Windows 2000 supports more interfaces to devices than Windows NT but devices must be on the Hardware Compatibility List before supported by Microsoft. Windows 2000 also supports plug-and-play. Each device needs it's own Windows 200 driver, if one is not available you can try the Windows NT 4.0. driver.
The following types of buses are supported by Windows 2000 :
PCI (Peripherals Component Interconnect) is a 66 MHZ bus.
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a fast serial port technology (up to 12 megabits per second) to hot-plug devices to a system. It supports a theoretical maximum of 127 devices. Full speed devices can connect with cables with a maximum of 5 meters, low speed devices can maximal use 3 meter cables.
Windows 2000 supports IRDA (InfaRed Data Association) if it is enabled in the BIOS. IrDA Data is recommended for high speed short range, line of sight, point-to-point cordless data transfer. It has a maximum speed of 4 Mb/s (FIR, Fast Infrared up to 4Mbps, SIR, Serial Infrared max. 115Kbps) and the maximum distance between devices can be 2 meters.
Windows 2000 supports the IEEE 1394 interface. IEEE 1394 offers high speed (100, 200
or 400 MB/sec) for devices like scanners, cameras, disks, etc. IEEE 1394 can be
hot-plugged and use plug-and-play technology.
PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) cards are
small devices at credit card size that can be hot-plugged into laptops. These
devices are managed by the Card Services. After plugging in the card, the system
will automatically detect it via plug-and-play and install the drivers. After
this, the device can be used without a reboot.
A PCMCIA device can be unplugged by using the Add/Remove Hardware wizard, select
the Uninstall/Unplug a device option. After this select 'Unplug/Eject a device'
and select the device to be unplugged. Confirm this and Windows 2000 will stop
the drivers and tell you when you are able to remove the PCMCIA card.
The maximum theoretical throughput for a PCMCIA device is 132 Mbytes per seconds.
An IDE controller supports up to four disk devices on two interfaces.
Windows 2000 supports various Scsi-controllers.
Via the add/remove hardware wizard in the Control Panel, you can add plug-and-play hardware. If the hardware is non plug-and play, Windows 2000 will try to query the hardware resources of the new hardware. The hardware resources allow the hardware device to communicate directly to the operating system. There are four types of hardware resources :
| Interrupts. Interrupt requests (IRQ) are used to send messages from the hardware to the microprocessor. There are 16 IRQ channels. (0-15) |
| Input/Output (I/O) port. A section of memory that hardware devices use to communicate with the operating system. First the microprocessor receives an IRQ, than the operating system checks the I/O port for additional information. An I/O port is a hexadecimal number. |
| Direct memory access (DMA). These are channels that allow hardware to access memory directly without interrupting of the microprocessor. Windows 2000 has eight channels (0-7) |
| Memory. Many hardware devices have onboard memory that cannot be used by other devices of the operating system. |
Devices are managed from the device manager. You can access the device manager from the Computer Management console, via devmgmt.msc or via Control Panel, System, Hardware tab. The device manager contains info about various devices like Computer, Disk drives, Display adapters, DVD/CD-ROM drives, Floppy disk controllers, Floppy disk drivers, IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, Keyboards, Mice and other pointing devices, Modems, Monitors, Multifunction adapters, Network adapters, PCMCIA adapters, Ports (COM & LPT), Sound video and game controllers, system devices, and USB controllers. When selecting the properties for a device, the following tabs are offered :
| General. This tab displays the name of the device, the type of device, the
manufacturer and the location of the device. It also shows the device status and
if the device is used in the current hardware profile. The
'Troubleshooter'-button on this tab can be used to investigate problems with the
device. It starts a help file, the hardware troubleshooter. |
| Advanced tab(s). For some devices an optional tab (e.g Advanced tab or Port Settings tab)
occurs to customize the item. E.g at the Computer these is IRQ steering tab to
set IRQ settings, you can use the driver tab to change the HAL for an extra
processor. At the Disk Drives item there is a disk properties tab to enable
write cache. At the CD/DVD tab you can set the player volume, digital cd
playback and the DVD region settings (Advanced settings). |
| Driver. Shows the provider of the driver, the driver date, the driver version and who
signed the driver. It also offers the ability to view driver details (files
used, provider, file versions and copyright), uninstall the driver or update the
driver. |
| Resources. This tab shows the memory ranges, the interrupt request and the I/O range that is used by the device. If a conflict occurs it is mentioned in this tab. If this is the case you can use the 'Change setting' button the change the memory range or I/O ports. A device with a memory- or I/O conflict is marked with a yellow exclamation point in the Device manager. |
Some devices can be disabled (hardware profile) on the general tab or uninstalled.
