Devices and Drivers
The easiest way to think about devices and their associated drivers is to divide the devices into two logical categories: Plug-and-Play (PnP) and non-Plug-and-Play (down-level) devices. Most devices manufactured since 1997 are PnP devices, and most PnP drivers for devices are included on the Windows Server 2003 installation CD. When a device is initially detected by Windows Server 2003, and if an acceptable driver is found for that device, the device will be installed and such resources as interrupt requests (IRQs) and direct memory access (DMA) will be allocated for use by the device. The device will then be listed in the categorized listing of devices in Device Manager.
If the PnP driver is not on the Windows Server 2003 Installation CD, you will need the vendor-supplied drivers available when the Windows Server 2003 initially detects, identifies and attempts to install the device. For devices that Windows Server 2003 can identify, you will be prompted for a driver. If the request for the driver is bypassed, Windows Server 2003 will indicate the identified, non-configured device with a yellow warning icon in Device Manager. This icon, as shown in below Figure, is also used if there are duplicate devices on the system or if there are conflicts between the resource demands of drivers, which is extremely rare for newer computer systems and devices.
If a device cannot be identified by Windows Server 2003, no request for a driver will be issued, and the unknown device will be identified with a yellow question mark in Device Manager. For a non-configured or non-identified device, you must install the appropriate driver manually for the device to function properly.
Using Device Manager
Device Manager provides a view, similar to Windows Explorer, of the hardware that is installed on your computer. You can use Device Manager to update the drivers for hardware devices and modify settings related to devices. Device Manager is accessible through the Control Panel by selecting System, the Hardware tab on the Systems Properties dialog box, and then Device Manager to access the Device Manager Properties page, or as part of the Computer Management console, accessible from Administrative Tools. Below Table describes the tasks for which Device Manager can be used.
Table: Device Manager Tasks
A list of devices, drivers, and system configuration can be printed through the Print command on the Action menu in Device Manager or output to a comma-separated-values (CSV) file using the Driverquery command-line utility, the parameters for which are listed in Below Table
As with most installation tasks, administrators have the ability to install any device and its associated drivers. Users, on the other hand, have very limited ability to install devices on the computer. By default, users can install only PnP devices, with the following considerations:
■ The device driver has a digital signature.
■ No further action is required to install the device, requiring Windows to display a user interface.
■ The device driver is already on the computer.
If any of these conditions is not met, the user cannot install the device unless delegated additional administrative authority.
Driver Signing Options
Device drivers and operating system files included with Windows 2000 or higher have a Microsoft digital signature. The digital signature indicates that a particular driver or file was not altered or overwritten by another program’s installation process. Device drivers provided by vendors outside of Windows 2000 or higher may or may not be signed.
You can control how the computer responds to these unsigned driver files during their installation. These settings are configurable through Control Panel by selecting System, the Hardware tab on the Systems Properties dialog box, and then Driver Signing to access the Driver Signing Options Properties page on an individual computer. The options for unsigned driver installation behavior are:
■ Ignore: To allow all device drivers to be installed on the computer, regardless of whether they have a digital signature. This option is available only if you are logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
■ Warn: To display a warning message, allowing you to allow or deny driver installation, whenever an installation program or Windows attempts to install a device driver without a digital signature. This is the default behavior.
■ Block: To prevent an installation program or Windows from installing device drivers without a digital signature.
Group Policy is an effective tool for simultaneously changing the Driver Signing Options setting on multiple computers. To prohibit a user from changing the setting on his or her computer, you must deny access to the Hardware Properties pages in Control Panel and disable the MMC snap-in for Device Manager in the Computer Management console. These settings will not change the user’s ability to install PnP devices.
