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In computing, the Windows Driver Model (WDM) – also known at one point as the Win32 Driver Model – is a framework for device drivers that was introduced with Windows 98 and Windows 2000 to replace VxD, which was used on older versions of Windows such as Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, as well as the Windows NT Driver Model.
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995.
The Windows 95 architecture [clarification needed] The Windows 9x series of operating systems refers to a series of Microsoft Windows operating systems produced from 1995 to 2000. They are based on the Windows 95 kernel which is a monolithic kernel. The basic code is similar in function to MS-DOS.
VxD is the device driver model used in Microsoft Windows/386 2.x, the 386 enhanced mode of Windows 3.x, Windows 9x, and to some extent also by the Novell DOS 7, OpenDOS 7.01, and DR-DOS 7.02 (and higher) multitasker (TASKMGR). [1]
Starting with Windows 95, CD-ROM access became possible through a 32-bit CDFS driver. The driver uses the Microsoft networks interface in MS-DOS. This is the reason that at least version 3.1 of MS-DOS is required. The driver essentially looks similar to a network drive from the system perspective.
Previously, the WDK was known as the Driver Development Kit (DDK) [4] and supported Windows Driver Model (WDM) development. It got its current name when Microsoft released Windows Vista and added the following previously separated tools to the kit: Installable File System Kit (IFS Kit), Driver Test Manager (DTM), though DTM was later renamed and removed from WDK again.
In DR DOS 5.0 (1990) and 6.0 (1991), the driver is named HIDOS.SYS rather than HIMEM.SYS, like the corresponding DCONFIG.SYS or CONFIG.SYS directive HIDOS=ON. In FreeDOS , the matching file is named HIMEMX.SYS and can be loaded from the FreeDOS configuration file named FDCONFIG.SYS or CONFIG.SYS .
According to Microsoft developer Raymond Chen, MS-DOS served two purposes in Windows 95: as the boot loader, and as the 16-bit legacy device driver layer. [36] When Windows 95 started up, MS-DOS loaded, processed CONFIG.SYS, launched COMMAND.COM, ran AUTOEXEC.BAT and finally ran WIN.COM.