The Windows Driver Kit (WDK) contains a collection of sample drivers that are stored in the \src folder where the WDK is installed. For example, the \src\audio folder contains a set of sample audio drivers. Within each folder that contains a sample driver, a Readme.htm file describes the driver. For example, in the \src\audio\sb16 folder, the file provides a summary of the Sound Blaster 16 (SB16) sample driver, instructions to build the driver, issues with testing or using the sample driver, and a list and description of the sample driver files.

To provide you with easier access to information about the sample drivers that are included with the WDK, the WDK documentation team has published the Readme.htm files for sample drivers as topics on MSDN. Previously, you had to install the WDK from the Microsoft Connect Web site to get the sample drivers and their associated Readme.htm files.

For a list of all of the sample drivers with links to their corresponding readme topics, see Directory of Windows Driver Kit Samples . For a specific technology area, you can see the list of sample driver readme topics from a new node in the table of contents (TOC). For example, when you click the Audio node in MSDN, you now see an Audio Samples node in the TOC. From the left pane of the MSDN Web site or from the Audio Samples node, you can click a specific sample driver and read the text of the Readme.htm file. For example, the Sound Blaster 16 (SB16) sample driver Readme.htm is located at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa474750.aspx.

Now that the sample driver readme files are available on MSDN, you can more easily determine how to use a sample driver to jump-start your Windows driver development.