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Build and Test Your Device Driver (Compact 7)

  • Article

3/12/2014

In this section, you learn how to copy, build, and test a simple device driver. Windows Embedded Compact 7 includes a sample monolithic stream driver to use as a starting point. You add the sample driver to your board support package (BSP) and then modify your BSP configuration files to include the driver as part of your run-time image. During this process, you learn how to dynamically load and test your driver by using a console application and the Windows Embedded Compact Test Kit (CTK).

Prerequisites

Before you build and test your device driver, you must complete the following tasks:

  1. Obtain a physical device or set up a virtual device. If you do not have a physical device, or if you want to get started with Windows Embedded Compact 7 before you obtain your hardware, you can use a virtual device called a virtual CEPC. A virtual CEPC simulates an x86 architecture and is one of the board support packages (BSPs) that is included with Windows Embedded Compact 7. For information about how to set up a virtual CEPC, see Develop with Virtual CEPC.

    Note

    The steps in this section were verified by using a virtual CEPC.

  2. Plan your device driver. Understand your options in terms of device driver characteristics, driver loading strategy, and access method. For more information, see Plan Your Device Driver, which walks you through the planning phase of your device driver project as it explains the most important functionality of the Windows Embedded Compact 7 device driver architecture.

  3. Implement your device driver. The easiest way to begin your implementation is to start with an existing sample device driver, modify it to fit your design, and add functionality to support your hardware. For more information, see Implement Your Device Driver.

  4. Create an OS design. Use Platform Builder to design an OS that includes only the features and functionality that you need. To get started, see Design Your First OS or Developing an Operating System Design.

  5. Learn how to download the OS to the device. You will need to download the OS to your device before you can start testing your device driver. For information about how to download an OS to a virtual CEPC, see Download the OS to the Device or Create and Run a Virtual CEPC.

In This Section

  • Add and Build a Device Driver
    Describes how to add a sample stream driver to your BSP, how to modify configuration files to include the driver in the run-time image, and how to build the driver.

See Also

Concepts

Device Driver Developer Guide