Hardware Management

This chapter describes four major components of hardware management in Microsoft Windows 98: Win32 Driver Model (WDM)—the new driver model compatible with Windows 98 and future versions of Windows NT, system bus support, hardware device support, and power management. This chapter is intended primarily for writers of device drivers, computer technicians, system administrators, network administrators, and anyone else interested in how these components operate and are supported by Windows 98.

Note

Although the material in this chapter is common to both Windows 98 and future versions of Windows NT, within this resource kit, WDM architecture, aspects of system bus support and hardware-device support, and certain power management capabilities are described only in relation to Windows 98.

In This Chapter

Overview of Win32 Driver Model

Overview of System Buses

Overview of Hardware Devices

Overview of Power Management

Troubleshooting Hardware Management Components

See Also

• For more information about the WDM architecture and its relationship with Windows 98, see Chapter 28, "Windows 98 Architecture."
• For more information about how to use the Windows 98 Device Manager, see Chapter 24, "Device Management."