Managing driver packages

When a device is manufactured, the manufacturer is obliged to adhere to industry hardware standards. That implies that the manufacturer is obliged to provide the device driver along with the device. A device driver is a set of files that represent the so-called driver package. It is device-specific and enables Windows 10 to communicate with the device:

• Driver files are dynamic-link library (DLL) files with the .sys filename extension. The .sys file is a system file that provides the I/O interface for a device. Every time a device driver is installed, Windows 10 copies the .sys file to C:\Windows\System32\drivers.

• Installation files supply a device setup information (.inf) file and a driver catalog (.cat) file. The .inf file is a plain-text file that contains the information that Windows 10 uses to install a device driver. Every time a device driver is installed, Windows 10 copies the .inf file to C:\Windows\INF. By contrast, the .cat file is a catalog file that contains a cryptographic hash that is used by Windows 10 to verify that the package was not altered once it was published.

• Other related files, such as a device installation application, a device icon, device property pages, and other files, can also be part of a driver package. 

So, whenever a device is plugged into a computer and its device driver is installed, the device's driver package ends up in the Windows 10 driver store. If a user plugs a device into a computer and its driver happens to be in the driver store, the device is immediately recognized by Windows 10. The driver store is a secure and trusted repository that stores all Windows and third-party device drivers. In Windows 10, the driver store is located at C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore. In a business environment, system administrators can pre-load driver packages for the most commonly used devices in the driver store so that when users plugin their devices, they are automatically recognized by Windows 10. In Microsoft's Windows world, the concept of recognizing a device without the need to install device drivers is known as Plug and Play (PnP). PnP has tremendously simplified the work with devices and device drivers in such a way that as soon as the device is connected to the computer, the operating system automatically recognizes the device by using the device driver from the driver store.