Chapter 10: Synchronization

Overview

Windows is a preemptive, multitasking operating system in which multiple threads can try to access shared data or resources concurrently and multiple driver functions can run concurrently. To ensure data integrity, drivers must synchronize access to writable shared data. As the driver writer, you must determine which data structures require synchronization and which synchronization technique is appropriate for each situation.

WDF was designed to handle some basic synchronization requirements for the driver. The framework also provides some driver-configurable synchronization techniques. However, most drivers must also use the Windows synchronization primitives. This chapter outlines the general synchronization requirements for drivers and describes the synchronization features that the frameworks provide.

For this chapter, you need …	From …
Samples
Featured Toaster	%wdk%\src\kmdf\toaster\func\featured
Pcidrv	%wdk%\src\kmdf\Pcidrv
Serial	%wdk%\src\Kmdf\Serial
USB Filter	%wdk%\src\umdf\usb\filter
WDK documentation
Synchronization Techniques	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80898
Other
"Locks, Deadlocks, and Synchronization" on the WHDC Web site	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82717
"Synchronization" on MSDN	http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=80899