Understanding Device Methods Interfaces

Device methods are not executed directly from the command line.

They are only invoked by the Configuration Manager at boot time or by the cfgmgr, mkdev, chdev, and rmdev configuration commands at run time. As a result, any device method you write should meet well-defined interfaces.

The parameters that are passed into the methods as well as the exit codes returned must both satisfy the requirements for each type of method. Additionally, some methods must write information to the stdout and stderr files.

These interfaces are defined for each of the device methods in the individual articles on writing each method.

To better understand how these interfaces work, one needs to understand, at least superficially, the flow of operations through the Configuration Manager and the run-time configuration commands.