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Writing Windows VxDs and Device Drivers by Karen Hazzah Recommended

ISBN: 0-13-100181-7       Publisher: R&D Publications       Pages: 352 pages+disk       Price: £40app

Categories:   MS Windows     internals and hardware

Reviewed by Michael Wild in C Vu 7-6 (Sep 1995)

The MS VxD reference material is notoriously difficult to learn from and there are very few books on the subject. Norton's 'Writing Windows Device Drivers' is based on Windows 3.0, so needs revising and anyway concentrates on the 'standard' devices. Thielen & Woodruff's Writing Windows Virtual Device Drivers (C Vu 6.4) is excellent but has a steep learning curve and is very dense in places.

There was therefore a place for a more tutorial treatment and Hazzah fills it well; a bonus is that there is surprisingly little overlap on techniques with T&W. It covers both DLLs and VxDs and some specialist topics like Standard Mode and Bimodal Handlers. Not unreasonably, she assumes a good knowledge of operating system principles, C, x86 assembler and DOS. Highly recommended, particularly if you are just starting in this area and need something more explanatory than the documentation in the DDK and on MSDN.