Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Windows Driver Kit
open-in-new
<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>Previously, the WDK was known as Device Development Kit (DDK)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> for Windows 3.x and Windows 9x. It supported the development of <a href="/facts/VxD/Q69TjtnV">VxD</a> drivers. Later versions for Windows NT and Windows 98SE and ME were called Driver Development Kit (DDK)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> and supported <a href="/facts/Windows_Driver_Model/uY5sVh84">Windows Driver Model</a> (WDM) development. It got its current name when Microsoft released <a href="/facts/Windows_Vista/IASEUCTB">Windows Vista</a> and added the following previously separated tools to the kit: <a href="/facts/Installable_File_System/NH3Ej1D0">Installable File System</a> Kit (IFS Kit), <a href="/facts/Driver_Test_Manager/G2FayUXH">Driver Test Manager</a> (DTM), though DTM was later renamed and removed from WDK again. </p><p>The DDK for Windows 2000 and earlier versions did not include a compiler; instead one had to install <a href="/facts/Visual_C%252B%252B/RM3sbYw5">Visual C++</a> separately to compile drivers. From the version for Windows XP the DDK and later the WDK include a command-line compiler to compile drivers. One of the reasons Microsoft gave for including a compiler was that the quality of drivers would improve if they were compiled with the same version of the compiler that was used to compile Windows itself while Visual C++ is targeted to application development and has a different product cycle with more frequent changes. The WDK 8.x and later series goes back to require installing a matched version of <a href="/facts/Visual_Studio/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio</a> separately, but this time the integration is more complete in that you can edit, build and debug the driver from within Visual Studio directly. </p> <h2 id="ddk-versions">DDK versions</h2> <table><tbody><tr><th>Version</th><th>Build number</th><th>Release date</th><th>Supported Driver Model</th></tr><tr><td>Windows 3.0 DDK</td><td></td><td>1990 (1990)</td><td>VxD</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 3.1 DDK</td><td></td><td>1992 (1992)</td><td>VxD</td></tr><tr><td>Windows NT 3.1 DDK</td><td></td><td>1993 (1993)</td><td>NTDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows NT 3.5 DDK</td><td></td><td>1994 (1994)</td><td>NTDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows NT 3.51 DDK</td><td>1025.1</td><td>July 1995 (1995-07)</td><td>NTDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 95 DDK</td><td></td><td>October 1995 (1995-10)</td><td>VxD</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 95 DDK a</td><td></td><td>June 1996 (1996-06)</td><td>VxD</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 95 DDK b</td><td></td><td></td><td>VxD</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 95 DDK c (MSDN July 1998)</td><td></td><td>June 1998 (1998-06)</td><td>VxD</td></tr><tr><td>Windows NT DDK (for Windows NT Workstation 3.51)</td><td></td><td>July 1996 (1996-07)</td><td>NTDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows NT DDK (for Windows NT Workstation 4.0)</td><td>1381.1</td><td>August 1996 (1996-08)</td><td>NTDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 98 DDK</td><td></td><td>July 1998 (1998-07)</td><td>VxD, WDM?</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 98 SE DDK</td><td></td><td>May 1999 (1999-05)</td><td>VxD, WDM?</td></tr><tr><td>Windows 2000 DDK</td><td>2195.1</td><td>February 2000 (2000-02)</td><td>WDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Me DDK</td><td></td><td>August 7, 2000 (2000-08-07)</td><td>VxD only</td></tr><tr><td>Windows XP Driver Development Kit (DDK)</td><td>2600</td><td>September 21, 2001 (2001-09-21)</td><td>WDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows XP SP1 Driver Development Kit (DDK)</td><td>2600.1106</td><td>November 14, 2002 (2002-11-14)</td><td>WDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Server 2003 DDK</td><td>3790</td><td>April 9, 2003 (2003-04-09)</td><td>WDM</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 DDK</td><td>3790.1830</td><td>April 6, 2005 (2005-04-06)</td><td>WDM</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Note: Windows NT DDK, Windows 98 DDK and Windows 2000 DDK are no longer made available by Microsoft because of Java-related settlements made by Microsoft with Sun Microsystems.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="wdk-versions">WDK versions</h2> <table><tbody><tr><th>Version</th><th>Build number</th><th>Release date</th><th>Develops drivers for</th><th>Visual Studio integration</th><th>Notes</th></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit for Windows Vista</td><td>6000</td><td>November 29, 2006 (2006-11-29)</td><td>Windows Vista</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64)</td><td>6001.18000</td><td>January 1, 2008 (2008-01-01)</td><td>Windows XP SP1 – Vista SP1, Windows Server 2000 SP4 – 2008</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64)</td><td>6001.18001</td><td>April 1, 2008 (2008-04-01)</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 Release SP1 (x86, x64, i64)</td><td>6001.18002</td><td>December 8, 2008 (2008-12-08)</td><td>Windows XP SP1 – Vista SP1, Windows Server 2000 SP4 – 2008 SP1</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 7.0.0</td><td>7600.16385.0</td><td>August 6, 2009 (2009-08-06)</td><td>Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 7.1.0</td><td>7600.16385.1</td><td>February 26, 2010 (2010-02-26)</td><td>Windows XP SP3 – 7, Windows Server 2003 SP1 – 2008 R2</td><td>-</td><td><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 8.0</td><td>8.59.25584</td><td>August 15, 2012 (2012-08-15)</td><td>Windows 7 – 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2012/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2012</a></td><td>Downloads before 8/17/2012 had a bug in WDF