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Writing a Class Installer

A class installer DLL performs installation operations that apply to devices in a particular device setup class. For example, the system-supplied Ports class installer is responsible for assigning a COM port name to a device in the Ports setup class. If the devices in a particular setup class do not require any special installation operations, a class installer is not required for that setup class.

Microsoft provides class installers for the system-supplied device setup classes that require a class installer. For devices belonging to these setup classes, a vendor can provide a co-installer to perform additional setup operations, if needed. (See Writing a Co-installer.)

If you create a new device setup class for your device, you might need to write a class installer. However, you rarely need to create a new device setup class because almost all devices can be associated with one of the system-supplied device setup classes. For example, the maker of a digital camera might think that digital cameras require a new setup class. However, cameras fall under the image class.

This section contains the following information:

Class Installer Interface

Registering a Class Installer

Tightening File-Open Security in a Class Installer INF File

See also the section on Writing a Co-installer for general information on processing DIF codes and Using SetupAPI functions for information about calling the installation functions supplied by SetupAPI.