 25319. You can't use SetupAPI to install or uninstall an NDIS protocol driver.

For an example of calling into INetCfg through code, see the Bindview Network Configuration Utility sample.