I am trying to download the network interface card driver manually. It is Realtek PCIe GBE Family controller.
After a Google search, I landed on the official download list.
I am using Windows 11. So, I focused on the windows section.
I did my research. Got the answer as below:
NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification):
- Is the older, traditional method for writing network drivers in Windows.
- Requires client drivers to handle complex tasks like data path synchronization, PnP, and power management.
- Client drivers run with elevated privileges, which can lead to system instability.
NetAdapterCx (Network Adapter WDF Class Extension):
- Is a newer, WDF-based approach to writing network drivers, introduced in Windows 10, version 1703.
- Simplifies driver development by abstracting complex tasks and making them easier for non-NDIS developers.
- Takes over the responsibility of synchronizing power and PnP events, as well as data and control path I/O.
- Uses a polling-based I/O model to improve driver reliability and graceful handling of errors.
- The client driver interacts with NetAdapterCx, which acts as a bridge to traditional NDIS.
- NetAdapterCx uses a ring buffer of NET_PACKETs, which map to NDIS NET_BUFFER_LIST and NET_BUFFER.
- A NET_PACKET is similar to a NET_BUFFER_LIST + NET_BUFFER, and a NET_PACKET_FRAGMENT is similar to a memory descriptor list (MDL).
Benefits of NetAdapterCx:
- Improved driver reliability and stability.
- Easier driver development for non-NDIS developers.
- Better performance and resource utilization.
- A simpler driver model.
Now, I decided to download the NetAdapterCX driver.
I feel it is installing all these versions of drivers during the installation.
1124.022 , 1125.022 , 1126.022 , 1166.022 , 1168.022 and also10.74
The system will pick up the best one when need it.
