Device Management

  • Article

In Windows 2000 Professional, how you install a device depends on whether the device and the computer are Plug and Play–compliant. To take full advantage of Plug and Play technology, a computer needs the following:

  • Plug and Play operating system (Windows 2000 Professional).

  • Plug and Play BIOS or ACPI BIOS.

  • Plug and Play hardware devices with drivers.

The Plug and Play components perform the following tasks:

  • Identify the devices.

  • Determine the device resource requirements.

  • Create a nonconflicting system configuration.

  • Program the devices.

  • Load the device drivers.

  • Notify the system of a configuration change.

Windows 2000 Professional uses a large number of subsystems to control various classes of devices that identify logical device types, such as the display, keyboard, and network. For many devices, use Device Manager to make manual changes. Some devices can be configured using Control Panel options.

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Note

Drivers that support features specific to Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 are not compatible with Windows 98. The Win32 Driver Model (WDM) is designed to provide a bridge between Windows 98 and Windows 2000.