co-installer<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 8.1</td><td>8.100.26638</td><td>September 16, 2013 (2013-09-16)</td><td>Windows 7 – 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 R2</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2013/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2013</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 8.1 Update</td><td>8.100.26846</td><td>August 20, 2014 (2014-08-20)</td><td>Windows 7 – 8.1 Update, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 R2</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2013/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2013</a></td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1507</td><td>10.0.26639</td><td>July 2015</td><td>Windows 7 SP1 – 10</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2015/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2015</a> RTM – Update 3</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1511</td><td>10.0.10586</td><td>November 2015</td><td>Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Version 1511</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2015/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2015</a> Update 1 – 3</td><td>Windows 10 November Update</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1607</td><td>10.0.14393</td><td>August 2016</td><td>Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Version 1607 (Excludes Win10 Version 1507 & 1511)</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2015/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2015</a> Update 3</td><td>Windows 10 Anniversary Update</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1703</td><td>10.0.15063</td><td>April 2017</td><td>Windows 7 SP1 – 10 (Version 1607 & 1703 only), Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2016</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2017/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2017</a> Ver.15.1</td><td>Windows 10 Creators Update</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1709</td><td>10.0.16299</td><td>October 2017</td><td></td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2017/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2017</a> Ver.15.4</td><td>Windows 10 Fall Creators Update</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1803</td><td>10.0.17134</td><td>April 2018</td><td></td><td></td><td>Windows 10 April 2018 Update</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1809<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></td><td>10.0.17763</td><td>October 2018</td><td></td><td></td><td>Windows 10 October 2018 Update</td></tr><tr><td>Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 1903</td><td>10.0.18362.1</td><td>April 2019</td><td>Windows 7 SP1 – 10 (Version 1607 to 1903), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – 2019</td><td><a href="/facts/Visual_Studio_2019/omNe6Lej">Visual Studio 2019</a> Ver.16</td><td>Windows 10 May 2019 Update</td></tr></tbody></table> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Windows_Driver_Frameworks/HdlLLRCE">Windows Driver Frameworks</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Windows_Driver_Model/uY5sVh84">Windows Driver Model</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Windows_Logo_Kit/G2FayUXH">Windows Logo Kit</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Enrico Perla; Massimiliano Oldani (2010). A Guide to Kernel Exploitation; Attacking the Core. Elsevier Science. p. 277. ISBN 9781597494878. <a href="9781597494878" target="_blank">9781597494878</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>BHATT, PRAMOD CHANDRA P. (2019). AN INTRODUCTION TO OPERATING SYSTEMS : CONCEPTS AND PRACTICE (GNU/LINUX AND WINDOWS), FIFTH EDITION. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 529. ISBN 9789387472884. <a href="9789387472884" target="_blank">9789387472884</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>README.TXT from Windows 3.1 Device Development Kit (DDK) <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Bill Blunden (2009). The Rootkit Arsenal; Escape and Evasion. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 142. ISBN 9781449661229. <a href="9781449661229" target="_blank">9781449661229</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>MSDN: Products Unavailable due to Java-related Settlement <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/ff723773.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/ff723773.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>[1] Windows Driver Kit Version 7.1.0 <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11800" target="_blank">https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11800</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>WDF co-installer issue <a href="https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/91def370-1703-4b9d-b626-3d7d16870092/whck-error-for-wdk-80-user-mode-driver-coinstaller-does-not-match-rtm-fre-version?forum=wdk" target="_blank">https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/91def370-1703-4b9d-b626-3d7d16870092/whck-error-for-wdk-80-user-mode-driver-coinstaller-does-not-match-rtm-fre-version?forum=wdk</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Kraig Brockschmidt (2014). Programming Windows Store Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Pearson Education. p. 1002. ISBN 9780735695702. <a href="9780735695702" target="_blank">9780735695702</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Liu, Zhifeng; Zheng, Desheng; Wu, Xinlong; Chen, Jixin; Tang, Xiaolan; Ran, Ziyong (2021). VABox: A Virtualization-Based Analysis Framework of Virtualization-Obfuscated Packed Executables. International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Security. Springer International Publishing. pp. 73–84. ISBN 9783030786212. We use Visual Studio 2017 and WDK for Windows 10, version 1809 for development. <a href="9783030786212" target="_blank">9783030786212</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>