Guidelines for Device and Driver Installation

The fundamental goal for device/driver installation on Windows® operating systems is to make the process as simple as possible for the user. Your installation procedures should work seamlessly with the operating system's setup components. Ideally, device installation should not require any user prompts, except for the system's request to insert the distribution medium.

Some devices, however, require user settings that are input to property pages or custom Finish pages. Such pages can be displayed by a device co-installer after the driver has been loaded and started. Other devices ship with value-added software that is most readily installed at the same time as the device itself, by means of a device installation application.

In either case, any user interface that is presented as part of installation should conform to the look and feel of the Windows user interface in general and, more specifically, the Device Manager and the device installation wizards. (The wizard names vary from one operating system release to the next, but include Found New Hardware, Add/Remove Hardware, Hardware Update, and so on.)

To provide the best possible user experience, follow these rules in designing and implementing your installation procedures:

• Do not reboot the system or require the user to do so.
• Leave your INF files on the system after installation; do not delete them. The INF file is used not only when the device or driver is first installed, but also when the user requests a driver update through the Device Manager.
• Use system-supplied interfaces (including user interface items) whenever possible.
• Conform to the Windows user interface design specifications that are described in the MSDN® Library, which is available at the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site.
• Although you cannot use the Windows Installer to install a device or driver, you should use it to install value-added software that ships along with your driver package. The Windows Installer is described in the Platform SDK.
• Use one of the system-defined device setup classes. Do not define your own setup class unless there is a compelling reason to do so.