D

deadlock

A runtime error condition that occurs when two threads of execution are unable to continue running because each is waiting to acquire a resource that the other holds.

DDI

device driver interface

debugger command

A WinDbg command-line utility that performs various basic debugging operations.

debugger extension

A WinDbg command-line utility that provides functionality beyond that provided by debugger commands. They are useful in debugging special-purpose software such as WDF drivers.

deferred procedure call (DPC)

A queued call to a kernel-mode function that runs at DISPATCH_LEVEL.

device bus logical address space

The address space for a device bus.

device driver interface (DDI)

A collection of system-supplied routines that a driver calls to interact with system services. DDI is the driver equivalent of API.

device ID

A vendor-defined device identification string that is the most specific ID that Setup uses to match a device to an INF file.

device I/O control request

An I/O request that cannot be represented as a read or write request and typically involves some other hardware operation.

device instance

An individual unit of hardware. For example, if Company ABC manufactures a CD-ROM drive with a model name of XYZ, and if a particular system includes two of these drives, then there are two instances of device model XYZ.

device instance ID

A system-supplied device identification string that uniquely identifies an instance of a device in the system.

device interface

Device functionality that a driver exposes to applications or other system components. Each device interface is a member of a system-defined or vendor-defined device interface class.

device interface class

A group of interfaces that generally apply to a particular type of device and are the means by which drivers make devices available to applications and other drivers.

device interrupt request level (DIRQL)

The range of IRQLs associated with device interrupts. The exact range of DIRQLs depends on the processor architecture.

device node

See devnode.

device object

An object that represents a driver's participation in the processing of I/O requests for a particular device.

device power policy owner

The driver that controls the power policy for a device, determining when it sleeps and when it wakes.

device power state

The level of power consumption by a device. Device power states range from D0 to D3, where D0 is the fully-powered working state and D3 is the powered-down (off) state.

device setup class

A group of devices that are set up and configured in the same way.

device stack

A collection of device objects and associated drivers that handle communication with a particular device.

device synchronization scope

A WDF synchronization mechanism in which the framework acquires a presentation lock at the device object level.

devnode

An element of the PnP manager's device tree. The PnP manager uses a device stack's devnode to store configuration information and track the device.

direct memory access (DMA)

A method of transferring data between a device and main memory without intervention by the CPU.

DIRQL

device interrupt request level

dispatcher

(1) The system's thread scheduler. (2) A UMDF component that directs I/O requests to I/O targets that are not part of the UMDF device stack.

dispatch execution level (DISPATCH_LEVEL)

The IRQL at which the Windows thread dispatching code, paging code, and many kernel-mode driver functions run.

DMA

direct memory access

DMA transaction

A complete I/O operation that involves DMA, such as a single read or write request from an application.

DMA transfer

A single hardware operation that transfers data from main memory to a device or from the device to main memory.

Down device object

The reflector's device object that receives requests from the UMDF driver host process and passes them to the kernel-mode device stack.

DPC

deferred procedure call

driver manager

The UMDF component that creates and shuts down the driver host processes, maintains status information about them, and responds to messages from the reflector.

driver object

An object that represents a driver.

driver package

An installation package that includes the driver binary and all of its supporting files.

driver stack

A chain of drivers that is associated with one or more device stacks to support the operations of devices.

dynamic analysis

The examination of a program while executing its code. Unit tests and stress tests are examples of dynamic analysis.

dynamic verification

The use of dynamic analysis to verify that the program complies with a specification or protocol.