Q74516: Binding a TSR to a VxD
Article: Q74516
Product(s): Microsoft Windows Device Driver Kit
Version(s): 3.0,3.1
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 03-NOV-1999
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows Device Development Kit (DDK) for Windows, versions 3.0, 3.1
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SUMMARY
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Note: This article assumes familiarity with the Interrupt 2FH Call-Out Interface
defined by the Microsoft Windows enhanced mode. For information on the Interrupt
2FH interface, refer to Appendix C of the "Microsoft Windows Device Driver Kit:
Device Driver Adaptation Guide" for Windows 3.1 and Appendix D of the "Microsoft
Windows Device Development Kit Virtual Device Adaptation Guide" for Windows
3.0.
A terminate-and-stay-resident program (TSR) that loads a virtual device (VxD)
when Windows enhanced mode starts must specify the fully-qualified filename to
the virtual device file. This may not be convenient for end users because the
virtual device file must be placed at a fixed place on the disk.
It is better to combine the TSR and the VxD together when the VxD is built
because the TSR can obtain the fully-qualified filename from MS-DOS and provide
the name to Windows at startup. The final product is one EXE file that holds
both the TSR and the VxD. The TSR is the stub program with the VxD appended as
an extended part of the EXE file. This article describes the steps necessary to
perform this binding.
Please note, the binding method does not work if the TSR is in binary (COM)
format rather than EXE format. The TSR filename extension (EXE or COM) is
irrelevant. Therefore, while the TSR must be built in EXE format, the filename
may have either the EXE or the COM extension, as desired.
The technique described here is used by the "Loadhi" program that deals with EMM
drivers. However, that program is too involved to be used as an example here to
demonstrate the binding process.
MORE INFORMATION
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The following three steps must be performed to bind the TSR and VxD:
1. In the TSR, fill the SIS_Virt_Dev_File_Ptr field of the
Win386_Startup_Info_Struc data structure with a pointer to a string
containing the fully-qualified filename of the load file. Obtain this
fully-qualified filename from the location starting at three bytes beyond the
end of the environment block. A code segment resembling the following could
be used:
mov ah, 62h
int 21h ; bx -> psp
mov es, bx
mov bx, 2ch ; offset of environment block pointer
mov es, es:[bx]
xor di, di ; es:di -> environment block
mov cx, -1
xor al, al ; search for null's
cld
env_search_loop:
repne scasb ; get past one null and stop
cmp byte ptr es:[di], 0 ; Q: end of env block?
jnz env_search_loop ; N: continue
add di, 3 ; Y: skip the last null &
; the word before
; the name.
lea si, InfoData ; a Win386_Startup_Info_Struc
mov word ptr [si].SIS_Virt_Dev_File_Ptr, di
mov word ptr [si][2].SIS_Virt_Dev_File_Ptr, es
More information about PSP and the environment block is available in Ray
Duncan's book "Advanced MS-DOS Programming" (Microsoft Press).
2. In the module definition (DEF) file for the virtual device, specify the
filename for the TSR file in the STUB statement, as follows:
STUB <TSR file name>
For example, if the TSR is named TSRPRG.EXE, use the following line:
STUB TSRPRG.EXE
3. In the MAKE file for the virtual device, build virtual device file with an
EXE extension instead of a 386 extension. For example:
link386 $(OBJS), VTSRPRGD.EXE $(LINKOPTIONS),,,VTSRPRGD.DEF
addhdr VTSRPRGD.EXE
Additional query words: 3.00 3.10 DDKVXD
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Keywords :
Technology : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbWinDDKSearch kbWinDDK300 kbWinDDK310
Version : :3.0,3.1
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