Windows Driver Kit

The Windows Driver Kit (WDK) is a software toolset from Microsoft that enables the development of device drivers for the Microsoft Windows platform. It includes documentation, samples, build environments, and tools for driver developers. A complete toolset for driver development also need the following: a compiler Visual Studio, Windows SDK, and Windows HLK.

Windows Driver Kit
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial release1992 (1992)
Stable release
10.1 / November 1, 2015 (2015-11-01)
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Available inEnglish
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websitedocs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/index

History of WDK

Previously, the WDK was known as Windows Driver Development Kit (DDK) 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.

The DDK for Windows 2000 and earlier versions did not include a compiler; instead you need to install Visual C++ separately to compile drivers. From the version for Windows XP the DDK and later the WDK include a command line compiler to compile drivers. One of the reasons Microsoft gave for including a compiler was that the quality of drivers would improve if they were compiled with the same version of the compiler that was used to compile Windows itself while Visual C++ is targeted to application development and has a different product cycle with more frequent changes. The WDK 8.x and later series goes back to require installing a matched version of Visual Studio separately, but this time the integration is more complete that you can edit / build / debug the driver from within Visual Studio directly.

DDK Versions
VersionBuild NumberRelease Date
Windows 3.0 DDK1990 (1990)
Windows 3.1 DDK1992 (1992)
Windows NT 3.1 DDK1993 (1993)
Windows NT 3.5 DDK1994 (1994)
Windows NT 3.51 DDK1025.1July 1995 (1995-07)
Windows 95 DDKOctober 1995 (1995-10)
Windows 95 DDK aJune 1996 (1996-06)
Windows 95 DDK b
Windows 95 DDK c (MSDN July 1998)June 1998 (1998-06)
Windows NT DDK (for Windows NT Workstation 3.51)July 1996 (1996-07)
Windows NT DDK (for Windows NT Workstation 4.0)1381.1August 1996 (1996-08)
Windows 98 DDKJuly 1998 (1998-07)
Windows 98 SE DDKMay 1999 (1999-05)
Windows 2000 DDK2195.1February 2000 (2000-02)
Windows XP Driver Development Kit (DDK)2600September 21, 2001 (2001-09-21)
Windows XP SP1 Driver Development Kit (DDK)2600.1106November 14, 2002 (2002-11-14)
Windows Server 2003 DDK3790April 9, 2003 (2003-04-09)
Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 DDK3790.1830April 6, 2005 (2005-04-06)

Note: Windows NT DDK, Windows 98 DDK and Windows 2000 DDK are no longer made available for download by Microsoft because of Java-related settlements made by Microsoft with Sun Microsystems.[1]

WDK Versions
VersionBuild NumberRelease DateDevelops Drivers ForVisual Studio IntegrationNotes
Windows Driver Kit for Windows Vista6000November 29, 2006 (2006-11-29)Windows Vista--
Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64)6001.18000Jan 2008Windows XP SP1 – Vista SP1, Windows Server 2000 SP4 – 2008--
Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 (x86, x64, ia64)6001.18001April 1, 2008 (2008-04-01)---
Windows Driver Kit – Server 2008 Release SP1 (x86, x64, i64)6001.18002December 8, 2008 (2008-12-08)Windows XP SP1 – Vista SP1, Windows Server 2000 SP4 – 2008 SP1--
Windows Driver Kit 7.0.07600.16385.0August 6, 2009 (2009-08-06)Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2--
Windows Driver Kit 7.1.07600.16385.1February 26, 2010 (2010-02-26)Windows XP SP3 – 7, Windows Server 2003 SP1 – 2008 R2-[2]
Windows Driver Kit 8.08.59.25584August 15, 2012 (2012-08-15)Windows 7 – 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012Visual Studio 2012Downloads before 8/17/2012 had a bug in WDF co-installer[3]
Windows Driver Kit 8.18.100.26638September 16, 2013 (2013-09-16)Windows 7 – 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 R2Visual Studio 2013-
Windows Driver Kit 8.1 Update8.100.26846August 20, 2014 (2014-08-20)Windows 7 – 8.1 Update, Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2012 R2Visual Studio 2013-
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 150710.0.26639July 2015Windows 7 SP1 – 10Visual Studio 2015 RTM – Update 3-
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 151110.0.10586November 2015Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Version 1511Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 – 3Windows 10 November Update
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 160710.0.14393August 2016Windows 7 SP1 – 10 Version 1607 (Excludes Win10 Version 1507 & 1511)Visual Studio 2015 Update 3Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 170310.0.15063April 2017Windows 7 SP1 – 10 (Version 1607 & 1703 only), Windows Server 2008 R2 – 2016Visual Studio 2017 Ver.15.1Windows 10 Creators Update
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 170910.0.16299October 2017Visual Studio 2017 Ver.15.4Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 180310.0.17134April 2018Windows 10 April 2018 Update
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 180910.0.17763October 2018Windows 10 October 2018 Update
Windows Driver Kit 10, Version 190310.0.18362.1April 2019Windows 7 SP1 – 10 (Version 1607 to 1903), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 – 2019Visual Studio 2019 Ver.16Windows 10 May 2019 Update

See also

References
  1. MSDN: Products Unavailable due to Java-related Settlement
  2. Windows Driver Kit Version 7.1.0
  3. WDF co-installer issue
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