If a device is not listed in the device manager, you can start the Troubleshoot wizard via Device Manager - Standard PC - Properties - Troubleshooter
button. You can also rescan the system for new devices via the Device manager.
(scan for hardware changes)
All devices with conflicting resources are marked with a yellow exclamation
point. Each device has a Troubleshooter button at the general tab.
If you upgrade a system from Windows NT 4.0, all devices will be upgraded to Windows 2000. If a Windows 2000 driver is available it will be used, otherwise the NT 4.0 driver will stay on the system. If you upgrade from Windows 98, Windows 2000 drivers will also be used. If none is available, only a WDM (Windows Driver Model) driver can be used for both Windows 98 and Windows 2000. Windows 95 VxD-drivers are not supported by Windows 2000.
If a Windows 2000 device and its driver have been tested and approved by Microsoft, the device is put in the HCL. Microsoft will also digitally sign the driver if the driver is used for the display, the monitor the keyboard, the mouse, the hard disk controller (incl. SCSI), a port, a network card, imaging products, printers, multi media devices , a modem or a smart card reader. This signature proves that this driver is the same driver as the one that was tested with Microsoft. Use the Driver Signing option at the Hardware tab of the System applet in the Control panel to set which kind of message appears when installing a non-signed driver. (Ignore, Warn or block installation of driver). Only administrators can change the default warning level to ignore, users can increase the security level to block. The default level is Warn. The signatures are stored within a .cat file on the distribution media of the driver. The ini-file refers to the cat-file during the installation of the driver. When installing Windows 2000, NT5.cat, NT5inf.cat and NT5prtx.cat are used.
You can use the File Signature Verification tool to see which files are signed. The utility runs from a command line with the command 'sigverif' and shows the name of the drivers, the file used, the modification date, the version numbers and if the driver is signed. By default only system files are checked and a \winnt\sigverif.txt file is made. This can be changed via the Advanced button in the tool or via the group policy Security options\Unsigned driver installation behaviour.
You can use the Windows Update functionality to update signed drivers to the
latest version available. This option is available at the Start-menu or via
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Windows Update also installs bug fixes,
system updates and/or security patches.
When the machine connects to the update-side, it detects the language of the
client and the plug-and-play id's of the hardware. These id's uniquely identify
the devices. After the devices are known, the driver versions on the client are
compared with the version on the update site. If a newer driver is available, it
will be offered to be download and installed. The update site also offers
operating system updates like (security) patches and new utilities. (e.g.
mediaplayer)
You can set the Display properties via the Control Panel or by a right-click on the desktop. At these properties the following tabs are offered :
| Background. Set a background picture or html document as a wallpaper. |
| Screen saver. Define a screensaver (3D, Channels, etc.) and set the (monitor) power settings. |
| Appearance. Set the color schemes for the windows and the menus. Web. Set which web content to display on the active desktop. |
| Effects. This tab offers the ability to change the desktop icons (e.g My computer, recycle bin etc.) It also gives the ability to change various visual effects. |
| Web. When using an Active desktop you can set the page to show on the desktop in this tab. |
| Settings. The Settings tab shows the monitor and the display driver, it contains a troubleshoot button and offers the following options : |
Colors = Number of colors
Screen area = ResolutionChanges to the number of colors and the screen area can be made without a reboot if the display adapter is plug-and-play.
