Chapter 9 NIC Detection Functions

This describes system-supplied support for detecting a network adapter in any Windows NT platform, including the following:

• Functions exported in a NIC-detection dynamic-link library in Section 9.1 

• Auxiliary functions exported by the network control panel application in Section 9.1 

• Functions exported by the netdetect DLL in Section 9.3 

9.1 NIC Detection DLL Functions

This describes the exported functions available in any NIC-detection support DLL. Special parameters are used to allow a single DLL to support a large number of distinct types of NICs.

There are specific functions unique to the detection support DLL, msncdet.dll. Besides providing basic support for all NIC types used in Windows NT, this DLL exports functions aimed at monitoring available system hardware resources, such as IRQs.

An OEM’s setup.inf file typically contains the name of the DLL that checks the NICs it supports. It also contains the string tokens representing those NIC types.