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There are a number of newsgroups and forums where you can get help on Windows Device Driver questions.  If you are going to ask questions, consider the following guidelines for best results.  If you know of a news or email group that you think deserves to be on this list please contact the webmaster.

  • Describe what you are doing – Be sure you mention the type of driver and the targeted OS’s,   Also, if the is a question on the DDK, include the particular DDK you are using.

  • Explain why you are doing it – Many questions on the forums get the response “Tell us what you are really trying to do”.  Many problems are the result of trying to adopt a particular approach to the overall need of your product.  Asking how to communicate to a pipe in the kernel may not get a good response, asking how best to communicate from a driver to a program will.

  • Be sure to provide the data – A question without the needed data will go nowhere.  Any crash should have the output of  !analyze from the debugger.  Descriptions of most installation problems should include the INF file. 

  • Check if it has been asked before – Many questions have already been answered on the group.   Checking the archives can get the answer faster for you.

Microsoft Public Newsgroups

news://microsoft.public.development.device.drivers   This is the Microsoft sponsored newsgroup to ask questions about Windows device driver development.  Many Microsoft developers and MVP contribute to this forum.

news://microsoft.public.win32.programmer.kernel   This is the Microsoft sponsored newsgroup to ask questions about Windows system programming.  Many Microsoft developers and MVP contribute to this forum.

news://microsoft.public.windbg  This is the Microsoft sponsored newsgroup to ask questions about the Microsoft kernel debuggers.  Many Microsoft developers and MVP contribute to this forum.

news://microsoft.public.windowsxp.winlogo  This is the Microsoft sponsored newsgroup to ask questions about the logo program for Windows device drivers.  People from the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) contribute to the forum.

Usenet Newsgroups

news://comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.nt.kernel-mode    This is the original newsgroup to ask questions about Windows device driver development, it has mainly been replaces with microsoft.public.development.device.drivers.

OSR Newsgroups

Go to http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer

NTDEV – This group is similar to microsoft.public.development.device.drivers in its goals.  Some senior folks will answer questions here, but do not participate in the Microsoft forum.

NTFSD – This is the group for file system and file system filter driver development questions.  Most of the experts in the field, both from Microsoft and other firms participate in this forum

WINDBG - This group is similar to microsoft.public.windbg in its goals.  Some senior folks will answer questions here, but do not participate in the Microsoft forum.

PCAUSA Yahoo Group

discussion-pcausa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com   This group is for the discussion of topics related to PCAUSA products and the more general topic of kernel-mode networking on Windows platforms.  This is one of the best places to get your network driver questions answered.

WDMAUDIODEV Mailing List

http://www.wdmaudiodev.com/   This list is the best source for data on kernel streaming and WDM audio driver related topics.