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{{Other uses|NDIS (disambiguation){{!}}NDIS}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2014}}
The '''Network Driver Interface Specification''' ('''NDIS''') is an [[application programming interface]] (API) for [[network interface controller]]s (NICs).
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* NDIS 6.89: Windows 11, version 24H2<ref>{{Cite web |last=aviviano |date=2024-05-22 |title=Introduction to NDIS 6.89 - Windows drivers |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/network/introduction-to-ndis-6-89 |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=learn.microsoft.com |language=en-us}}</ref>
The traffic accepted by the NIC is controlled by an NDIS [[Miniport]] Driver<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/network/deserialized-ndis-miniport-drivers|title = Deserialized NDIS Miniport Drivers - Windows drivers| date=14 March 2023 }}</ref> while various protocols, such as [[Internet Protocol Suite|TCP/IP]], are implemented by NDIS Protocol Drivers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/network/introduction-to-ndis-protocol-drivers|title = Introduction to NDIS Protocol Drivers - Windows drivers| date=14 March 2023 }}</ref> A single miniport may be associated with one or more protocols. This means that traffic coming into the miniport may be received in parallel by several protocol drivers. For example, [[pcap|Winpcap]] adds a second protocol driver on the selected miniport in order to capture incoming packets. Furthermore, it is possible to simulate several virtual NICs by implementing virtual miniport drivers that send and receive traffic from a single physical NIC. One example of virtual miniport driver usage is to add virtual NICs, each with a different [[VLAN]]. Because implementations cannot assume that other drivers received the same buffers, one must treat the incoming buffers as read-only and a driver that changes the packet content must allocate its own buffers. NDIS Miniport drivers can also use [[Windows Driver Model]] interfaces to control network hardware.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/network/ndis-miniport-drivers-with-a-wdm-lower-edge|title = NDIS Miniport Drivers with a WDM Lower Edge - Windows drivers| date=14 March 2023 }}</ref>
Another driver type is NDIS Intermediate Driver. Intermediate drivers sit in-between the MAC and IP layers and can control all traffic being accepted by the NIC. In practice, intermediate drivers implement both miniport and protocol interfaces. The miniport driver and protocol driver actually communicate with the corresponding miniport and protocol interfaces that reside in the intermediate driver. This design enables adding several chained intermediate drivers between the miniport and protocol drivers. Therefore, driver vendors cannot assume that the interface that they send traffic to is implemented by the last driver in the chain. In order to write applications using NDIS, one can use samples that accompany Microsoft's [[Windows Driver Kit]] (WDK). The "PassThru" sample is a good starting point for intermediate drivers as it implements all the necessary details required in this driver type, but just passes the traffic through to the next driver in the chain.
NDIS 4.1 has implemented [[Windows Driver Model|WDM]] features. NDIS 5.0 has implemented TCP/IP offload features.<ref> {{Cite web |last=Snakefoot |date=2007-10-30 |title=NDIS 5 hardware features that increases network performance |url=https://smallvoid.com/article/winnt-ndis5-network-features.html |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Smallvoid.com |language=en}}</ref>
Since Windows 10 version 2004, a new driver framework for network adapters was created called Network Adapter WDF Class Extension (''NetAdapterCx'') which is meant to simplify the driver development process.<ref>{{Cite web|date=22 May 2024|title=Network Adapter WDF Class Extension (NetAdapterCx)|url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/netcx/}}</ref>
== See also ==
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