Advanced options are :
General tab
The display option defines which font to use. Also can be customized if the machine should restart after a change.
Adapter tab
Show various adapter information behind the properties button (device status, resource settings etc.) Via List All Modes all compatible color options and screen resolutions can be seen and tested.
Monitor tab
Shows the manufacturer and the model number of the monitor currently installed. Via the properties button the driver monitor types per display adapter are shown. You can also change the monitor frequency on this tab.
Troubleshooting tab
On this type you can set the amount of hardware acceleration to troubleshoot display problems.
Color Management tab
Chooses the color profile for the monitor.
Active desktop gives the ability to view web pages on the desktop and to customize desktop icons. Active desktop is activated via the Folder options in the control panel.
Windows 2000 does support up to 10 multiple displays but does only support PCI
or AGP devices, including the onboard card. Only this onboard adapter is allowed
the use VGA resources. After booting, the display device detected by the BIOS is
the primary device. (normally the PCI display device in the first slot, not the
onboard card) All other display devices will be secondary display devices. Both
primary and secondary devices can use their own color and resolution settings.
To activate the second display device, select the adapter and mark the 'Extend
my Windows desktop to this monitor' option.
If Windows 2000 starts with the wrong display information, restart the system and press F8 while booting to select the advanced boot options. Now you can select 'Enable VGA mode' to boot the system using VGA-mode.
Windows 2000 supports keyboards connected via the AT port, PS/2 or USB.
Windows 2000 supports mice connected via the serial port, USB of PS/2.
Windows 2000 supported plug-and-play network cards. When detected they will be installed and automatically initiated by using DHCP. You can change network settings (IP-address, domain membership, bindings) without a reboot.
Windows 2000 supports local (parallel/serial port, USB) or network printers. See summary printing.
Windows 2000 supports scanners connected via the parallel port, SCSI or USB.
Windows 2000 support smart card readers connected via the parallel, serial, USB or PS/2 port.
Power Management defines the way a (portable) Windows 2000 professional computer consumes power. It is customized via the Power Options applet in the control panel. There are two kinds of power management standards :
APM is supported by older BIOS's and Windows 95. It was able to detect if a
system was not used for a while by not detecting mouse- or keyboard activity. If
this was the case, it was shut down to decrease the power usage. The only way to
reactivate the system was mouse- or keyboard activity.
If APM causes problems, it can be disabled. Boot in save mode and remove the \winnt\system32\drivers\ntapm.sys
file.
This newer standard gives the ability the disable a device in a system and to power it up when required, e.g by modem- or network activity. To be able to fully use ACPI the bios must me set in a way that the operating system is allowed to control power management.
During the setup, Windows 2000 professional will detect if your machine is APM or ACPI compatible. This detection is done by ntdetect.com by every startup of the machine and written to the registry.
You can set the power options via the Control panel applet Power Options. It contains the following tabs :
| Power schemes. Set how power management should behave. Standard schemes are Home/Office (Monitor down after 20 minutes, disk never, hibernate never), Portable/Laptop (Monitor down after 15 minutes, disk after 30 minutes, hibernate after 1 hour), Presentation (Monitor never, disk never, hibernate never), always on (Monitor down after 20 minutes, disk never, hibernate never), min. power management (Monitor down after 15 minutes, disk never, hibernate never), max. battery (Monitor down after 15 minutes, disk never, hibernate after 45 minutes). You can modify, save and delete schemes. |
| Advanced. Show icon in taskbar en prompt for password when computer goes off standby. |
| Hibernate. Enable hibernate support. Shows the available and required diskspace. A hibernate file is stored as \hiberfil.sys. |
| APM. Enable advanced power management support. |
| UPS. Configure a UPS. |
Within Windows XP, the command line utility driverquery can be used to display the drivers installed on a (remote) system.
| Plug and play |
Last update : 9 July 2002