Network Component Types in the Registry

Table 23.9 describes the network component types.

Table 23.9 Network Component Types

Component type

Meaning

Adapter

A piece of hardware

Driver

A software component associated directly with a piece of hardware

Transport

A software component used by services

Service

A software component providing capability directly to user applications

Basic

A token used to represent a fundamental class name (that is, a class with no parent)


Each type of network component requires subkeys for both software and services. Therefore, the installation of a single network card usually results in the creation of four distinct subkeys in the Registry:

For example, the path for the driver for an Etherlink adapter is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Elinkii\CurrentVersion.