Within that class, a particular type of device, such as Bluetooth audio, keyboards or mice, also falls within a related driver framework.įinally, for a specific individual device, within its class and type frameworks, its actual driver software interacts with that device using its native command set and data handling capabilities, as defined and published by its maker or manufacturer. Creating any specific device driver starts by working within its class framework.
Invariably, hardware devices belong to a specific class, such as Bluetooth or 802.11xx wireless networking. They also handle device responses and messages for delivery to the computer. They define the messages and mechanisms whereby the computer - the OS and applications - can access the device or make requests for the device to fulfill. They also deliver outputs or status/messages from the hardware devices to the operating system and thus to applications.ĭevice drivers are necessary to permit a computer to interface and interact with specific devices. Device drivers relay requests for device access and actions from the operating system and its active applications to their respective hardware devices. Some device drivers, in fact, may be linked directly to the operating system kernel, a portion of an OS such as Windows, Linux or macOS, that remains memory resident and handles execution for all other code, including device drivers. How do device drivers work?ĭevice drivers generally run at a high level of privilege within the operating system (OS) runtime environment.
These programs may be compact, but they provide the all-important means for a computer to interact with hardware, for everything from mouse, keyboard and display - user input/output - to working with networks, storage and graphics. Device drivers are essential for a computer to work properly. Gillis, Technical Writer and EditorĪ device driver is a special kind of software program that controls a specific hardware device attached to a computer.
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